Why God Doesn’t Answer Prayer

Read Proverbs 28

Featured Verse: Proverbs 28:9, MESSAGE

“God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to him.”

I am partly disturbed, partly humored by the growing number of people in our culture who don’t seem to think God has any moral standards to which he holds human beings accountable.  And there are even more than a few Christians who now think that way, too!

We seem to want a God created in our image—a God of grace but not justice; a God of love but not righteousness; a God who takes everyone to heaven but sends no one to hell; a God who gives us everything we want but never expects anything of us.  That sounds more like a kindly old grandfather in the sky than the God who has revealed himself through the Bible. In reality, a God who makes no moral demands and holds no one to account is a capricious and unloving being—and that is not the kind of God I want to serve.

Yes, God is loving, gracious, kind, forgiving, patient, generous and infinitely fair, but he also expects us to hold up our end of the bargain.  Now to be sure, our end of the bargain is miniscule compared to the infinite weight of grace on his end, but still, he has some expectations of us: Not a track record of perfection, mind you, but the offering of a lovingly obedient heart. Card carrying members of the family of God have but one requirement, which Jesus summed up in John 14:15,

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

Of course, we will never perfectly live up to our end of the deal, but with his ever-present help, he expects us to give it our best shot. And when we fail, he has provided forgiveness through his Son, Jesus (you may want to review I John 1:9 on that one).  Again, it is not about perfection, but obedience; it is not about earning, but effort.

So if we think and act like this is a one-sided deal, we have another thing coming.  And one of the things we’ll find is that, contrary to all the Christian clichés, God will not answer our prayers.  If we’re not going to listen to him, why should he listen to us?  Actually, there are a fair amount of verses in the Bible that specifically point this out:

  •  If we aren’t forgiving of others, God won’t receive our prayers. (Matthew 5:24, 6:14)
  • If we aren’t loving with our spouse, God won’t entertain our prayers. (I Peter 3:7)
  • If we aren’t compassionate toward the poor, God won’t hear our prayers. (Proverbs 21:13)
  • If we aren’t faithful in our giving, God won’t answer our prayers. (Malachi 3:8-9)

And the list goes on and on as to how God responds to those who don’t respond to his word—and it’s pretty scary.  On the other hand, there are many wonderful promises for those who give effort to hold up their end of the bargain, and believe me, when we do, the weight of Divine grace shifts to our side in ways that our eternal gratitude will never be able to repay.

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”  ~II Chronicles 16:9

Winning At Life:

Although we are saved by God’s grace and not by our righteous works, and therefore cannot earn salvation, we can, and must give effort to work out our salvation (read Philippians 2:12-13).  Write down an area in your life where you need to give greater effort in order to be more lovingly obedient to Christ’s commands—then ask him for help.  He will hear you!

O For Intelligent, Sensible leaders!

Read: Proverbs 28:2

When a nation sins, it will have one ruler after another. But a nation will be strong and endure when it has intelligent, sensible leaders. (TEV)

O for intelligent, sensible leaders!

Nothing significant happens in life without someone providing good leadership to achieve it.  That is just one of the immutable laws of life.  Everything rises or falls on leadership—and if it is going to rise, then it will require a foundation of intelligent, sensible leadership.  If it falls, it will most likely be because there was a leader who had charisma or maybe even competence, but lacked character.  That’s why, in I Timothy 4:12, Paul told a young, developing leader named Timothy, “As a young man be an example in leadership.” In other words, Paul was saying that more than charisma and competance, it is the example of a leader’s life that counts most.

The Bible tells us that David was just such a leader.  He was one of the greatest leaders in human history, not so much because of his great exploits, or even his perfect track record, but because of his personal integrity.  In spite of his well known mistakes, Psalm 78:72 says of David, “His good heart made him a good leader; he guided his people wisely and well.”

Unfortunately, a lot of leaders today in government, business and even in the church, have loads of personal charisma and gobs of professional competence, but they bomb because of the lack of something far more important: a good heart.  The good heart of a good leader doesn’t necessarily mean personal magnetism or off the charts job knowledge, but it does mean credibility and conviction. As Cavett Roberts said, “If a leader’s people understand him, he’ll get their attention.  If they trust him, he’ll get their action.” You see, it’s moral fiber that really counts in leadership worth following.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Every great organization is lengthened by the shadow of a single person.  The quality and character of the leader determines the quality and character of the organization.”  O for intelligent, sensible leaders who will lengthen and deepen the organizations they lead! How we need men and women in Washington, DC and on Wall Street, in the academy and in the church, and especially in our homes, whose character enriches and strengthens those whom they lead!

Now here is the deal:  Take Emerson’s words and combine them with the words of Proverbs 28:2 and apply them to anywhere you are involved: your family, your business, your school or your church.  If you have any influence in those arenas at all—and I suspect you have more influence than you realize—then those people and that organization will be strengthened, lengthened and deepened if you will exert intelligent, sensible, good and godly leadership.

I hope you will.  Your world desperately needs it.

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are
to where they have not been.”
~Henry Kissinger

Your Assignment, Should You Choose To Accept It:

Ralph Waldo Emerson also said, “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Consider that quote in terms of the area(s) where you have influence.  In what way may God be calling you to be a trailblazer for the people you lead?

Bootlicking Flattery

Read: Proverbs 28:23

In the end, serious reprimand is appreciated far more than bootlicking flattery.

I met recently met with a young pastor who is on the threshold of launching a new church.  God has gifted this young man with a ton of talent and an inspiring vision. And the group of people God is bringing around him to help is pretty impressive—talented, visionary, sacrificial people. From what I can tell, this is a “God thing” and this church plant will do well.

