INTRODUCTION
I saw an article this week called, “A mothers unanswered prayer for self-improvement.” The article is about a woman named Jean Olsen who wanted to be a better mum.
Jean took her 9 year old daughter Kirsten out for a mother-daughter lunch and while they were eating, she asked her daughter, "How do you think I could be a better mum?" Kirsten thought for a moment and then said, "Well, you do yell a lot. I know you’ve been praying about that, but it isn’t really working yet."
Almost everyone comes to a point in their lives where they wonder if prayer really works. Sometimes doubts begin to rise and you wonder, “How is it I can sincerely ask God to help me but he doesn’t seem to answer?”
Today we’re kicking off on our series, “Too Busy Not To Pray.” I hope you’ve joined one of our home groups – because in our home groups we’re looking at the topic of prayer in-depth.
But this-morning I want you to think about this question, “How can I get an answer from God for my prayer?”
Maybe you’ve sincerely tried to pray but you’re still not getting any answers. If that’s true for you, then this-morning I want to encourage you to follow along as we do some spiritual house-keeping. I want to show you four attitudes that can block God’s answer to your prayers.
And the first is this. If you want to receive an answer from God ....
1. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO LET GOD ANSWER IN HIS OWN TIME
Sometimes we can get impatient while we wait for an answer from God. But it’s not always in our best interest for God to answer our prayers right away.
A wise parent doesn’t give a child everything they ask for first-time, every time and anytime they ask for it. Sometimes it’s in the child’s best interest to wait.
Once, when I was 9 years old, I was helping my dad clear some land. I’d gathered a huge pile of dry grass, branches and leaves. Now, he was on one side of the block burning off the rubbish he’d collected, so I went and asked him for a match so I could burn mine. I thought that was logical. But there was no way he was going to give me a match.
It’s not always in our best interest for God to give us what we want right when we want it. Sometimes he delays answering our prayers for our own good. God often delays answering our prayers because we are not mature enough yet to get what we are asking for.
Being willing to wait for something you want or even need, is a sign of maturity. Not being willing to wait is a sign of immaturity. This might be why there has been a delay in answering your prayers? God has something else to show you, some growing for you to do before he answers your prayer.
This wasn’t the reason why Zechariah and Elizabeth’s answer was delayed. In verse 6 we’re told that they were upright and blameless and kept faithfully serving God despite their disgrace and disappointment in not having a child. But maybe this is something like where God has you right now.
But I want to encourage you. You need to know that God’s delays are not God’s denials! If you want an answer to your prayer, you must be willing to allow God to answer in his own time.
God was shaping Zechariah and Elizabeth. He wanted someone He could trust to not deny Him when their prayers weren’t being answered right away. He wanted to answer Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayers in a miraculous way - and so he made them wait.
Media tycoon Ted Turner has often been critical of Christianity. Once he made a comment on his experience of prayer ... Turner said he had a strict Christian upbringing and at one time considered becoming a missionary. But he said he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, “despite his prayers.”
Turner gave up on prayer – in fact he gave up on God - because he didn’t get what he wanted when he wanted it!
We have all considered giving up on prayer at one time or another. We get discouraged and quit praying because deep down we wonder if prayer really makes any difference. In Zechariah and Elizabeth’s case, God wanted to do something greater than they had asked for. He trusted them because they didn’t give up on Him when their prayers seemed to be going unanswered.
Have you given up on God? Have you given up because you think he hasn’t answered your prayer yet? Or, are you still faithfully serving Him despite the delay in getting what you have been praying about? Can God trust you to hang in there with him even when the answers to your prayers are delayed?
Zechariah even had an angelic visitation and he still had doubts! Even people of strong faith can have doubts sometimes! But God is looking for people who are mature enough to stick with him even when they don’t get what they want when they want it. He’s looking for people who trust him.
I want to encourage you this-morning to keep praying until one of three things happens:
(1) You get an answer.
(2) You get assurance. That is, God gives you a certain confidence that you’re going to get answer. For example, God encouraged Zechariah. The angel said, “God has heard your prayer.” In other words, his answer is on the way. God hears our prayers when we pray them; but He answers them in His time.
And thirdly I want to encourage you to ...
(3) Keep praying until God gives you another assignment. In other words – God says “No” this is not his will for you. When you are sure His answer is “No!” and you are at peace with that answer, you can stop praying.
If you want an answer for your prayer, you must be willing for God to answer in his own time.
Second, you must also be willing for God to answer in his own way.
2. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO LET GOAD ANSWER IN HIS OWN WAY
And God’s ways are not like our ways. Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
God’s ways are always bigger and better than yours or mine!
There was a girl serving popcorn at the candy bar in the cinema and her line was longer than all the others. She was kept busy while the others stood around. When the shift was over her boss asked her why she was so popular with the customers. This is what she said, "The other girls always scoop more than a full cup of popcorn and then start taking away the excess. I always scoop less than a full cup and then add to it."
