Reasons for Un-answered prayers.

[Woody]

Quote:

"If we live according to His word, every precious promise He has given will be fulfilled to us. We are undeserving of His mercy, but as we give ourselves to Him, He receives us. He will work for and through those who follow Him. {MH 226.3}

But only as we live in obedience to His word can we claim the fulfillment of His promises. The psalmist says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Psalm 66:18. If we render to Him only a partial, halfhearted obedience, His promises will not be fulfilled to us."

Ellen White in MH 227

I think this is the heart of the issue. My prayers are not being answered because I am not always obedient. At times ... my obedience is lacking. You might call it half hearted or partial. I'm still on the road. I guess until I get it all together ... I won't have my prayers answered.

[Woody]

"Precious promises are upon record on condition of our obedience to God's requirements." {RH, January 28, 1875 par. 16}

"The promise of God to us is on condition of obedience, compliance with all His requirements"..... CH 377

All the promises of God are on condition of obedience to Him. {LYL 83.1}

There is a class who say, "I believe, I believe," and lay claim to all the promises which are given on condition of obedience; but they do not the works of Christ. God is not honored by any such faith. It is spurious. {OHC 119.4}

"These promises of God to his people were on condition of their obedience. If they would serve the Lord fully, he would do great things for them. After Moses had received the judgments from the Lord, and had written them for the people, also the promises, on condition of obedience, the Lord said unto him, "Come up unto the Lord ..." {1SP 239.2}

"God would in no wise excuse sin in a people who had been enlightened, even if he had, in their days of faithfulness and purity, loved them, and given them especial promises. These promises and blessings were always upon condition of obedience upon their part." {RH, January 14, 1873 par. 10}

"God chose Israel as his people, and gave them gracious promises on condition of obedience. He faithfully performed his promises." {ST, October 15, 1896 par. 1}

"It should be remembered that the promises and the threatenings of God are alike conditional." {Ev 695.1}

"God's promises are conditional." {PCP 25.5}

Unanswered prayer creates spiritual distress and confusion. C.S. Lewis expressed this concern when he wrote, “Every war, every famine, every plague, almost every death-bed, is the monument to a petition that was not granted.”

[phkrause]

That's like the guy who smokes asking to be healed of cancer, but unwilling to quit! I think EGW addresses this issue in her writings.

[Woody]

That's like the guy who smokes asking to be healed of cancer, but unwilling to quit! I think EGW addresses this issue in her writings.

What about the person who is sincerely trying. But they remain addicted? They can't receive the promises of God for help because they are not obedient yet.

[phkrause]

What about the person who is sincerely trying. But they remain addicted? They can't receive the promises of God for help because they are not obedient yet.

That I believe would be between them and God. My mention was what EGW had said to someone that obviously wasn't getting an answer.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Woody, she is not talking about your performance, but your commitment. You can be committed to something, and stay committed even if you fail time and again. It's when you aren't interested in even trying to obey that you shut God out of your life. Then He respects your freedom of choice and leaves you to your own devices.

You can make a pretense of obedience, and you can even fool yourself into thinking that you are living in obedience, but you can't fool God. So long as self is on the throne of your heart and you are living in rebellion against Him, His hands are tied. He cannot help you because you don't want His help.

That doesn't mean he then does nothing. His Spirit will still try to get through to you, and sometimes He will even save you from dangerous situations, in order to give you more time to turn to Him. But He cannot do all you ask of Him unless you have put your life in His hands, and are submitting your desires and preferences to His greater wisdom and knowledge. Even then you may still not get what you think you want at first, but you will come to recognize someday that His answer was better than what you'd asked for. Sometimes we won't see it until we are with Him, because we don't know what would have been had he done what we asked, and don't realize what disaster could have come if he had given us our exact requests.

If you don't trust Him enough to do what He says you should, you don't trust Him enough to believe He will do what's best in answer to your prayers either.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Quote:

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Psalm 66:18.

Regard means to think highly of something.

Iniquity refers to our corrupt human nature.

So, to regard iniquity in one's heart means to prefer to remain corrupt, to choose to live in rebellion against God.

[GoLions]

Very well said GLG.