Have you ever prayed prayers only to wonder if God was ever going to answer them? Have you been disappointed after you prayed because you haven’t heard anything? Or maybe you went to a pastor or someone you know who is very spiritual and still no answers? Perhaps you are the one going down to the front of the church every Sunday when it is time for prayer? You have tears in your eyes because you are begging and pleading for God to move in your life? Or maybe you don’t ask for anything because you don’t want to be disappointed or embarrassed after you have already told everyone what you are praying for, and nothing happened. Well, I know how you feel and understand your thoughts.
This Blog focuses on your prayer request to God. I have learned that God responds to our prayers in one of four ways:
- No.
- No, not right now, or You’re not ready.
- No, I have something better for you.
- Yes.
It took me years to understand how God responds to us. Isn’t it interesting when you don’t hear from God, the enemy is constantly feeding thoughts of doubt in your mind? Your non-spiritual family and friends are telling you things to create even more doubt and unbelief. I’m not trying to give a formula or a list of do’s and don’ts to qualify to pray. There are some things we must all understand about prayer.
Prayer is communication with God
Prayer is you talking to God. Prayer is not just asking God for stuff. You are talking to the creator of everything who knows your thoughts, motives, and intensions. You may ask, “Well, if God already knows my thoughts why do I have to go to Him and ask? Why can’t He just provide for me, give me the desires of my heart, and everything will be just fine!” Good questions. God is our Heavenly Father and although He knows everything, He still wants you to ask. God doesn’t want you to write down your requests, slide them under the door, and He will get back to you later. No. God wants a relationship with you. He knows you. He created you. He knows what makes you happy and what makes you sad. Through Jesus, we can now call God Abba (father). And that is different than praying to a puff of smoke or a picture on the wall.
Let’s look at the responses from God:
No
There are a lot of areas that can explain why the answer is No, but the simplest reasons can be the following: Sin, Unforgiveness, or Having the wrong motive.
Your prayers can be hindered due to sin in your life. I’m not saying that you must live a perfect life in order for God to answer your prayers. Everyone has committed and continues to commit sin in their lives. What I’m saying is that you need to ask God for forgiveness of the sin that you committed yesterday or the day before. Prior to Jesus walking on the earth and establishing the New Covenant, Hebrew Priests had to sacrifice a pure, unstained lamb, then sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the floor inside the inner area called the Holy of Holies in the temple. The blood of the lamb was the atonement “covering” of sin. The Priest took the sins of all the tribes and used the blood of the lamb to cover the sins. Then he was able to bring the prayers and supplications of the tribes to the throne room of God. We no longer need to sacrifice lambs under the New Covenant because Jesus is the Lamb. His blood not only covers our sin, but it removes our sin. The point I’m getting at is that sin needs to be dealt with before you approach God. Some of you commit sins so frequently, that it has become your norm, and you are oblivious that you are sinning. If you are sincere and really want to deal with the sin in your life, ask God to use the Holy Spirit to show you what sins you have done. Ask God for forgiveness and He will forgive you.
1 John 1:9 (NLT) “But if we confess our sins to him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
If you have issues with another person, and haven’t forgiven them, then your prayer is basically just going up to the ceiling of your dwelling or just above your head. When Jesus was talking to His disciples, He mentioned twice in the same topic the importance of forgiving. And the dangers of not forgiving.
The Lord’s Prayer…Matthew 6:12 (NLT) “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.”
Matthew 6:14,15 (NLT) “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
If you struggle with forgiveness, read my previous blog: https://www.roncobbsministries.com/2023/12/22/forgiveness/
Having the wrong motive usually leads to selfishness. God hates a person who is selfish. A selfish person is full of pride, full of themselves, only cares about themselves, only wants what they want, and has no desire to help anyone else. Pride and Selfishness is the core of what got Lucifer (Satan) kicked out of Heaven. Think about it. You can’t fool or hide anything from God. He knows your motives. If you are asking Him for stuff just for you, you will probably get a clear no. You may say, “What about what Jabez did? Jabez asked God to bless him.”
1 Chronicles 4:10 (NKJV) “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested”.
Don’t overlook the reason why he asked. That I may not cause pain was not for him. It was for others. He was asking God to bless him so that he would be a blessing to others. Jabez had the right motive. Jabez did not ask God to bless him so that he alone could be prosperous and rich.
