tagged: Featured, Prayer

God Does NOT Answer Prayers!

Posted by Dave Miller in Bible & Theology, Uncategorized

No, keep your stones in your pocket!

I do not believe that I am advocating heresy and I an certainly not recommending that we abandon prayer.  I know the title was shocking – that part was intentional.  I think that there is a simple principle about prayer that we need to remember.  Actually, if you get a hold on this principle, it might actually be a blessing.  So sit for a minute, read this, and then if you still want to stone me with stones afterward, well, do what you have to do!

God does NOT answer prayer.  We tend to miss the point when we make statements like that.  Let me explain.

We commonly use biblical, spiritual, or church-related terms in slightly inaccurate ways.  We who have grown up appreciating the ministry of Billy Graham talk about “going forward” or “praying the sinner’s prayer” to get saved.  Yet we know that it is genuine faith in Christ, not walking an aisle or reading the words of a prayer that save us.  Though we know better, we replace the spiritual reality with a human act.  Someone giving a testimony will say, “Faith changed my life.”  But faith never changes anything unless it is the right kind of faith.  Faith in myself accomplishes little.  Faith in people often leads to disappointment.  Faith in false gods cannot save or heal or help.  It is not our faith that changes us, it is our God.  Faith is how we come into a right relationship with Him.  Faith is useless unless it is focused on the true and living God.

“God answers prayer.”  I have heard that statement since I was a little boy.  It is the most noble of expressions.  Certainly, when God’s people seek Him in prayer, God demonstrates His presence and power among us.  But I am afraid the statement can give people the wrong impression about prayer.  It can lead to some false conclusions.

We think that the key to prayer is how we pray.  Did I say the right words?  Did I pray long enough?  Hard enough? People wonder why their prayers do not get answered.  They pray for healing or help or provision and when no answer comes, they assume that there must be something wrong with their prayers.  Maybe they did not use the proper format or the magic words.  If they can just find the right way to pray, God will hear.

The phrase “God answers prayer” can leave people with the idea that there is some magic formula, attitude, posture, technique or grouping of words that makes prayer effective.  But that misses the whole point.

Look at James 5:16.  Speaking of Elijah, James said, “The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.”

Note that he did not say, “Prayer is powerful and effective.”  He said that it is the prayers of “a righteous man” that move the heart of God.  Elijah prayed in the simplest words.  It was the false prophets who chanted, cut themselves and engaged in all kinds of weirdness to gain their gods’ attention and get their prayers answered.  It was not what Elijah prayed that mattered most, but who he was before God.  When a person in right standing with God prays, God hears.

So, here is my point.  God does not answer prayer, He answers PEOPLE!

I love Caller ID.  I guarantee you, when the caller ID shows that my wife or one of my sons or my daughter is calling me, that call is getting answered.  My family can always reach me.  But if the Caller ID says that it is a blocked call, or a toll-free number, the chances are not good that the call will go through.  In other words, I base my response on who is calling.

That’s the way our God is.  He does not respond to eloquence, or volume, or magic words, or any other human device.  He responds to people.  It was not Elijah’s prayers that moved God, it was Elijah.  Elijah was a righteous man and God listens to the righteous.

Am I saying that there is some sort of merit in Elijah, or me, or in anyone else that gives us merit?  Can we attain some kind of special standing with God that gets our prayers answered?  No, of course not.  But when we come to Christ, we are justified, clothed in his righteousness and granted favor with the Almighty.  We are adopted into his family and given full access to God in the name of Jesus Christ.  When I pray, God sees Jesus’ name on the Caller ID and my prayers are answered.

Now, in the name of Christ, I have the privilege of going boldly into the throne room of heaven to voice my praise, confess my sins, pour out my heart and make my requests.  I am welcome in the presence of God because of the grace of Jesus Christ.

God does not hear my prayer because I say the magic words, or because I moan and shout.  He is impressed by neither my eloquence nor my passion.  He hears my prayers because He loves Jesus and I am in him!  I have been accepted in the Beloved.

Undoubtedly, there are ways that the righteous can make their prayers more effective through study, practice, discipline and passion.  But there is no method, means or magic that can make the prayers of an unrighteous man powerful and effective.  The only basis of answered prayer is an intimate relationship with God.

I have had the opportunity to meet with my congressman (Steve King – the best in the land!).  This man helps to shape the direction of our nation and he called me by name.  That’s kind of cool.

But I had an even greater privilege.  Clothed in the righteousness of Christ, I come before God in the name of Jesus to present my requests to Him.  And God listens.  The God of Heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of all hears me when I call to Him.  That is amazing, isn’t it?

God answers ME.

So, what are you going to do with those stones?