HopeLives365

Mark Finley: Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. The purpose of answered prayer is to bring glory to God.

Female Announcer: This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: The Mystery of Unanswered Prayers.

Male Announcer: Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Prayer indeed is a mystery. Have you ever felt that as you were kneeling and you prayed, your prayers hit the ceiling and bounced back at your feet? Have you ever felt that you've been praying into some dark hole in space and you've wondered, is there anybody out there listening?

One thing is for certain: the Bible is clear on the importance of intercessory prayer. The Apostle Paul was in prison in Rome and he wrote to the church at Philippi. He shared with this church his concern, his burden for them. He says in Philippians chapter 1, verse 3, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy."

Paul says, "Here I am in a dark, damp, dingy dungeon in Rome. But I'm kneeling here in this dungeon and I'm praying for you. As I pray for you, I believe my prayers are going up to heaven. I'm praying that God will strengthen you. I'm praying that you'll constantly have a greater knowledge of His will, that the eyes of your understanding will be opened to know His word and to be sensitive to His Spirit."

Paul believed in intercessory prayer. When you come to the book of Colossians, for example, Colossians 1, verse 3, again Paul is praying for the church at Colossae: "We give thanks to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith." Paul says to the church at Colossae, "We're praying for you."

Let's go to the book of Ephesians. Here in Ephesians, the first chapter, just as Paul prayed for the church at Philippi and just as he prayed for the church at Colossae, so he's praying for the church at Ephesus. He says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15 and onward, "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers."

One thing we notice about the Apostle Paul in his prayers is they are very specific. Paul prayed for the church at Philippi. At times, Paul prayed for specific people. He prayed for the church at Colossae. Again, at times he prayed for specific people. And here he prays for the church at Ephesus.

When we pray, does God always answer our prayers? What prayers can we pray that we can have absolute assurance that God will answer, and what prayers might be a little bit iffy, and what prayers won't He answer? That's an important question, an important series of questions, actually.

So let's go to 1 John chapter 5. I think this is one of the most significant chapters in all the Bible on prayer, and this passage is certainly one of my favorites on prayer. 1 John chapter 5, verse 14 and onward: "This is the confidence we have in Him." Now, where is our confidence? Is our confidence in our prayers? Not at all. Is our confidence in our faith? Not at all. This is the confidence we have where? In Him.

Notice: "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired of Him." Is there a qualification in this passage? This is the confidence that we have in Him. If we ask what? Anything according to what? According to His will, He hears us.

What are the things in the Bible that we know are according to God's will? We know it's according to His will to forgive our sins. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," 1 John 1, verse 9. So when I come to Jesus on my knees or lying there in my bed and say, "Lord, I failed you. I lost my temper. Lord, I wasn't really honest in this instance. Lord, some of the things I watched on television were not in harmony with Your will. Lord, forgive me." Do I have to say, "Oh Jesus, if it's Your will, forgive me"? Not at all, because we know it's His will to forgive our sins.

All of the spiritual blessings that He offers us are according to His will. So we don't have to ask Him if it is His will for the spiritual blessings of heaven. What are they? The forgiveness of sin. We can pray and believe our sins are forgiven, not because we feel forgiven, but because we trust His word. We may still feel guilty at times. We may still feel the condemning voice of our conscience, but that has little to do with it. We believe that we are forgiven, that our guilt is gone. Romans 8, verse 1: "There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus."

What else do we know is according to His will? His power to enable us to overcome sin. So when we pray for victory over an evil temper, we don't say, "Oh God, if it's Your will, give me victory." Not at all. When we pray for victory over some habit in our life like alcohol or tobacco, we know it is His will. It is His will. We can claim that victory because He's promised to give it to us. The Bible says, "I can do all things," Philippians 4, verse 13. "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me."

I remember one time I was helping a man quit smoking. As I was talking to him about these great promises of God—"This is the confidence we have in Him. If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us"—I asked him, "Is it God's will for you to quit smoking?" "Well, yes." "Do you believe that you can quit?" "Well, I'm not sure."