No, not right now, or You’re Not Ready
Every parent who has a teenager at the age of 15 years old will be bombarded with requests of “Dad, Mom, when can I get a car so that I can drive?” But you know they are not ready. Every day is the same question, “When can I get my car license? When can I drive the car?”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (Amplified) “There is a season (a time appointed) for everything and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven.”
Remember, God can see in the future. God has already made plans for you, and He knew when you were going to ask Him for something. Most importantly, He knows what time right and what time is wrong for you. If He gave you what you wanted at the wrong time, it would hinder or hurt you. No parent would give a sharp knife to a 2-year child. What God wants from you is your trust in Him and for you to trust His timing. If you asked God for something, and it hasn’t arrived yet, you need to continue to remind God that you trust Him and you trust the plans that He has for your life.
No, I have something better for you
This can be hard to accept. As humans, we want what we want. We know what we want, we want it now, and we will not be happy until we get what we want. But getting something different from what we want can be a shock to our mental wellness. I don’t care how old you may be, if you don’t get what you want, you WILL go back to being a 2-year-old and have a pouting temper tantrum in your mind. Your level of maturity depends on how long it takes for you to get over it. This goes back to trusting God with His plans for your life. A perfect example is for those single folks who want to get married. You met the perfect guy or perfect girl that is “The One!” Suddenly, God tells you in your spirit that this person isn’t the right one for you. You begin to argue with God saying, “But they have a career, they have money, they’re cute, etc.” Trust me on this, If God says that person isn’t the right person for you, You BETTER not marry them! I will repeat. If God says that person isn’t the right person for you, You BETTER not marry them! There is another person who is the right one for you.
Proverbs 3:5 (Amplified) “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.”
For those of you who feel as though you married the wrong person, this Blog is NOT a license or confirmation for you to leave your spouse! God can fix anything and make anything right! So don’t go there!
Yes
If you are coming to God with the right motive, a clean heart, you have dealt with the sin and unforgiveness in your heart, and God knows it is the right time for you, then He will listen to you and your requests. I need to ask a very important question, “Are you spending time with God?”
Psalm 37:4 (Amplified) “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart.”
Keep in mind that God is not your genie in a bottle. You can’t manipulate Him to do your bidding. What good parent allows their child to manipulate them to do anything for them? A parent does things for their child out of the abundance of love they have in their heart. God is the same. He loves us so much that He wants us to have things if they are according to His Will. God wants you to spend time with Him because you love spending time with Him. You may say that isn’t fair. What if what I want is different from what God wants? Ah! Now you are getting it.
John 14:13,14 (NKJV) “And whatever you ask in My name (Jesus Name), that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
If you are in God’s Will, you will never ask anything for your own personal selfish gain or outside of His Will. Everything you ask for will already be in line of what God wants. Guess what. God places His desires in your heart. So, you will ask Him for things that He has already placed in your heart. As a Christian, your daily goal is to change to become more and more like Jesus. Your old self has died, and you now have a new nature in Christ. Another way of looking at Psalm 37:4 is this; When you delight yourself in the Lord, He will place His desires in your heart so that you will ask Him for it.
I have heard lots of pastors read this scripture treating Jesus’ name as if it was a free credit card. They only see the last part of the scripture; “…if you ask anything in My Name, I will do it.” Here is what everyone is missing. When your desires get in line with God’s desires (God’s Will), then He will grant you whatever you want or need. You may say, “but I like driving a nice car, having a nice house, and having nice clothes.” God doesn’t mind you having those things if it doesn’t interfere or get in the way of you loving and honoring Him. Here is something that people don’t realize; whatever God gives to you; it is not just for you. It is always for someone else. He blesses you with a nice car so that you can get to others to help minister the Gospel; so that you can take someone to church, so that you take someone to the hospital if needed, or so that you can help someone. My point is that you need to be ready.
A couple of years ago, I asked God for a nice car. Right after He blessed me with the car that I asked for, within one month, God tested me. He told me to go feed the homeless. I could have easily borrowed someone else’s car or rented a car to protect my new car. If I had done that, God would have known in my heart that I cared more about the car than trusting Him. My attitude was, “Lord, I trust you. You gave me this car, so basically this is Your car.“ I went out to feed the homeless on four different occasions in that car; went under bridges, in parking lots, etc. Whenever God said “Go”, I went. Out of obedience, He showed me a plan to pay the car off sooner than the car loan agreement. We know that God is all knowing, and He already knows the outcome of the test. The point of the test is so that I would know how I would respond to that situation. Too many folks will give lip service (saying) what they would do, but when the situation happens, or if asked, their actions are totally different. God tested me with the new car so that I would know in my heart that I trusted Him. (If you are still confused with that statement, drop me an email and I will try to explain more in detail.) 😊
Psalm 20:4 (ESV): May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!