In that case people thought they were getting more, when in fact they were all getting exactly the same. But God doesn’t play tricks. God always scoops more than we expect when He answers our prayers.
But we must be willing to let him answer in his way.
Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted children. So, when things were not going their way they prayed for God to intervene. They wanted what everyone else wanted and most were getting. But God wanted to give them more than just another child. God wanted to give them a unique son for a unique purpose.
Their son was John the Baptist. He was a prophet whose cousin would be Jesus himself. John was given the unique role of pointing everyone to Jesus. So God delayed his answer because He had a greater plan in mind.
Our problem is that all we want is what everyone else is getting. So often we’re happy to settle for less than what God really wants to give us.
US golfer Arnold Palmer once played a series of exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi king was so impressed that he wanted to give Palmer a gift. Palmer said, “That really isn’t necessary, Your Highness. I’m honoured just to have been invited."
The king said, "I would be deeply upset, if you would not allow me to give you a gift." So Palmer thought for a moment and said, "All right. How about a golf club? That would be a beautiful memento of my visit to your country."
The next day the title to a golf club with thousands of acres of trees and lakes and even a clubhouse was delivered to Palmer’s hotel.
The moral of this story is this: In the presence of a King, don’t ask for small gifts!
And God’s word encourages us to ask God for His best. It tells us that God ...
... is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power (Ephesians 3:20)
So if you want an answer for your prayer, you must be willing for God to answer in his own way.
And you must also be willing for God to answer in his own power. And this is our third point.
3. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO LET GOD ANSWER IN HIS OWN POWER
Have you ever tried to help God out when the answer to your prayer has been delayed?
The classic Biblical example of this is Abraham and Sarah. God promised that a great nation would come into the world through them, but then years went by without a son being born. When it appeared that they would soon not be able to have children, they took matters into their own hands and had a son (Ishmael) through their servant Hagar. And we know now that this was not God’s plan.
Why does God sometimes wait until it is too late? Why does he wait until it requires a miracle? Why do our circumstances often get worse before He answers?
It’s because we tend not to give Him the credit for answering our prayers until all of our capabilities have been exhausted. God will sometimes wait until every human possibility has been exhausted – and then he’ll answer a prayer miraculously. And he does this because he wants everyone to know that he answered that prayer. He wants people to know that it was his power that brought about the answer to that prayer.
If your prayer has not been answered, don’t give up or act too soon to solve it yourself. Instead, trust God and wait on Him! God wants to reveal His power through your life. Perhaps he hasn’t answered your prayer yet because you or someone near you needs to know that God is for real!
God really can act miraculously on your behalf in answer to your prayers – (i) in His Own Time, (ii) in His Own Way and (iii) in His Own Power - so everyone will know that He is God and that He can answer their prayers too.
Finally, if you want God to answer your prayer ...
4. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO LET GOD ANSWER FOR HIS OWN PURPOSE
That’s right, the purpose of life is not about you. If you want God to answer your prayer, you must be in a place where your will, where your desires, where your ambitions, where your cravings are totally sold out for God and his purposes in the world.
Sometimes we don’t get an answer to our prayers because we’re asking for something that is far less than God’s intended purpose for his world and for your life. God often has a higher purpose!
Look at Zechariah and Elizabeth for example. God was looking for parents who He could trust to bring John the Baptist into the world. And Zechariah and Elizabeth demonstrated their trustworthiness because they didn’t turn against God or stop serving Him when things weren’t going their way. They didn’t give up when their desires were not met immediately.
Psalm 37:4 says ...
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).
We have to delight ourselves in the Lord – not in ourselves. We have a choice when things are not going our way. We can lose faith and turn away from God, or we can totally trust Him.
It’s been said that, “Sometimes a roadblock is not a dead end, but simply a detour to a new road in life.”
When we let God answer our prayers for His purposes we will probably experience a roadblock but this is not the end of the road. It is only a change in direction leading us to God’s new destination in our life, one of greater service and usefulness to Him.
As an individual, do you want to be used by God for His purposes? Are you willing to let God have His way with your life circumstances?
As a church, do we want to be used by God for His purposes? Do we want our prayers answered our way, or do we want something bigger and better that God has planned for us? I hope that as a church we are prepared for God to wait for God to answer our prayer according to his purposes.
CONCLUSION
Zechariah and Elizabeth waited a long time and suffered disgrace and discouragement, but when their prayer was answered it was their son who would be the one to point the world to our Saviour. Do you want to be used to point the world to Jesus? Are you willing to let God answer your prayer in His Own Time, in His Own Way, and in His Own Power for His Own Purposes? This is not the easy road in life, and that’s because you will have to grow up in your faith and you will have to accept God’s plans and purposes over your own. Do you really want that? I hope so.
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Resources:
Bill Hybels “Too Busy Not to Pray”
Stephen Winward “How To Talk With God”
