My Alpha Talk on Prayer, Part Three

Let’s pay attention to Scripture here and go to:

John 16:19-24 – “¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, ‘Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.’”

And on peace let’s look at:

Philippians 4:6-7 -- ⁶ “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

For a look into what the results of prayer are let’s check …

Matthew 7:7-11 -- ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.   ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ 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 this might beg the next question: Does God always answer prayer?

Short answer to this is “Yes He does.”  Always.  One way or another.

Now when He doesn’t there is a reason that has to be cleared up.  If we have

unconfessed sin,

unforgiveness,

disobedience,

a misunderstanding of God’s will,

or the wrong motives then God may not actually respond to your prayers until you make the necessary changes and ask again.  But He will answer.  Our guidebook here claims there are three possible answers God will have to pray:

“Yes”  “No” and “Wait”.  In my case I will add “You’ve got to be kidding Me.”

If God’s answer is “no” you can guess that either the request is not good in and of itself, not good for us or others either directly or indirectly.  And maybe not do good in either the immediate or the long term – which we might not understand or comprehend.  Since God already knows and can play out your requests He alone knows what is coming and what He has planned for your life, now and in the longterm.

If He answers “yes” then you can be assured that you’ve got it right.  Both for yourself and Him.

Often the answer is “wait”. And I often get that one.  I won’t go into the “you’re kidding Me” one because I’m sure you can extrapolate that on your own and know exactly what I’m talking about there.

I do like the Matthew 7 instruction about giving our children good gifts.  If you have kids you are well aware that you will not grant them every wish and request they have.  You know better than them what is good for them, what will profit them in the long run, what will harm them, and what makes no sense just because “everyone else is doing it or has it”.  So if we know better than a child, so much so our God knows what is good and right for us.