Reasons For Unanswered Prayers-1

Young preacher asked for advice on how he did after the sermon was preached, one old man said “I have three things to say to you.”

1-You read the whole sermon….Boy replied, I guess I needed to more familiar with it.

2-You read it very badly….Boy replied, I couldn’t read my own writing, I will right it out better

3-What you read wasn’t worth reading!

I have prayed and prayed about this matter, but I don’t seem to get anywhere.

Doesn’t God hear? If He is listening, why doesn’t He help?

Why doesn’t He answer my prayers?

Many people often find themselves in that situation.

Didn’t Jesus say, "Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them" (Mark 11:24)?

Didn’t Jesus further say, ‘If two or three of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask it will be done for them by my Father in heaven’ (Matthew 18:19)?

Didn’t the apostle John record Jesus as saying, ‘The Father will give you anything you ask in my name’ (John 16:23)?

Prayer is not like a vending machine, you put your request in, you pull the lever and theirs the answer.

1-Because Of Sin

Psalm 66:18-If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

Isaiah 1:1-20-Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.

Isaiah 59:1-2-1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

Jeremiah 11:11-14-Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

“So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

1 Peter 3:7-Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

Norman Vincent Peale told the story that when was a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley, and lit up. It didn't taste good, but it made him feel very grown up ... until he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father's attention, Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the circus. "Can I go, Dad? Please, let's go when it comes to town." His father's reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot. "Son," he answered quietly but firmly, "never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience."

Joshua 7:13-Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”