Wait a minute, you're not sure? What does God's word say? This is the confidence we have where? In Him. Where is the confidence, Joe? Is it in your strength? No. Is it in your ability to quit? No. Where is your confidence? In Him. Will you place your confidence in Him? Will you place your faith in Him? "Yes, Pastor, I will."

"Okay, get your tobacco." He got his tobacco and brought it here. We put it on the floor, one pack of cigarettes. We offered up this prayer: "Dear Lord, we know that it's Your will. We know it's Your will to deliver Joe. We know that You have power. Lord, in the name of Christ, deliver him."

Now, as I was praying, I didn't think much about it, but I had my hands over his cigarettes. I picked them up and put them in my pocket. That's the first time, I think, in my life I ever had cigarettes in my pocket. And as I was left his house with those cigarettes in my pocket, what I didn't know, and his mother told me later, he called his mother.

He said, "Mom, you'll never guess what happened. You'll never guess what's happened." She said, "What is it?" "Pastor Finley prayed a prayer for the power of God to come down on my life and take away my desire for tobacco and to give me victory over tobacco. And Pastor, when I opened my eyes, Mama, my cigarettes were gone. The angels must have taken them." Well, they were actually in my pocket. I didn't think much about it. He thought the angels took his cigarettes. I never had quite the heart to tell him what actually happened that day.

But God did give him the victory, and we saw that man go into the water and be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You say, "What did you ever do with those cigarettes?" Well, I got rid of them, of course.

If we pray according to God's will, we can ask God for any of the spiritual blessings that are available to us in Christ. In Christ, all the spiritual blessings of heaven are available. That includes forgiveness of sin. That includes freedom from guilt. That includes peace of mind. That includes freedom from worry and anxiety. That includes strength in our life. That includes power in our life.

That includes God's guidance in our life. Psalm 32, verse 8 says that I will guide you with mine eye. God promises to guide us. Isaiah 58, verse 11 says, "I'll guide you continually." So I don't have to get on my knees as a Christian and say, "Oh God, if it's Your will, guide me." No, He promises.

Now, what are some of the things that we do not necessarily have assurance for when we pray? Let's suppose that it's a beautiful, balmy summer day and you want to go on a picnic, but clouds come over and you begin to pray, "Dear Lord, dear Lord, I want to go on that picnic. And Lord, because I want to go on that picnic, Lord, I know it's not going to rain."

But across the street from your house, there's a farmer. It hasn't rained for three weeks and he's praying, "Oh Lord, I need rain for my crops. Please send the rain." You see, in those instances, I don't know whether it's best for me to go on that picnic or not. So I pray, "Lord, if it is Your will, hold back the weather."

There was a time that I was a young man in Hartford, Connecticut. I was a young pastor; my wife was teaching at a Christian school. There was a dear elderly pastor there that was holding a revival week. His name was W. D. Frazee, and I learned the power of prayer then.

As we were going to have our meeting that night, many people were coming and we knew that they needed to hear the message that Pastor Frazee was going to preach. But as we looked at the news, dark clouds were gathering. It was supposed to snow very heavily, and we knew that that would inhibit the meetings and very few people would come.

I shall never forget it. Pastor Frazee got on his knees and he prayed a simple prayer: "Dear Lord, you know that these people need to hear this message tonight. And I am praying according to Your will. You are wiser than we are, God, but I'm praying that You would not let it snow over this city and our venue." That day, something very surprising happened. Even the weathermen were surprised. It snowed all around the city, snowed in the suburbs, but it did not snow over our meeting. But we prayed in God's will.

Female Announcer: We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of Scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence His life-changing truths with others. You can support this mission and help us reach even more by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Now, are there anything that, for example, we might pray at times thinking they're God's will, but they're actually not? A good example of that is the Apostle Paul. Since the Apostle Paul was blinded and had problems with his eyesight after the Damascus Road experience where he saw that bright light, he evidently had some problems there with his eyesight.

He prayed that God would remove that burden from him of dimmed vision. We read about the story here in the book of Corinthians, 2 Corinthians. And we're looking there at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. There is something more important in life than our healing.

