When Prayers Seems Unanswered

The word of the Lord seems pretty clear on the subject of prayer, right? We pray, God hears us, and we get answers to those prayers. Well… maybe.

But what do you do when you read the word of God and you expect an answer that you need, problem fixed, or a blessing and it doesn’t happen?

What the Bible Says About Answered Prayers

Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

1 John 5:14–15 says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.”

Matthew 21:22 says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

And here are two more….

John 16:24, Jesus stated, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete”.

John 15:7 says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Now these are a lot of scriptures that tell us that we get answers to prayers, right? Yes. These scriptures are true. They will come to pass just as He wrote them. But there are other factors that come into play.

Unanswered Prayers

I don’t know about you, but these scriptures seem clear cut to me. I have prayed many prayers in my life just as you have.  I have prayed for things that I just felt desperate over and wanted God to do and things that only God could do. I needed him. But, I still have unanswered prayers. Why?

Let’s talk about this because this is where a lot of believers lose hope and waver in their faith in God and you don’t have to. You just need information.

I am personally waiting on answers, no promises about my divorced marriage. It has been 12 years and nothing. Not one glimmer of hope of my family being restored. Since we are talking candidly, this hurts. It hurts to see every single day nothing happening. It hurts to see my children still without their father and our future without the man of our home gone. It hurts to see sin win in this way in my timing.  I am waiting on answers for my sons, for my life, for my future.

What Are You Waiting For?

What are you still waiting on? Are you getting easily captivated in the pain and the waiting. It’s easy to get our eyes off of what God said. But stay the course friend.

But to counter those feelings and thoughts I keep trusting in the promise I was given. What are you trusting in?

So, why are some prayers seemingly unanswered and what can we do about that? Let’s look at some keys to help us that we need to understand.

1.) The timing of God.

The timing of God may not be the timing we desire. Usually, the two are very different. We see in moment of time and tend to not see the big picture. We do not know everything about a situation and thus what we want answered in our time may not be the time it should happen. That is hard for us to understand as humans.

2.) The plan of God.

The plan of God is not our plan. His plan is just that His. He doesn’t always tell us every detail of His plan for our lives because frankly we would mess it up. I know I would. The plan of God is perfect, and we have to trust His plan alone.

3.) The promise of God.

Just about all of us have a promise that God has given to us. Think back when you were in a trial. Did God give you a promise? Did He tell you something special that He would do about your situation? Maybe it was a sentence, phrase or you read it in the Bible. Hold on to that promise. Don’t let it go no matter what you see. He is a man that never lies. It will come to pass.

Remember this, our God is faithful. Sometimes, the answer has to constructed by God. Sometimes there are others involved in the answering of your prayer that have to be moved into position. Hearts have to be softened. People have to move. Situations have to change. Events in other situations connected to them have to occur.  There are sometimes a lot of moving parts to the answer we want.

What seems simple to us as “God just fix it” is not that simple in our eyes. But, no matter what comes or goes, He remains the same. If He said it, He will do it.

Believe. Trust. Wait.

That is all that is required. Don’t let anyone talk you in to unbelief of any kind. Our God is truth. He is true. And He is true to His promises.  

Selah.