If God does not answer prayer in a recognizable way, what does this scripture mean?

Question

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matt. 7:7-12)

If God does not answer prayers for peace, in the Middle East (as noted by answerers to my earlier question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgDYCTnpi1I2Wmek_42i2End7BR.?qid=20070326080508AA89jWy ), what does the above scripture seek to impart?

Answer 1

God answers prayer in His time and in His own way for our good and for His glory.

He is under no obligation to answer all of our prayers....but He does...

It's either yes....no....or wait.

Answer 2

To me - it speaks about tangible physical things or things that the person who is praying for something has direct control over in some way.

Such as - I have prayed to find a job within a month and was lead to a good job within a month of looking. I asked for help in finding a replacement for a microwave that broke and could not afford a new one and didn't want to pay more than $75 for a new one and was lead to a store that had one on clearance for $75.

Where the person has direct control over the outcome - God can help guide and help that prayer to happen if it is of that person's highest good.

Peace in the middle east would have to be against many people's free will and free choice. Peace is not the same for everyone - so God cannot answer that prayer the same way for each person. All in that area would have to want peace on a global scale for that to be answered.

Peace can be found within, ask God for you to feel peace and not worry about everyone else.

Answer 3

I think this is where the christians will tell you that what is going on in the middle east is a test and that god works in mysterious ways. It's the standard fallback position. From this it is impossible to tell if prayer works.

Or the christians will give you the position that 'god will only answer the prayer if it is in line with what god wants' - meaning that it doesn't matter what you pray, god will do what he wants anyway. This also makes it conveniently impossible to tell if prayer really works.

Ah there we go... The middle east problem is happening because we are not praying enough (it's a test) and god answers all prayers at an unspecified time but it probably won't be what we expected and we may not understand it (god works in mysterious ways).

It's funny about the bread and fish thing.... When Jesus was (allegedly) called upon to feed the 5000 he didn't work in mysterious ways - he gave bread and fish. He didn't answer by giving some unspecified good at some unspecified time in the future. Nor did he give them some mystery 'spiritual food'. Very clearly when god is supposed to answer prayer, he is supposed to give what was requested. Clearly god does NOT work in mysterious ways.

I think it is reasonable to say that if what was requested was not given, then the prayer is not being answered. Clearly the 'mysterious ways' thing is either complete hogwash or simple hedging, and meant to cover for the unanswered prayers.

But what do I know - if my answer is a good one that makes sense, christians will only say I am being led by satan so that they can conveniently ignore me. I don't know why I bothered to type all this.

Answer 4

Along with these Scriptures, don't forget "Seek FIRST the kingdom of God, AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and THEN all these things shall be added unto you."

Modern society looks at Jesus as a giant "Santa Clause" in the sky, thinking that God will give anything and everything to anybody who asks, and then they are disappointed when nothing happens.

Remember, the Scripture also says "When we ask according to His will, then we know that we have whatsoever we ask."

and again,

"You have not for you ask amiss, to consume it on your own lusts"

Then, there are the "universal" prayers, such as "God save everybody", etc.

We KNOW this won't happen, so when somebody prays this kind of prayer, they will be disappointed. Even God is disappointed, because it says that "God doesn't want ANY body to perish, but that ALL should come to repentance", but we know that not everybody is being saved, and if you base your relationship with God on unanswered prayers such as these, you will certainly be disappointed.

There is a lot more I could say, but I hope this much helps.

Answer 5

He always answers our prayers one way or the other. If it seems like He didn't, we can feel that He gave us comfort to accept what was not possible to do for us.

We can be very selfish in our prayers sometimes, asking for things we want and for things we think we deserve. However, sometimes He has a different plan for us and He has to deny this or that. Prayer is not in vain though. When He can't grant us what we ask, He gives us strength, comfort and courage to go through whatever we are going through, and we hope to learn from all the bad things that happens to us.

When praying, we should ask what we want and say that we are going to accept His decision, because He wants the best for us.

Think about a child that asks Mommy for a candy. She can't understand Mommy has a reason to say no, however, Mommy Knows what it is the best for her child. Even if you're going through something really serious, like a severe disease, think of it like an opportunity to grow spiritually. You can ask God for the cure, but if He says no, that doesn't mean He doesn't love you. Instead, He sees that necessary to your Spiritual growth.

Peace!

Answer 6

Not Remaining In Christ

Our prayers will be answered if we remaining in Christ.


If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you (John 15:7).


To remain in Christ means to keep His commandments:


and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him (1 John 3:22).



Not According To His Will

Often times our prayers are answered with a no because it is not according to His will.


This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).




There are several reasons why prayers seem to go unanswered though all prayers are indeed answered. One of the answers that God gives is, No. God also may answer with, Wait. Whatever the case may be, God does answer all the prayers of believers.

Answer 7

How would you recognize an answered prayer halfway across the globe? You're supposed to seek YOUR daily bread. Don't be so obsessed with stuff that happens so far away it can't really affect you. There are people THERE who should be making that prayer. God is soverign, but He moves in His OWN time, not according to your schedule.

Answer 8

Prayers are not answered right away.

The house just approved the troops to be pulled out in 2008.

If all we had to do was pray to get what we wanted what would be the sacrifice to make all that praying worthwhile?

Good luck!

Answer 9

"For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." If you are hearnestly and sincerely seeking God, then you will find HIM. He didn't say that every thing that you want to happen will happen... ask for a million dollars, and you probably will not receive it... this is about more than things, this passage is about seeking God... seeking truth!

Answer 10

I'm with Dharmanator....I figured out a long time ago that it doesn't really matter what we say when we pray to the Biblical god. He does whatever he wants, whether humans like it or not.

Getting what you really want is a combination of skill and luck. How much of each, depends on the exact circumstances.

Answer 11

but God does answer prayer in a recognizable way. i've seen it many times in my own life... but sometimes (infact, a lot of the time) He does not answer prayer in the way that we would have him... think about the Israelites captivated in Egypt. how many years was it before their prayers for freedom were finally answered?

just remember this.. something my mum explained to me years ago.. God does not only have two answers (yes, and no), but also a third..... "wait."

a lot of the time i too wonder why God does not intervene with certain things, but maybe we just don't understand the bigger picture with the situation in the Middle East.... maybe God's answer to prayers for this peace is infact "wait"

the israelites still had much to learn before they could hold their freedom. when they first began to see even glimpses of it, they got incredibly self righteous, thinking that they were in control... and they spent 40 years in the desert for that.

in the book of job, job suffered for a very long time, with his family dying, and losing all his earthly wealth... but this was to make his faith stronger, and God did eventually answer his prayers and made him much better off than he was before for keeping that faith.

so, keep your faith, friend, this will eventually come to an end, we just don't know the how's and when's... and that is not for us to know... if we knew the how's and when's of everything, what purpose would we have in our lives?