Getting Answers to Prayer

Are you struggling with not seeing answers to your prayers?

1. First of all, make sure of your salvation.
Since salvation is the first step in our relationship with God, we cannot expect any answers to prayer until we have been born spiritually as children of God. So consider whether you have truly been saved (see my post “Am I Saved?”).

2. Realize it may directly involve someone’s choices, and God allows them to choose to love.
This is a huge concept to understand in relationships, especially in marriage.
God doesn’t force anyone to love — and think about it — if He forced people to love, then they would not be truly loving, because at that point they would be robots. A robot cannot love. Love is only love when it is a choice.
Never blame God for your spouse’s decision to leave your marriage. He told your spouse not to leave (Matthew 19:6) and they have a choice whether to obey or not.
The same principle applies to praying for someone’s salvation.
He can work in their lives to get their attention, so it’s worth praying for, but they still have a choice.

3. Realize that some conditions have to be met on your end, for answered prayers.
Are you surrendered in your daily life, or is there something you are holding onto? Is there any purposeful disobedience? It’s possible to have blind spots (hidden sins) or slip-ups (unplanned sin in the moment, without being conscious of what you are doing) but make sure you avoid purposeful disobedience. As Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” And that must be based on God’s standards of holiness, not on our own estimation of ourselves. Examine yourself to see if you are not living in line with God’s Word.

4. Realize that Jesus actually taught us to expect delays in answers to prayer, and to still keep praying and not give up. Read Luke 11:5–13 and Luke 18:1–8. The implication is that our faith has to be tested through persistence. It’s encouraging to know that silence is not necessarily a “no,” and even if our prayers are not answered exactly how we want, we will find some kind of answer from God that is better (from an eternal perspective) than what we prayed for.

5. Realize God’s wisdom.
If you are saved and following Jesus in obedience, and if you are persisting in prayer with your whole heart, realize that sometimes God must act in certain ways according to His wisdom.
We talk about ability and will; that is sort of accurate, but I prefer to think of ability, desires, and wisdom.
Focusing on God’s wisdom helps us not to doubt His love.
Realize His desires for you are always in love, and He does not enjoy seeing you suffer, but some things are necessary in your life to make you conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).
God has higher purposes which are spiritual and eternal, and those are His first priorities, above physical blessings.
Some people give up on prayer because they think God doesn’t care for them; that is a mistake. When we pray “if it is Your will,” what we should have in mind is His wisdom for what is best. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul prayed that his “thorn” would be removed, and although he didn’t receive exactly what he prayed for, he did receive an answer.
Luke 11:5–13 shows that there is some kind of answer when we pray persistently. It’s not always the answer we hope for, but He does give some kind of answer in love, when we are seeking Him wholeheartedly. We do have the promise of peace (John 14:27; Philippians 4:7), and we can have joy knowing that God is using all things for our good (Romans 8:28).
So don’t give up! Seek Him with all your heart.

Here are testimonies of answered prayer that may encourage you:

George Muller:

https://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bmuller8.html

Rosalind Goforth:

https://archive.org/details/howiknowgodanswersprayer_1403_librivox

See also:

https://servingjesus.medium.com/how-to-draw-closer-to-God-7-spiritual-disciplines-4fb858a62af7