7 Reasons God Does Not Answer All Your Prayers
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Has this ever happened to you? You go before God, seeking him in prayer, believing with all your heart for the answer. You fast and pray and do everything you know to do. After doing all this, God still does not answer your prayer the way you want him to. Naturally, your first instinct is to ask questions. Usually, they are questions of why didn’t God answer my prayer and what did I do wrong? These are valid questions.
While God answers prayer, there will be times when it seems like he is not answering your specific prayer. Should this happen to you, I want to give you seven reasons God does not answer all your prayers.
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1. God Always Answers, Sometimes We Don’t Like the Answer
The first thing you should know is God always answers prayer. The issue is, do you like his answer? There are only three ways God will answer a prayer.
Yes, which we all like.
No, which we initially don’t like.
Wait, which can be the most frustrating because it brings our patience and trust into the equation.
If you are honest, the question should not be why does God not answer all your prayers? What you are really asking is why does God not answer all your prayers the way you want him to? It is to this second question I want to give you the rest of these reasons.
2. You May Have the Wrong Motives
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
I know we believe all our motives are pure and upright when we pray, but sometimes they are not. There are times we pray selfish prayers that are for our benefit only. This is what James was addressing. In prayer, your motives matter. When we are asking God for something, we must make sure our motives are pure. Whatever you are asking for, think of your reason for asking for it. If it is coming from the wrong motive, that could be the reason God does not answer your prayer.
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3. You May Have the Wrong Timing
After searching your heart, you may discover your motives are pure. Wonderful, then why is God not answering? It could be the timing is wrong. This falls into the wait category, which can be the most frustrating. This is especially true when you know what you are praying for is good and right.
One thing to remember is we operate on God’s timing; He does not operate on ours. It is also good to note that God’s timing is never late, and the urgency of the matter does not freak him out. If God is telling you to wait, then trust him in the waiting, which I am aware is not always the easiest thing to do.
4. You May Have the Wrong Request
Sometimes God does not answer your prayer because you are simply praying for the wrong thing and God knows it is not in your best interest. The challenge here is our vision is limited. We see only see a small part of the picture while God sees miles ahead.
When you are driving, you can only see what is in front of you. You can’t see what is happening way down the road. However, when you use GPS, it can tell you what is happening down the road because it is looking from a higher vantage point. Guess who has the highest vantage point of all? God does. He can see all the way into your future, and he knows what will be good for you and what won’t. Regardless of how frequently or urgently you ask, because God loves you, he will direct you along the right path and he won’t give you something that is not good for you or in your best interest.
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5. You May Have the Wrong Purpose
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that 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 what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
Have you ever considered what you are asking for could simply be outside of God’s will for your life? This aligns with the previous reason of not being in your best interest. God has a plan for your life and if you trust him with it, he knows what you need to accomplish his will. He knows the job you need, the finances you need, the spouse you need and everything down to the finest detail.
When your prayer aligns with his plan, he will answer yes or wait, because even though it is part of his plan, it still has to agree with his timing. If your request does not align with his will, then don’t expect him to give it to you because he won’t.
6. You May Have the Wrong Teaching about Prayer
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
In the name it and claim it, blab it and grab it world of prosperity teaching, you may have been taught the wrong things about prayer. The entire purpose of prayer is not to get God to agree with your plan. It is for you to agree with his. That’s why Jesus told us to pray your will be done.
The idea that you can force God’s hand and make him do what you ask is simply ridiculous, and it violates what prayer is. That’s why the notion you can decree and declare and speak something into existence is ludicrous. The most we can do in prayer is ask and believe. Once we have done that, it is up to God to determine how he will answer, whether it is yes, no, or wait. To believe anything else turns prayer into something God did not mean it to be.
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7. You May Have the Wrong Accusation
Sometimes when God does not answer your prayer, you get blamed for it. Someone may tell you it is because you don’t have enough faith. This is often the case when people deal with chronic issues.
I have a dear friend of mine who has been battling health issues for a long time. She has prayed and God has not healed her yet. However, he has been sustaining her for a very long time. She has shared with me on several occasions how many people have told her if she had more faith, she would have been healed by now. Again, this falls into the category of bad teaching that falsely believes we can move God’s hand and make him do what we want.
Let me reiterate, we can’t. In her situation, I am certain it is not about faith. If you know you are believing God for the answer, then don’t let anyone else blame you if God has not answered the way you want.
Final Thought
It is possible you may never know why God does not answer your prayer. As you can see, it is not always about something you are doing or not doing. Prayer, by nature, is an activity of trust. When you pray and God does not answer your prayer in the way or in the timing you want him to, then you must continue to trust him. It doesn’t mean the answer is no, it might mean the answer is wait.
I cannot guarantee that a yes is coming to what you are praying for. I can guarantee that God will answer your prayer in the manner that is best for you. When you pray, make your request known because that is what God wants you to do. After you have done that, then believe God will do what is in your best interest. Knowing this brings his peace and with that you can accept his answer whether it is yes, no, or wait.
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