FIVE REASONS GOD MAY NEVER GRANT YOUR PRAYER REQUEST

 Very important for praying Christians

 *Five reasons God may never grant your prayer request* 

The Lord dropped these words into my spirit as I was praying for all PNUR family members this morning. I discovered it is something He wants me to share with you. We are known all over the word as a praying group of people. It is important that do not let the outward reputation that people hold about us deceive us to believe that God is Ok with everything we do. God wants us to get better every day and that is why He keeps talking to us with every opportunity He has.

While I was growing up in the Christian ministry I heard many teachings by reputed preachers which I have come to discover were misrepresentation of God in regards to prayer.

I have come to discover that there are many bible instances where God attended to the need of some people even though they never knew nor acknowledged Him. Pharaoh of Egypt and Cyrus the Persian received God’s support when they knew nothing about Him. Our perspective of God’s special is not in agreement with what I see in the bible.

I have come to discover that God has intervened in the affairs of people who did not have faith as we claim it. The widow of Nain (Luke7:11-17) was not even praying when the Lord Jesus Christ raised her son back to life.

I have come to discover that God is not offended when His children express fear or doubt. He rather steps in to calm their nerves and then show them the way out. Abraham and Peter both manifested fear and doubt.

I have come to understand that God answered prayers of people who did not know the word of God as we claim. The people of Nineveh in the book of Jonah and the military man Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 had zero knowledge of scriptures, yet their prayers received urgent response.

I have come to discover that God does not abandon people because they committed sin. Instead, He wants to step into their lives and show them the way out. King David and Apostle Paul are clear examples. (Rom5:8)

What then are the reasons that could make God not to respond to our prayers?

1.

God has His own will. God responds to prayers when that prayer agrees with His will. God saves someone when that person’s existence is tied to God’s agenda on earth. This is why some people still die despite much prayers.

I heard a man of God say, “If there is a man to pray, there is a God to answer. It is true that our God is a prayer answering God but it is also important that we recognize that He has things that fall within the list of things He would grant. If we pray intensely about something and back our prayers with many days and nights of fasting, God will not be bullied to grant to us our requests if they do not agree with His list of things to give to us.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us 1 John 5:14NIV

2.

God is not a murderer and nor does He delight in destruction. It must be heart-breaking to observe how many of our prayers are targeted at the destruction of other people’s lives. The truth is that sometimes we must destroy if we must build and some people must be killed if we must live in peace, but the God of the bible is not a murderous God. If your prayers are built on God killing people; whether enemies or oppressors, you can be sure that God will not grant many of your prayers. God sees and knows about the many evil things going on in this world and He is not waiting for your permission to destroy the world, if that were His will.

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. 2 Sam 14:14NIV

When we refuse to forgive people and wish in our hearts and everyday prayers that something bad should happen to them in order to make us happy, we should know that we are distancing ourselves from the Spirit of God.

3.

God does not bless us or answer our prayers to feed our greed. Greed is defined as excessive intense desire for something for one’s selfish end. God wants to give us wealth but why do you want it? God is very willing to give a better paying job but why do you want it? To know where you fall in with this, ask yourself, “What have I been doing with the things I have now? 

Why do you need another car? Why do you need to travel abroad? Why do you need a bigger house? In what way would your acquiring these new things honour God and benefit mankind. Even though many people claim that they will use the new things they are praying for to serve God, you can easily judge their sincerity by observing what they are currently doing with what they have now.

4.

God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth 1 Tim 2:3-4NIV

The first point here is “God wants them saved”; when you table your prayer request before God also consider how it is connected to the salvation of other souls. When you express your dislike for people of other races and celebrate it when they are killed, you should know you are far from God’s will. In many churches in the city, their hearts are totally closed against strangers because they want to protect their expensive church properties from thieves. They will not even allow the stranger to express themselves before to start to insult them because their heart is full of hate and bitterness. No matter how bad you feel about those criminals, God wants them to be saved. Jesus Christ did not die for your expensive church properties but He died for them.

If your prayer request says that God should help you to kill everyone who does not like you, you can be sure that He will not grant that. 40 days fasting will not change that. If your prayers killed them, you killed them by witchcraft.

If you are asking God to grow your business but the things you produce are for the wasting of other people’s lives, you can be sure that God will not grant that. If you are seeking Visa to travel abroad at the expense of the little congregation that God has placed in your care, you should be sure that God is not the one sending you out. Except you receive a direct express word, please drop that plan.

“Saved” talks about evangelism and “Knowledge of the truth” talks of discipleship or caring for a body of believers. When the church board is making plans and they ignore this two, God cannot be part of those plans.

5.

God has His own intentions for you, your family, your city, your church congregation and everything else. He does not depend on your prayers to take a decision about this world.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfil my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do Isa 46:10-11NIV

Unfortunately, some of us pray like all that God does is to sit down to respond to our prayers. One time I went to the Republic of Togo and my intention was to settle down there and work with a church congregation. After settling with some of the elders of the church, I returned to Nigeria to brief Joy. She was Ok with the plans. Then I returned to Togo, only for God to tell me in my dream that I should return to Nigeria and move to Port Harcourt. 

One would wonder, why was He quiet all the time I was making all that arrangement? To be candid, I was already fed-up with the PNUR vision and wanted to settle down in a church. But He is my boss. Joy was surprised when I returned to Nigeria to tell we were moving to Port Harcourt instead.

It is not always that God says, No, because we are going to commit sin. We can have very godly intentions and God steps in to say, “No, my child. This is not in my original intention for you”. In 2 Sam7:1-16, David felt guilty that he was living in a place better than where the Ark of God was kept. He invited his prophet and expressed his intention to build a temple for God. His prophet agreed with him and asked him to go ahead with his good intentions. But that night, God told Nathan to tell David that his good intentions was not in the original plans of God. God promised to bless him for the good intentions but He did not change His intentions to suit David’s plans.

As we want God to support our intentions in this New Year, we should try as much as possible to align our plans my God’s original purpose for us.

Remain in the place of prayers.

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com