When we are afflicted with disease—it could be cancer, heart disease, diabetes, any other significant disease—God invites us to come to prayer, to pray for healing, to pray for strength. But there are times that God does not always heal because there's something more important to God than our healing, and that is our salvation.

There are times that God allows us to go through very difficult trials in our life to draw us closer to Him. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, we read Paul has this thorn in his flesh, and that's probably the eyesight, his physical problem. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7: "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure."

Now, who gave Paul this thorn in the flesh that we think was the eyesight problem? Who gave Paul that? He says a messenger of Satan. Well, if it's a messenger of Satan, wouldn't God necessarily remove it? Now, this passage is really helpful because it tells us that God is not the author of sickness, suffering, heartache, or death. That's always the messenger of Satan. Sickness is not something that God afflicts us with.

But let's look here at 2 Corinthians 12, verse 8: "Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord." Now, Paul says, "I'm pleading with the Lord." He's not just casually praying, but he's pleading with the Lord. He's earnestly praying. And he doesn't only do it once: "Three times that it might depart from me." And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness."

"Therefore most gladly will I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then am I strong." So Paul prays three times that he would be healed, three times that the affliction of the disease would be removed. But God says, "My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness."

So there are times that God is going to miraculously heal. I have seen that happen on a number of occasions when I've anointed people. I remember on one occasion I was at a large youth meeting, and one of the youth leaders was afflicted with paralysis. He was taken to the hospital. They believed he had had a stroke, paralyzed on one side, could not talk.

We anointed him. Before the anointing, I gathered with the doctors and they said, "This is a very difficult case." But we anointed that young man, and God worked a miracle of healing. On other instances, I've anointed and people have not been miraculously healed.

But here's what we know: If you pray for healing and you're not healed, like the Apostle Paul was not healed, God will give you the strength to handle the affliction that you have, and His grace and glory will be manifest in your life. So there are times that it takes more faith to trust God in sickness than it does to be healed by God in that affliction.

As we trust Him in that sickness, we reveal to the doctors and nurses and others around us His strength, His power, His glory. When we release our bodies to God—remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, to present your bodies a living sacrifice." So when we release our bodies to God as a living sacrifice and we say, "God, You can do whatever You want with this body. It's Yours. You created me, You redeemed it on Calvary. It is Yours, Lord. I'd love to be healed miraculously, but if You choose not to heal, I want to reveal Your grace, Your strength, and Your power."

Sometimes God does not answer our prayers the way we want. Why? Because He wants to reveal Himself in ways known only to Him. He wants to fill our hearts with grace, with strength, with power. He wants His glory to be revealed through us.

Now, there are other reasons why God may not answer prayer the way we think He ought to, because there may be something in our life that is a roadblock, something in our life that inhibits that answer. We find that principle in Psalm 66 and verse 18. The Scripture says, "If I regard"—now, notice the word regard, that's cherish—"if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me."

So David says, "If I regard"—if I do what? Regard, cherish. If there's cherished sin in my life and I pray for a miracle in my life, God will not hear. Why not? Because if He did, He would be endorsing the sin in my life. So there's something more important than the immediate answer to the prayer that I'm praying: it is the prayer to ask God to help me to overcome the sin in my life that I'm dealing with.

So if I regard sin... if you are praying and you're finding you're not getting many answers to your prayers, get on your knees and say, "God, is there something in my life that is inhibiting those answers? Is there something in my life that's holding back those answers? Is there something in my life that's keeping me from getting the answers?" At times, God uses prayer as a lever to pry sin out of our lives.

As we're praying and we find ourselves not getting many answers, we begin asking ourselves the question: "Is there something deep in my life that I don't understand? Is there some habit that is not in harmony with God's will that I've not confronted yet, that I'm cherishing? Is there some attitude in my life that I'm cherishing?" So sometimes we don't get answers to our prayers because of some sin in our lives, and God leads us to know that sin so we can deal with it and we can ask Him for power. We don't have to ask if it's God's will; we ask Him to forgive us, we ask for power to overcome that thing.