The pastor was asking my opinion on a particular person who wants to join their leadership team—a musician who is incredibly talented and could really help them in a critical area of their worship.  But there is a check in the pastor’s spirit about this person’s spiritual character that he can’t quite articulate, so we talked about how to handle it.  The bottom line we mutually came to was to simply and honestly have a difficult conversation with this person about the cause of the pastor’s concern, put some parameters around their involvement, and hold back inviting them onto the leadership team until certain spiritual benchmarks had been met.

The pastor wasn’t sure how this man would respond, but we both agreed that this was a necessary step in the launch of the new church, a test of obedience for the pastor to see if he would indeed trust the prompting of the Holy Spirit in his leadership, a critical move that would affect the health of the new church for good or ill depending on what the pastor decided, and a holy confrontation that would either allow a potential character flaw to continue unchecked (previous leaders had turned a blind eye to it because they needed the man’s musical talent) or for the first time, deal with it decisively and redemptively.

Too often in churches, and in every other arena of life, too—in our marriages, within our homes, among our friends, with our co-workers—we don’t challenge poor character and unacceptable behavior for fear of hurting another’s feelings or perhaps even ending a relationship.  Sometimes we are unwilling to risk a difficult conversation because we crave a smooth relationship or we need their talent or their influence or their money.  But at the end of the day, we do no favors to the one who needs enough love from us that we are willing to tell them the truth.  Of course, we need to speak the truth in love and grace, under the leading and timing of the Holy Spirit, and with both a humble heart and pure motives—but we do need to tell the truth. Too much is at stake not to!

There are a lot of people—and it’s very likely that you and I are in that category—who are still carrying around character flaws, in part, because someone who was supposed to love and care enough to confront wasn’t willing to venture a direct look in the eye and say “unacceptable” to questionable behavior. That’s a tragedy, really!  Proverbs 26:28 says, A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” Obviously, we are responsible before the Lord to deal with our own junk, but we also have a responsibility as family members of the human race to help the people around us deal with theirs.

I know that without providing the context for biblical confrontation—which would make this blog way too long—that what I am suggesting is potentially dangerous and damaging.  But I trust that if you are reading this blog, you probably are wise enough to use both your common sense and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to do what I am suggesting lovingly and redemptively.

Enough with the bootlicking flattery!  Real love doesn’t allow for that.

“The wounds from a loved-one are worth it; people who don’t
really love you will tell you want you want to hear.”
~Proverbs 27:6

Your Assignment, Should You Choose To Accept It:

If you’d like to dig a little deeper into this subject, here is a source published by one church that I found helpful:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aTC9rmkrf4wJ:www.harvestrockchurch.org/che_outlines/06-24-07.doc+guidelines+for+loving+confrontation&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

The God Who Doesn’t Answer Prayer

Read: Proverbs 28:15

God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to him. (Message)

I am partly disturbed, partly humored by the growing number of people in our culture who don’t seem to think God has any moral standards to which he holds human beings accountable.  And there are even more than a few Christians who now think that way, too!

We seem to want a God created in our image—a God of grace but not justice; a God of love but not righteousness; a God who takes everyone to heaven but sends no one to hell; a God who gives us everything we want but never expects anything of us.  That sounds more like a kindly old grandfather in the sky than the God who has revealed himself through the Bible. In reality, a God who makes no moral demands and holds no one to account is a capricious and unloving being—and that is not the kind of God I want to serve.

Yes, God is loving, gracious, kind, forgiving, patient, generous and infinitely fair, but he also expects us to hold up our end of the bargain.  Now to be sure, our end of the bargain is minuscule compared to the infinite weight of grace on his end, but still, he has some expectations of us: Not a track record of perfection, mind you, but the offering of a lovingly obedient heart. Card carrying members of the family of God have but one requirement, which Jesus summed up in John 14:15,

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

Of course, we will never perfectly live up to our end of the deal, but with his ever-present help, he expects us to give it our best shot. And when we fail, he has provided forgiveness through his Son, Jesus (you may want to review I John 1:9 on that one).  Again, it is not about perfection, but obedience; it is not about earning, but effort.

So if we think and act like this is a one-sided deal, we have another thing coming.  And one of the things we’ll find is that, contrary to all the Christian clichés, God will not answer our prayers.  If we’re not going to listen to him, why should he listen to us?  Actually, there are a fair amount of verses in the Bible that specifically point this out:

If we aren’t forgiving of others, God won’t receive our prayers. (Matthew 5:24, 6:14)

If we aren’t loving with our spouse, God won’t entertain our prayers. (I Peter 3:7)

If we aren’t compassionate toward the poor, God won’t hear our prayers. (Proverbs 21:13)

If we aren’t faithful in our giving, God won’t answer our prayers. (Malachi 3:8-9)

And the list goes on and on as to how God responds to those who don’t respond to his word—and it’s pretty scary.  On the other hand, there are many wonderful promises for those who give effort in holding up their end of the bargain, and believe me, when we do, the weight of Divine grace shifts to our side in ways that our eternal gratitude will never be able to repay.

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen
those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
~II Chronicles 16:9

Your Assignment, Should You Choose To Accept It:

Although we are saved by God’s grace and not by our righteous works, and therefore can never earn our salvation, we can, and must give effort to work out our salvation (read Philippians 2:12-13).  Write down an area in your life where you need to give greater effort in order to be more lovingly obedient to Christ’s commands—then ask him for help.  Those are the kinds of prayers he will hear—and answer!