Unanswered Prayer (Part 3) Series

Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life and an excellent means of communication with our Heavenly Father. We can express our deepest longings, fears, joys, and hopes through prayer, seek God's guidance and help and intercede for others. However, sometimes it seems God is not answering our prayers, and we wonder why.

It is essential to understand that God always hears our prayers and is a loving and compassionate God who cares deeply for us. However, the answer to our prayers may sometimes differ from what we expect or want. Sometimes, God answers our prayers with a "yes," with a "no," and sometimes with a "wait." We must trust God's timing and wisdom, knowing He has our best interests at heart.

In the previous sermons, we learned three possibilities for why God doesn't give our requests. Number one is our prayers may not align with God's will. 1 John 5:14 says: "And this is the confidence we have in him, that he hears us if we ask anything according to his will." Number two is that we may pray selfishly or with the wrong motives. James 4:3 says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Number three is because we may be praying for something God has decided, and He has set a specific time to fulfill it. We learn how God has appointed the Israelites forty years to wander in the wilderness and seventy years to live in captivity. Before that time was fulfilled, even though they prayed and fasted to enter or return to the Promised Land, God would not hear their prayers.

Today we will continue with the fourth possibility, which is there is a sin that we haven't confessed. Let's read these verses. In Psalm 66:18, king David said, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." Prophet Isaiah told his people: "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59:1-2). Apostle Peter warns husbands to treat their wives with respect so that nothing will hinder their prayers." (1 Peter 3:7).

What do those verses mean? Does it mean that God will not hear the prayers of sinners? Aren't all people sinners? If that is true, that means God will not hear any prayer! Some verses in the Bible describe God hearing and answering the prayers of sinners or unbelievers, and God responded to the cry of the hearts.

In some cases, prayer is combined with repentance. But in other cases, the prayer was simply for an earthly need or blessing, and God responded either out of compassion or in response to the genuine seeking of the person's faith. Here are some passages dealing with prayer by an unbeliever:

The people of Nineveh prayed that Nineveh might be spared (Jonah 3:5-10). God answered this prayer and did not destroy the city of Nineveh as He had threatened. Hagar asked God to protect her son Ishmael (Genesis 21:14-19). God not only saved Ishmael, but God also blessed him exceedingly. In 1 Kings 21:17-29, especially verses 27-29, Ahab fasts and mourns over Elijah's prophecy concerning his posterity, and God responds by not bringing about the calamity in Ahab's time. The Gentile woman from the Tyre and Sidon area prayed that Jesus would deliver her daughter from a demon (Mark 7:24-30). Jesus cast the demon out of the woman's daughter. Today, in His love and mercy (under ''the Common Grace''), God still listens to the prayers of sinners or unbelievers for help. Many families in Turkey prayed to ask God to save their family members who were under ruined buildings or construction, and God saved some of them. On Feb 14, Reuters wrote: "Nine survivors were rescued from the rubble in Turkey on Tuesday, more than a week after a massive earthquake struck."

If God sometimes also listens to the prayers of sinners or those who don't believe in Jesus Christ, what do those verses about sins that hinder our prayers mean? The object of those verses is God's children, who have been made righteous in Christ Jesus. Since we are already justified by God, knowing Him, His characters, and His truth, we may not live in sin anymore. Sin creates a barrier between God and us, and unconfessed sin in our lives can hinder our prayers. Therefore, we must repent of our sins, seek God's forgiveness, and must live in His holiness so that God hears our prayers. That is why I come to God every night to ask His forgiveness for the sins I may have committed, said, or thought throughout the day.