Now, there's another reason why we may not get immediate answers to our prayers, and that is found in James, the book of James. James chapter 4—here's another reason why we may not always get immediate answers to our prayers. We find it here in the Bible as very clear. It helps us to work through these issues.

James chapter 4: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murmur and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive. Why? Because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures."

So if we desire... it's like, "Okay, Lord, I'm praying that my favorite sports team will win." Well, in the light of the controversy between good and evil, in the light of the struggle and the battle between Christ and Satan, in the light of earthquakes and famines and fires and floods and children that are starving, in the light of everything that we could ask God, are we asking Him that our favorite sports team will win? What about the people praying for the other sports team? So if we ask simply to accomplish it and put it on our own lust, if it's that kind of asking, simply for our own pleasure, we may not get answers.

There are times, though, that we pray and there's no apparent answer, but God is working out the answer. In other words, we're praying and there may be no apparent answer to our prayers. We're praying and there may be nothing that we can really see going on, but there's a controversy behind the scenes between Christ and Satan.

Do we have an example of that in the Bible? We do: Daniel. Daniel knew that the time of Jeremiah's captivity, the prophecy of Jeremiah's captivity, was up for the nation of Israel. He was praying that his people would be set free from the bondage, first of Babylon and then Medo-Persia. And as Daniel prayed, first day, no apparent answer to the prayer. Second day, no answer. Third day. Prayed for a week, no apparent answer. Two weeks, no answer. Three weeks, no answer. You say, "Wait a minute, that's like me. That's like some of my prayers I've been praying and there's not much an answer."

But look what happens in Daniel chapter 10. Daniel 10, verse 12, the angel comes down and he said, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before God, your words were heard and I've come because of your words." Now, this is an amazing passage. Daniel's prayed for three weeks. And then eventually this being of dazzling brightness comes down and Daniel faints. It was actually the Lord Himself. And then another being taps Daniel on the shoulder. It's the angel.

He wakes Daniel up and he says, "From the first day you prayed, I came and answered your prayers. But there's a problem." And he explains to Daniel that there was a battle over the mind of Cyrus. Satan tried to influence the king not to sign the decree. And as this battle took place back and forth between Satan's forces and the forces of heaven, these two angelic forces fought, and the angelic forces were wanting to beat back the evil forces. The heavenly angels were going to beat back the evil angels so that Cyrus's mind would be clear and not influenced by evil so he would sign the decree.

As Daniel prayed and prayed and prayed, those angels kept fighting and battling. Finally, Jesus Himself came down and chased away the evil angels. So there are times that we pray—you may pray for a son or a daughter, a husband or a wife that doesn't know Christ—and as you're praying, there's a great battle between good and evil over their minds.

Now, something will happen when we pray that wouldn't happen if we didn't pray. "The Great Controversy," a wonderful book, says on page 525, "God will do in answer to the prayer of faith that which He would not do if we did not thus pray." So God is doing everything He can to reach your son, your daughter, your husband, your wife, your neighbor, your working associate, your friend who doesn't know Christ.

But when we pray, God does more than He would have done otherwise. Why? Because God is limited by their free will and their choice. But when we pray, God looks at Satan and He says, "Mark Finley's praying, John is praying, Sam is praying, George is praying." When we pray, it opens up new avenues, new vistas for God to do something miraculous in the life of the one that we're praying for.

So when you pray and you don't get immediate answers, recognize there's a battle between good and evil. There's a battle between Christ and Satan. Maybe there won't be an immediate answer. But maybe our continued prayer does two things: one, it provides us grace and strength to face what we have to face; and secondly, it teaches us persistence in prayer, perseverance in prayer.

So when your prayers are not immediately answered, begin to examine your heart to see if there's any sin in there that keeps them from being answered. Analyze your motives: "Why do I want this thing to happen? Is it for the glory of God or is it for my own pleasure?" Claim the promises of God, believing indeed that He will answer. Recognize for all the spiritual blessings of heaven, we need not ask His will. We simply claim those promises by faith.

Female Announcer: You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: I love the way Jesus puts it in Luke chapter 11. He says, "If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask."