Does God answer your prayers?

[Jim Langston]

1 John 5 says:
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

this would seem to be saying that if we are saved and we ask anything of God according to his will He will give it to us. Well, I know this is true for me. I know that God gives me just about everything I ask for, the things He doesn't give me he either alters to what I really want or He corrects me in asking for something that is a sin.

So I'm curious, how many of us get the things we ask God for?

I know I've heard people say things like Well, someone prayed to be healed and they weren't healed so this isn't true. Paul asked God to heal him and God responded that He finds strength in weakness, in other words, it wasn't God's will that Paul be healed.

So I would ask two things, 1. Does God give you what you pray for? 2. Are you living according to the foundations of the bible?

 

[NewbieinChrist]

1 John 5 says:
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

this would seem to be saying that if we are saved and we ask anything of God according to his will He will give it to us. Well, I know this is true for me. I know that God gives me just about everything I ask for, the things He doesn't give me he either alters to what I really want or He corrects me in asking for something that is a sin.

So I'm curious, how many of us get the things we ask God for?

I know I've heard people say things like Well, someone prayed to be healed and they weren't healed so this isn't true. Paul asked God to heal him and God responded that He finds strength in weakness, in other words, it wasn't God's will that Paul be healed.

So I would ask two things, 1. Does God give you what you pray for? 2. Are you living according to the foundations of the bible?

I am doing the best I can to live according to the Bible, but there's still some fleshy things going on that I know isn't pleasing to Him. He gives us what we pray for if we're in full obedience...I'm assuming, please correct me if I'm wrong....He answers us, but sometimes His answer is No. I'm a new convert into Christianity and I need help with these questions too.

 

[Greg J.]

God hears our prayers. Barring hindrances (1 Peter 3:7), he answers our prayers, too. He said so in Scripture, therefore it is the case.

But he has no obligation to answer them in the way we expect, or in a way that we can perceive. Demanding he do it in a the way we want is not our right. People want to see God answer all our prayers with the kind of results we imagine, but God is much wiser than that. Among other reasons, God doesn't answer our prayers like that much because it would harm our heart regarding who the master is and who the child is, and that is incredibly bad for us. Fortunately, he loves us.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:10-13, 1984 NIV)

How much we experience God depends on our faith. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; (Matthew 9:29, 1984 NIV)

Faith comes through obedience (Luke 17:5-10), particularly the obedience that builds on the rock that is Jesus rather than sand.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I am doing the best I can to live according to the Bible, but there's still some fleshy things going on that I know isn't pleasing to Him. He gives us what we pray for if we're in full obedience...I'm assuming, please correct me if I'm wrong....He answers us, but sometimes His answer is No. I'm a new convert into Christianity and I need help with these questions too.

NewbieinChrist:

It's by grace, right? that we live the Christian life because of what Christ has done at the Cross for us; not in the energy of the flesh, but by grace.

 

[faroukfarouk]

God hears our prayers. Barring hindrances (1 Peter 3:7), he answers our prayers, too. He said so in Scripture, therefore it is the case.

But he has no obligation to answer them in the way we expect, or in a way that we can perceive. Demanding he do it in a the way we want is not our right. People want to see God answer all our prayers with the kind of results we imagine, but God is much wiser than that. Among other reasons, God doesn't answer our prayers like that much because it would harm our heart regarding who the master is and who the child is, and that is incredibly bad for us. Fortunately, he loves us.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:10-13, 1984 NIV)

How much we experience God depends on our faith. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; (Matthew 9:29, 1984 NIV)

Faith comes through obedience (Luke 17:5-10), particularly the obedience that builds on the rock that is Jesus rather than sand.

It's 'the obedience of faith' / 'obedience to the faith', right? found at both the beginning and the end of the Epistle to the Romans.

 

[Greg J.]

It's 'the obedience of faith' / 'obedience to the faith', right? found at both the beginning and the end of the Epistle to the Romans.

Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. (Romans 1:5, 1984 NIV)

This is about obedience that comes from faith, rather than the faith that comes from obedience. However, they build each other up. God grants faith in response to obedience, which in turn makes it easier to be obedient.

Not sure what you meant if you were thinking of something else.

 

[brinny]

yes, He answers my prayers.

As long as it's according to His will.

When we pray according to God's will, there are some factors that are in place, aren't they?

 

[Jim Langston]

I am doing the best I can to live according to the Bible, but there's still some fleshy things going on that I know isn't pleasing to Him. He gives us what we pray for if we're in full obedience...I'm assuming, please correct me if I'm wrong....He answers us, but sometimes His answer is No. I'm a new convert into Christianity and I need help with these questions too.

If his answer is no then you did not ask something according to His will. That is the key. God will not give us something that will hurt us or hurt others. I may ask God for a million dollars and He won't give it to me because it's not His will, I may take that million dollars and go on a spending spree and forget all about God. If we ask something according to his will and are walking the narrow road to salvation He will answer our prayers. God does not hear the prayers of the sinful (read willful sinners) and won't give us something not according to His will. It is usually up to us to find out just what His will is when we don't get what we pray for but it's been my experience that God will let me know exactly why I didn't get what I asked for.

God hears our prayers. Barring hindrances (1 Peter 3:7), he answers our prayers, too. He said so in Scripture, therefore it is the case.

But he has no obligation to answer them in the way we expect, or in a way that we can perceive. Demanding he do it in a the way we want is not our right. People want to see God answer all our prayers with the kind of results we imagine, but God is much wiser than that. Among other reasons, God doesn't answer our prayers like that much because it would harm our heart regarding who the master is and who the child is, and that is incredibly bad for us. Fortunately, he loves us.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:10-13, 1984 NIV)

How much we experience God depends on our faith. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; (Matthew 9:29, 1984 NIV)

Faith comes through obedience (Luke 17:5-10), particularly the obedience that builds on the rock that is Jesus rather than sand.

Not only is God not always going to do it the way we expect but it will be in His own time, not ours. Whenever I pray for something I get it, but it usually takes a while. If we ask for spiritual things then, yes, we will very often times not even understand that He's answered our prayers. When we ask for physical things it may take a while, and we sometimes have to work for whatever it is we want.

NewbieinChrist:

It's by grace, right? that we live the Christian life because of what Christ has done at the Cross for us; not in the energy of the flesh, but by grace.

We are saved by Grace. We are saved because we walk in obedience. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

 

[NewbieinChrist]

Well I have been asking and begging Him to hug me as a Father hugs his child, but I haven't received that. I pray for Him to tell me He loves me, but I never hear it. Why? I know that God is love. How do i receive His love?

 

[com7fy8]

Paul asked God to heal him and God responded that He finds strength in weakness, in other words, it wasn't God's will that Paul be healed.

There are people who understand that "Paul's thorn" was a medical problem. But when Paul has a little talk with Jesus, then he says he will rather boast in his "infirmities" > not "infirmity".

Plus, he then says he will take "pleasure" in "infirmities" and "persecutions" and "needs" and "reproaches" and "distresses". I consider this means things which that "messenger of Satan" could cause and even coordinate, in order to mess with Paul. And while Paul tried in his own ego to deal with these things, he could have had quite a run-in with how his intelligence and independence and ingenuity and church influence were not enough.

And he could be getting quite frustrated, at how that thorn demon could parry past his defenses and pop his ego. But in God's grace with almighty unstoppable power, Paul could succeed in doing whatsoever God really had him do And the grace of God's love has Heavenly pleasant rest, so Paul could take "pleasure" (Psalm 16:11) in howsoever Satan might try to mess with him.

So . . . what do I need to ask God for? Hebrews 12:4-11 And yes, our Father is committed to doing this with us.

 

[Jim Langston]

Well I have been asking and begging Him to hug me as a Father hugs his child, but I haven't received that. I pray for Him to tell me He loves me, but I never hear it. Why? I know that God is love. How do i receive His love?

In what way do you expect God to hug you? Do you have food to eat? Do you have a place to live? Do you have all your needs met? Perhaps God is showing his love for you, but you aren't able to perceive it. Instead of asking God to show his love for you perhaps it would be better to ask God to teach you how to perceive his love.

Be forewarned, whenever I have asked God to teach me something bad things happen, that teach me what it is I want to learn. I.E. I asked God to teach me forgiveness, so God had someone cheat me out of $100,000 in equity so I could learn to forgive him. In other words, be careful what you pray for because you might just get it

 

[Greg J.]

Well I have been asking and begging Him to hug me as a Father hugs his child, but I haven't received that. I pray for Him to tell me He loves me, but I never hear it. Why? I know that God is love. How do i receive His love?

Keep asking. I can think of a couple ways he could answer that prayer in a way that satisfies you. However, stop begging; that's a sign that you need to know God better through studying Scripture more.

As for how you receive his love, be obedient in everything (and study Scripture more).

Nothing moves God's heart more than being faithful in one's obedience. Consider the difference in how you feel when someone is always faithful to you compared to how you feel when they're almost always faithful. If someone you meet up with regularly is on time 9 times out of 10, how much you trust them to be on time is going to have a different nature than if they are always, always on time. Imagine if they are faithful 300/300 times and you know that to do that, they've chosen to miss an airplane flight, chosen to meet with you rather than have food for dinner, went to their own birthday party late, gave up an easy job that would have made them a lot of money, etc.

(Edited)

 

[faroukfarouk]

Well I have been asking and begging Him to hug me as a Father hugs his child, but I haven't received that. I pray for Him to tell me He loves me, but I never hear it. Why? I know that God is love. How do i receive His love?

Ephesians 1 says that those who believe in the Lord Jesus are "accepted in the Beloved One".

 

[com7fy8]

How do i receive His love?

First, not that you haven't, but make sure you have trusted in Jesus (Ephesians 1:12) for salvation. And after we have gotten saved, now we need to continue to trust Jesus for all He desires to share with us and have us doing with Him. I think this trusting includes learning how to obey Him in His "rest for your souls" > Matthew 11:28-30 < more and more, to refuse to trust and obey any thinking or feelings or ideas or decisions or reactions which are not in God's peace ruling in us and giving us His soul-loving rest.

And in our basic Christian calling we have how to relate in love > Ephesians 4:1-3 > while we are submitting to how our Father rules us in His own peace > Colossians 3:15. So, I consider, we need unconditional submitting to God, all the time, seeking for howsoever He pleases to rule us in this peace. We trust God, by only trusting how He rules us in His peace, and this has us in the peace of His love.

And while we are busy with loving any and all people, this can have us in His all-loving love. Again, here there is trusting, also > we trust how God wants us to become all-loving, and always and unconditionally humble and gentle in our relating with one another > Matthew 5:46, by the way.

But if you are a young Christian, I would say we all need to grow as God's children. You have seen how a little child is ready to learn only so much, and a young child might not appreciate who his or her own parents are; but as the child grows in relating with Mom and Dad, then he or she grows also in benefitting from their love and being able to learn more and more.

So, trust God who knows what is really going on with you, and discover how He takes you along. And welcome to the Kingdom of God and the family of Jesus

 

[Kenny'sID]

There is something very important to me that I keep asking for, something that is in general just, but I'm not getting it. However, not getting it has very clearly helped my walk with him.

Otherwise I ask for very little because I have all I figure I need and all considered, am pretty happy in that area.

 

[jargew]

Great topic!

I think, and believe, Christ always answers my, and your, prayers.
His answers are 1 of 3:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Not now, maybe later....

Often we think an answer to prayer is simply "Yes" and these are the most exciting answers. The others are tougher for us to accept.

Here are a few of my big time miracle "YES" answers in the past 6 years.
1. Kids
2. Job
3. House
4. Healed a very, damaged joint of mine, that was repeatedly damaged. Healed within 24 hours. This was amazing!
5. End of strife with co-workers (God IS in control of the minds of others). Ps. Pray for your co-workers!
6. Death without pain (may be an odd request, but it is truly merciful).
etc.

 

[brinny]

Well I have been asking and begging Him to hug me as a Father hugs his child, but I haven't received that. I pray for Him to tell me He loves me, but I never hear it. Why? I know that God is love. How do i receive His love?

Sister, delight yourself in the Lord, and rejoice in His Father's heart for you.

He rejoices over us with singing.

When we delight in Him through praise, and thanksgiving and worship (like David did in the Psalms), His delight in "us" becomes manifest.

Don't despair, the prayer you describe is precious to our Father. As you said, sometimes there is not what seems an immediate response, yet, He IS hearing you. Meditate on WHO He is and on the many ways He has blessed, protected, defended, healed, and ministered to you. His drawing you to Himself is a precious thing, for He is the One Who prepared your heart for Him, through His Holy Spirit.

May His joy be yours and may He show you His sheer delight in you, sister in Christ and beloved daughter of the most High God. (((hug)))

 

[NewbieinChrist]

My faith is weak, I admit. My hopes aren't ever realized and so I just keep holding on to hope. It's especially difficult to trust when my own earthly father never ever hugged me or told me he loved me..EVER! Why should a child have to beg for a hug from their parent? Yes, God provides for me. I need and yearn to be loved unconditionally. Even when my daughter did something wrong, I didn't remove my love from her. So, the only way God will love me is IF I obey everything perfectly? I am easily confused by some Scriptures. I'm in my Bible every morning, I listen to gospel music every day, I pray everyday and I show love to my boyfriend, my neighbors and even strangers in the store, and of course, my daughter. I write Scriptures so that I can be sure they are being grounded in my soul. And all I have really and truly wanted is for Him to hug me. All things are possible so isn't giving a hug possible?

 

[FanthatSpark]

, A truth/s to post #7

 

[brinny]

My faith is weak, I admit. My hopes aren't ever realized and so I just keep holding on to hope. It's especially difficult to trust when my own earthly father never ever hugged me or told me he loved me..EVER! Why should a child have to beg for a hug from their parent? Yes, God provides for me. I need and yearn to be loved unconditionally. Even when my daughter did something wrong, I didn't remove my love from her. So, the only way God will love me is IF I obey everything perfectly? I am easily confused by some Scriptures. I'm in my Bible every morning, I listen to gospel music every day, I pray everyday and I show love to my boyfriend, my neighbors and even strangers in the store, and of course, my daughter. I write Scriptures so that I can be sure they are being grounded in my soul. And all I have really and truly wanted is for Him to hug me. All things are possible so isn't giving a hug possible?

It's not "our" faith that it's about, sis. It's WHO we have faith "in". Remember the man in the Bible, who said to Jesus, 'Lord i believe, help my unbelief'? That is my own prayer. I have no faith of my own. Faith is a gift from our Father, to us. He places it inside us.

TRUST Him, dear sis, no matter what.

I have, many times with my weary self, just crawled up into His lap like a little child would do, and rested my weary head on His chest and just rested there, silently. I think at those times He must've been reading my "heart", for i was too weary to even utter a prayer, at least with words.

I didn't have an earthly father who loved me. He was incapable of it. He didn't even love himself or anybody else.

He KNOWS your grief, heartache, and woundings. He LOVES you.

TRUST Him, against all odds, dear sis.Praying for you (((hug)))