Live Free with Josh Howerton - Why Is God Not Answering My Prayers? | Ep. 399 | Thursday, August 15, 2024

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

If you’re a Christian, you need to keep this in mind, God responds to 100% of your prayers. Sometimes, he does so by saying YES. Other times he does so, by saying NO. And often, he does so by saying NOT YET. What happens when we ask, as Jesus taught us, and it seems God is not responding to our prayers, even good prayers? John 14:13-14 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, hey guys, welcome to our daily drive. If we haven't met, my name is Carlos, and I get to be a part of the pastoral team here at Lake Point. And, man, we get to hang out this week for a few minutes every day as we together dive into the Word of God.

And this week, what we're doing is we're talking about some of the most famous Bible verses that are most commonly taken out of context or misunderstood. And we'll review what most people think they're about. And then we'll clarify what they're actually about. And so as we do, man, I believe God's going to speak to us in a unique way through them so that this week, you and I can be continued to be formed more and more to the image of Jesus. And so let me share this story. Maybe you relate to this, but my wife Brooke and I, we have seasons where we will find a restaurant that we really like. And what we do is we just keep going back to it until we basically get tired of it. And then we, and what we do, once we get tired of it, we move on to the next one.

And a few years after getting married, we were in our mid-20s and we got hooked on payway. Now, if you're not familiar, this is a fast food Asian place. And at the time, my wife and I got hooked on its chicken pat tie. We loved it so much. We would pick up a bowl for each and go home and watch a movie early into our marriage, basically like every other day. And how eating works in our home is my wife Brooke will usually eat 60 to 70% of her food. and if she likes what she's eating, she'll save the food for a different time so she can finish it later. But if she doesn't like it, she'll let me finish her plate.

And this one night, I finished my payaway pat-tie bowl, and I knew there was no chance Brooke would give me her leftovers. And we were both really into, again, we were both really into this pat-tie, but I was also so hungry. And I thought, man, maybe there's a chance. So what I did is I actually prayed. I said, God, in my own mind, God, if this is even possible, could you nudge Brooke to give me her leftovers? And I mean, I don't think she had ever done that before with this pat tie in particular, but I believe I have the gift of faith. So I prayed that prayer. And what I did is I waited. I am not kidding. Like 15 minutes after that prayer, never done this before. She looks at me and she says something along the lines of, you know what?

I don't know why I'm doing this, but here, you can have my food if you want to. I'm just feeling generous today. Moral of the story. One, Mary a gracious and generous woman. I did that by the grace of God. And two, God answers prayers. Now, there's a verse in scripture where Jesus is encouraging his disciples and he tells them, listen, I'm going to be leaving you soon, but when I leave, I will send you the Holy Spirit to be with you always. And then he says this. This is John chapter 14, verse 13 to 14. He says, and I will do whatever you ask in my name. So that the father may be glorified in the son. Verse 14 says, you may ask me for anything. in my name and I will do it. Now, if you're a Christian, you need to keep this in mind.

God responds to 100% of your prayers. Now, sometimes he does so by saying yes. Other times he does so by saying no, and often he does so by saying not yet, okay? But what happens when we do ask like Jesus taught us? And it just seems like God is either not responding to our prayers or it just seems like what we're asking for is a good thing that we would expect God to say yes to, but it just seems like it's a no, no, no, no. Well, the Bible does say that there are reasons, there are times why God might intentionally not be answering your prayers in the way we expect them to. So let's review a few real quick.

Number one, God might be saying no to your prayers because of unforgiveness. There's a famous Korean preacher Yongkichou who no longer lives but pastor at one of the world's largest congregations. And he used to say this. He said, every day I choose to forgive many people because I hate many people. Mark chapter 11, verse 25 says, and whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone. Listen, so that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Listen, when we refuse to forgive others and we come and ask God for something, he's basically saying, hey, before we talk about that thing you want, let's first address that lack of unforgiveness in your heart.

Number two, God might be saying no to your prayers because what you're asking might not be according to his will. 1. John 514 says, and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Now remember, God is a loving father, not a genie in a bottle. We are not God's Lord that he needs to obey and do everything we say. No, we are his children. He is the father. And if we ask something that goes against his will for us, he loves us too much to say yes. That's why Jesus taught us to pray, God, this is what I want, but not my will, but your will be done. Number three, God might be saying no to your prayers because you might be asking with a wrong motive. James 4.3 says you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. Hey, when I started my own YouTube channel, this is back in the day when I was 20 years old

with the purpose of sharing my faith with my friends through videos. I remember praying and asking God for one million subscribers before the end of that year. And guess what? That did not happen. He said no for many reasons, I believe. One of them was because at that age I don't think I would have been able to carry that kind of responsibility. And two, I am confident God needed to work in my heart as a 20th.

year old to align my desires and ambitions to his purposes. Number four, God might be saying no to your prayers because he wants to teach you to persevere in prayer. This is Luke chapter 18, verse one. Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them, listen to what Jesus says, to show them that they should always pray and not give up. God cares about your situation, but he cares more. about who you are becoming.

Through prayer, sometimes God changes things around us, and through prayer, God every time changes us. Hey, let me end with this. Jesus said that the way you should relate to God is that of a son or a daughter relating to his or her good father. And because that's true, today we are free to pray, asking boldly and then trust. wholeheartedly. When we pray, we're saying, God, I can't do anything. And at the same time,

we're saying, God, you can do anything. When Jesus said, ask me anything, he meant it. So today, my invitation to you is pray. Ask. Keep trusting. Keep asking. Keep interceding. Your good, good father is listening. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.combe. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out?