Yes. The bible was written by men inspired of the Holy Spirit to write. Just as I am doing right now! I have this need to share with you why some prayers seem to go unanswered, for this is the biggest reason many get discouraged, give up, and no longer come to God. Our relationship with him is everything!

If we lose that, what do we have? Nothing! SO these are things are know to be true, both from my experience, from the Holy Spirit teaching me …..and from God’s word. Here are 7 prayers that God “can’t answer……: the way you wish. Before I share it I want to share a story with you. 

When I was in high school, I prayed every single day to be in this “small group” of singers I wanted to travel with. Every day I prayed. Day in, and Day out “YOU SAID FATHER” ask what you will and it shall be done!” (I said) so please give me favor, put me in this group. 

I even shared with him why I needed it to happen. I had good reasons too! It didn’t happen and I was torn between being upset with the Director or upset with God. See, I felt I NEEDED IT TO HAPPEN and it was a reasonable request. I was having a horribly rough time in high school, had no friends, my life was in shambles…..and I was praying for this one good thing to happen for me. I had other dreams not come true for me (many) and by the way I practiced (for the audition) …Oh how I wanted this one thing to come true for me! And in my heart I thought “If you will just do this, I will serve you forever!”

…….Well it didn’t happen. And my Faith was reaching out with Maximum Force! It seemed to be the God of the Universe had to see my heart and how very important this was to me. I took it as a no, which led to me thinking he didn’t care……

But it was not a no ……And I wish I had known this a very long time ago! 

Here is what God has shown me since then (so long ago) ..as I continually pursue knowing him as my savior and Lord: 

#1 God won’t answer prayers that take away a person’s free will. Now yes if they want to Kill you and God doesn’t want you dead, yes he can intercede for you! I”m talking about forced salvation, or praying someone “serves God” if they have no desire to do so. At all! HE sees their heart! If you prayed for someone this way and they got saved, it’s only because they already had a desire to see him, know him, or get saved. God doesn’t take prisoners. Only satan does that, not God.

#2 Prayers that go against who he is. God could have just killed Pharoah (to set the captives free) why didn’t he? Because, he is just. He is fair, he is Holy, he is kind and he is longsuffering. You can see God’s mercy toward Pharoah in how he dealt with him. And yes his children did suffer more, while awaiting their day of deliverance. If they prayed God would just “Kill” Pharoah (to hurry up the process) no, God did not answer……that prayer, the way they wished.

#3 Prayers to plant seeds where there is hard hearts or hardened soil. God is wise. He’s a great farmer. IF you are praying to plant a seed (of his word) in a hardened heart, he already told us in Matthew that seeds on rocky soil fall by the way. A better prayer is to ask him to plow up the soil of their heart (in this case) We need to be led by His Spirit in how we pray. I really believe (again) God will not go against “WHO HE IS” He remains true to himself! Therefore, we are wise to ask for his wisdom! (In Prayer).

#4 Prayers that put the flesh ahead of the Spirit our Soul. Yes, he wants to heal. He does! Often God will heal people because he knows if he does, they will believe (in him) and get saved. Other times there is justice involved, such as answering the prayer of another person who is petitioning him endlessly to heal someone HOWEVER as a rule, God does not put flesh ahead of the Spirit. He is always more interested in the condition of our heart than he is about our bodies.

Therefore, instead of just saying “God must not want to heal” It is better to say ….so what’s the Hold Up Father? Why are they not getting well? Tell us your heart on the matter? Don’t just assume he doesn’t want to heal someone! There are cases where God withholds a promise for a time- to get a better promise from you! (Covenant!). Every case is different! I will tell you this……If you keep your heart centered on what he wants (vs what you want) IN YOUR RELATIONSHP WITH HIM Things will go much better for you.

#5 Prayers that make others stumble. You can pray for revival, (in your church) and that’s fine, but we need to keep in mind how much God loves his people. If they only want to eat vegetables (and have chicken soup for the soul, vs meat) God respects that, and their wishes. He doesn’t love them any less, just because they do not wish to partake of all the great things you have experienced! So I have learned this the hard way, some do not wish to have steak! If they are content in God with what they have an love him, it’s a trespass to barge in and insist they have or eat things “your way.” Amen?

#6 Prayers that do not glorify Him. Does it really glorify him if you get a million dollars, and spend it on whatever you want? One thing that scares me is I do believe in some cases, when a person keeps on and on in faith (without Love for God) the devil might just step in and answer! You see he has signs and wonders too (signs and lying wonders). So don’t assume because that “other person” got everything they wanted (and did not do it God’s way) Got the answer from God! WE NEED to understand that God our Father does not go against his own word. He’s not going to say “seek ye first my kingdom” and then grant people big piles of money so they can skip over everything he said, without a consequence. What God does always brings people closer to him…………….

As that is his Number #1 Mission. We know this, because he did not deny us his own Son, who went to a bloody and horrible death on a cross to save us. (and he did NOT deserve it, we did!).

7. Things you can do for yourself (you are lazy, or just won’t, or whatever) AS HIS child if you just don’t want to seek a job (bring me a Job Father) Or you won’t talk to your wife “Just tell her to be nice to me God” Or in my Case “Father please help so and so do thus and so” yeah. I have not had any luck with praying for others to do my bidding! Now if you have tried to communicate and they won’t listen, perhaps God will have you pray they have a listening ear or their ears are opened to hear BUT……

Do not get caught up in formulas! I KNOW this is hard to hear, but People are not objects! Every case is not the same. People are as unique as snowflakes …..

Therefore, If we don’t want our Faith to be shipwrecked, or wind up discouraged, or feeling our prayers are all in vain, we do well to heed these words: 

1 John 5:14 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.”

on top of that we have: 

From the upcoming book “Relationship is everything!” by Laura Grace