Whether religious or not, prayer is a big part of many people’s lives. For Christians, it’s a time when we can talk to God, open our hearts to Him, ask for forgiveness and help, or thank Him. Have you ever prayed really hard for something…but then…nothing? Radio silence. It seems like nothing happened, and you might start to wonder – was God not listening? Does God even answer my prayers? Or did He just choose not to answer that prayer? When we feel this way, we should consider the following points.
1. What Are You Praying For?
Once, before learning about God, I prayed for Him to help me do well at an audition. I’ve seen people pray for their sports team to win (my students do this during classroom games too), for the traffic to go away, or various other things we have no control over. We can probably agree that sending prayers like this to God feels a bit…off. They are selfish things that benefit us and give no consideration for what God thinks or wants.
What God wants is to save everyone – He’s been carrying out this work for the past 6,000 years. In my reflection about that fact, I realized that in the grand scheme of things, my audition really couldn’t compare. So I considered, does He really have time to be concerned with my audition?
What God Wants Us to Pray About
What then, does God want us to pray for? He wants us to focus on the unseen, the spiritual, the things that will help His work and Kingdom. Prayers to open our hearts to receive His word, prayers to give us the understanding of His heart, prayers to have the strength to do what He wants of us, even if it’s hard. This can be summed up in Matthew 6.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
In this chapter, Jesus gives many teachings and among those are the command to not worry. God even takes care of the birds of the air, so we should trust He’ll do the same for us and focus our attention on His kingdom and righteousness.
Back when I neither knew God’s will or kingdom, despite being Christian, how would a prayer about an audition sound to God? I realized that I had been using God like my personal genie.
So we should pray to know God’s righteousness, His plan, and carry it out every day. We should pray to understand His precious word that He gave us, and we should make a greater effort to seek His kingdom. What could be more important than that?
2. What Kind of Heart Are You Praying With?
Think about how you pray. Is it like a fleeting gesture – do you put a lot of thought into it? Is it sincere and deliberate? Even if our words fail, God sees our heart (1 Chronicles 28:9, Romans 8:27).
Have you ever spoken with someone but could tell they were uninterested, insincere, or not mindful? It doesn’t feel good, especially when you sincerely would like to talk and have a relationship with them. Growing older myself, I can sympathize with parents whose children are like this to them. What about God? Would He want to answer our prayers if this is our attitude?
The Heart Behind the Prayer is Important
What if our motives when it comes to praying aren’t right before God? We can see this also in Matthew 6:
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:5-6
Jesus says that there are those who pray to be heard by other people, and there are those who pray to be heard by God. Not that we should never pray in front of people – that’s not what Jesus is saying – but that we have to take a good look at our heart. Are we putting on an act, a show of our great faith to wow those around us? If so, then we’re hypocrites.
Rather, the correct heart before God is one of meekness that is not interested in a reward from people, but is willing to keep everything between themselves and God. He wants to see our sincerity in our relationship with Him. To these people, God gives His reward.
3. Are You Praying in Jesus’ Name?
When people finish their prayers, sometimes they say “in Jesus’ name.” Perhaps you do it too, perhaps you don’t. Do you know why people say this? And does God care?
The answer is yes! When we ask God in Jesus’ name, we are following a command that was given.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
John 14:13
Jesus became a mediator between us and God, our high priest. By asking for things in the name of Jesus, we glorify him, the Son, and in turn glorify God the Father.
Okay, I’ve considered all these things.
Well, maybe God did answer your prayer but you just don’t know it.
Maybe You Didn’t Recognize the Answer He Gave
As mere humans, we can’t be expected to understand all the ways of God and what He is doing – especially while it’s happening. It usually takes some time and reflection to see. The Bible reflects this as well, saying that God’s ways are not ours; they are higher.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
God knows what we need, and He knows it much better than we ourselves do. When He works, He’s not working for the short-term, but long-term. We might not understand what He is doing all the time, but we should never think that we know better than Him. So let’s lay down our expectations for how He is going to work, and pray for eyes to see His answered prayers.
Knowing the Bible Helps Us Recognize God’s Work
Let’s focus on what we can do. What we can control. And that’s building up our faith through His word. That way, we’ll be able to recognize God and His work better, so that when He does answer our prayer, we’ll be able to see it and be grateful.
So what if God did answer your prayer? How might He have done it? We can see in the Bible that prayers are often answered by sending people to us. I can attest to this myself. In the time when I felt so far from God, clutching a book that wasn’t giving me life, I prayed for God to help me be close to him. Not much later, God sent me someone to teach me about the Bible.
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2
I didn’t realize it at the moment, but by entertaining that stranger and allowing her to become my close friend and mentor, I was accepting the answer to my prayer.
So think about it – how might God have answered your prayer already? Did your schedule clear up so that you can spend more time with God? Did you find a mentor? Maybe you found this blog post.
A Prayer According to God’s Standards
While prayer is indeed something personal, between us and God, we have to do it according to His standards, not however we feel. We want Him to answer our prayers, and we want to be able to recognize when He does. So let’s consider:
- What are you praying for?
- What kind of heart are you praying with?
- Are you praying in Jesus’ name?
- Have you possibly not recognized God’s answer?
Take heart that surely God is working in your life right now in order to bring you closer to Him. He sees you. And I hope that we can be those who see Him – or rather, see the work that He does in our lives. How do we do that? By knowing Him better through the Bible so that we can recognize what He wants and how He does it.
Written by Samantha
Read More
Music to God’s Ears: How to Pray a Prayer That Pleases God
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