In summary, God wants to give you everything that you can possibly dream and think. But you need to pray and ask Him the right way. God is more concerned with you becoming more like Jesus. Trust me, God has bigger plans than you can ever possibly think. When you want what He wants more than what you want, then God gives you what YOU want knowing that you will bless or be a blessing to others with what He gave you.
Ron Cobbs Ministries © Copyright February 3rd, 2024, All Rights Reserved
Amen 🙏🏿. Thank you! Right on time. A friend was asking me about this. Now I have more information with Gods Word to share.. God bless you 🙏🏿
That was an awesome blog Ron! Thanks for sharing your understanding and insight and making it plain. This will certainly help a lot of people. Thank you for your faithfulness and obedience…it is appreciated! Much love.
Great read and solid input on gods plan and destination in one’s journey. I can attest in regards to success and the rewards received through the practice of prayer and putting others first.
I alone am nothing without gods grace and the people surrounding my path. Through my journey and vision of where I want to be in a glance I am able to already see the future, my vision played out the feelings of where I stand, feeling my prayers answered.
Yet, I can relate to this blog. Cause my prayers weren’t answered immediately. Though through my process things are granted but all in its time.
We can learn to visualize or future, and manifest our visions but god is the ultimate decision maker of where and when things are given.
Thank you for the read friend. May god continue blessing you and the ones you deeply impact with your practice.
Lots of good thoughts Ron. I must admit I struggle with prayer particularly in the cases where people or church’s or political groups or organizations pray for specific things that would benefit them. That always strikes me as selfish and puts God in a box that gives things dependent on your prayers. God is SO much bigger than that. As you say, God is seeking a relationship. God knows the master plan that we are part of on a time scale that we cannot comprehend. Look at the creation of the Universe that enables the existence of this Earth including the existence of us! Mind boggling. And what is even more bind boggling is that he cares as a loving parent would for each and every soul on this Earth. To the lowest level of detail. As you say God desires a personal, constant minute by minute relationship that is driven by your prayer life. And we need to pray without ceasing. God is someone you can talk to at any time any where and he will always listen. In our loneliest times God is always there which gives us hope and comfort but these times can be so hard for someone that does not believe in God. Something that God must be saddened by. We were created with free will to think and God wants us to discover him on our own seeking a relationship. We are not robots being manipulated by God. As we talk to God, I think we need to get away from asking for specific things – we need to be more focused on asking to be more Christ-like in our behavior and when we do that the things we need/want will naturally come. We get so focused on “things” and we need to be more focused on the relationship with God. This will drive us in a positive way which will better our relationship with others around us. When we pray for specifics and those specifics don’t arrive we are confused and disappointed too. We should pray for the fruits of the Spirit that is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This will gives us peace and comfort at all times. Thanks for your words Ron and making me think. 🙂
Ron, I truly appreciate your conversations ( blogs) that you have with us, they stop you & make me think as well as they give me more guidance on helping and or supporting my friends and family in conversation(s). I can say at 1 time many years ago I wouldn’t let myself forgive but remembering what my late mother use to tell me is basically what you have sat down and talk to us about in your blog, it’s truly all confirmation full circle! Ron, your blogs are inspiring and uplifting, blessings to you!! 🙏🙏🙏
Great blog! This is a great teaching and provides excellent insight on prayer and Gods word’s . It’s so important for me to pray on a daily basis.
Like most people we usually do not like to hear the answer “No” when we ask for something we really want. But in reading and studying this uplifting word on “Answers to Prayers”, I came to understand that God’s “No” is a protective measure! In most cases, He is keeping harm at bay and His Love shows me a better perspective in seeking HIS Ways. He truly is a Loving Father and wants the best for me. Thank you Ron for showing that building our relationship with God helps me to “trusts” His Answers in all four ways!! A Wonderful understanding to learn HIS Ways on answering my prayers.