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Dilemna of Prayer, The
Date: July 15, 2001
Title: The Dilemma of Prayer
Editor: Don Carrothers
Church: Greenlaw Baptist Church - Flagstaff, Arizona
Four ways God answers Prayer:
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If the request is wrong, God says, "No."
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If the timing is wrong, God says, "Slow."
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If you are wrong, God says, "Grow."
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If the request is right, the timing is right, and you are right, God says,
"Go!"
What to do when God answers your prayers with either: No or Grow
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Check out our requests, are the appropriate?
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Are they self-serving?
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Are they patently Materialistic?
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Are they short sighted?
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Are they immature?
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Check out my motives.
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Would it bring glory to God?
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Would it advance His kingdom?
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Would it help people?
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Would it help me grow spiritually?
Often times, the reason God does not answer our prayers is because he is
trying to get our spiritual attention.
Sometimes the problem with God is really a problem within me.
Why would God delay an answer - "Slow"?
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To test our faith. Do we really trust God?
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To give us time to figure out that our request is not in line with his will
or character.
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To develop Godly character traits.
Six Prayer Busters 1
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Prayerlessness - James 4.2 "---You do not have, because you do
not ask God."
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Unconfessed sin - Isaiah 59.2 "But your iniquities have
separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so
that he will not hear."
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Unresolved relational conflict - Matthew 5.23-24 "Therefore if
you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother
has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the alter.
First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your
gift."
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Selfishness - James 4.3 "When you ask, you do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your
pleasures.
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Uncaring attitudes - Proverbs 21.13 "If a man shuts his ears to
the cry of the poor, he too will cry our and not be answered."
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Inadequate faith - James 1.6 "But when he asks, he must believe
and not doubt..."
Question for thought:
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How have you dealt with unanswered prayers in your past?
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Can you recall instances where you prayer request was inappropriate?
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How does living with such an immediate gratification generation affect your
prayer life?
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Have you been trying to manipulate God by offering self-serving prayers?
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Do you sometimes substitute worthy activities for prayer?
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If your prayers are answered, do you think it is always your fault?
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Is God's first concern to always answer prayer?
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