Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayer?

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This is a heartfelt message to the Christian who has struggled for a long time with questions of faith and what it means.  It is the fruit of my own effort to understand.

So many of us have prayed either for ourselves or for others whom we love.  We read God’s promises in the scripture, but they don’t seem to be true.  How is it that He can say, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it,” (John 14:14) but then seemingly turn a deaf ear to our most heartfelt pleas?  Why doesn’t God answer our prayers?

If you are hurting right now, nothing I have to say is going to help much.  Sometimes it even rings hollow to me.  But still it remains the truth.  We will have a better understanding if we consider the context of these verses we like to quote.  The one above is a good place to start.  Read verses 12-15.  Jesus is not making an unqualified statement.  I hope that by the end of the message we all will see why it is that we sometimes don’t get what we think we should, and how our prayers can be answered.

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The Lion's Roar
Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?
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It’s Not About You

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It’s one of the hardest lessons for us to learn, and we need refreshers all our lives. Let’s look at what Paul has to teach us in Philippians 2:1-11.

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The Lion's Roar
It's Not About You
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You Can’t Build a House by Hugging a Tree

The Lion's Roar Posted on by

This morning I was talking, writing actually, to the Lord about the difficulties Linda and I face and what He is doing.  The summary, “I don’t really know, but I trust.”  I look back at what He has already done for both of us, in part by working through our hardships.  How can I not trust that He is still working now?

I’ve been reading a book,        Standing in the Fire: Courageous Christians Living in Frightening Times by Tom Doyle.  The title says it all.  These precious and amazing brothers and sisters know what real suffering for Jesus looks like.  I am not at all sure what we face can in any way be compared to that.  If so, it is only that God can and does use any form of suffering to strengthen our faith.  The origin of the suffering is no less evil for it, bug good will overcome.

As I was thinking about these things, God showed me a hammer.  Consider the tools of construction.  They are not tools of subtlety and softness.  They are loud, forceful, and destructive.  Wood and stone must be cut.  Nails must be hammered.  Metal must be forged. Ground must be broken up and removed.  The bigger the project, the bigger and meaner the tools you need to finish it.  But when it’s finished, you have a building ready to serve its intended purpose for many years to come.

In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul refers to the church as God’s building, and the individual as the temple of the Holy spirit, but the more common analogy found in the biblical text is to the fire of the forge, separating out impurities until we have pure gold.

There are questions left unanswered for us.  The suffering most often referenced by scripture is persecution, not sickness.  Is there not a time to fight?  Should we assume that because God is in control that we should just accept anything that comes our way?  I don’t think that’s the right answer, but I do know this:  even if I fail, He is able to turn that around to His good purpose.  I strive to understand.  I try to do the right thing.  I want to know and live the truth and show others how to do the same.  A heart and life that is submitted to His will is the key.  There is great peace in knowing that my failure cannot disrupt His plan.  He accounted for that too.  If I have misunderstood, He will show me in His time.  My only prayer concerning this is that in the process of my learning He will not allow me to mislead anyone else.

There are many things of which I am not completely certain, but this I know.  We must choose to trust Him regardless of our circumstance.  When we see how He brings about good even when things are bad, our faith is strengthened.  So if it must be, bring on the hammer.

The Free Gift that Costs You Everything: Sermon Version

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This is the sermon that grew from the blog post of the same title.  When I listen to it, I’m convicted by my own words.

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The Lion's Roar
The Free Gift that Costs You Everything: Sermon Version
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In Remembrance of Me

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I preached this the week after a service around Christmas when we took time to commemorate the sacrifice that He came to make on our behalf with a communion ceremony.

As I was preparing for the communion service, practicing over and over the verses from Luke 22:19-20 that we traditionally read as we take the elements together, I reflected on that phrase, “do this in remembrance of me.”  What was Jesus saying?  I think it is much more than what we might read today in light of our traditions.  The context of this passage in which Jesus instituted what we call depending on our backgrounds The Lord’s Supper, communion, or the Eucharist, expresses the whole of who He is and what He came to do.

After all that rehearsal in preparation for being in a setting where I wouldn’t have a free hand to read a Braille page with, I still didn’t get it quite right.  I think I mixed in a different version or maybe even a different passage as I repeated those verses.  I was so worried about messing up that I messed up.  How often we do that in our walk with the Lord.  We try to remember everything we’re supposed to do and we try so hard to do it, yet in the process we miss the point.  It is the communion with Himself that Jesus wants from us.  It is the fellowship and sharing together that should mark our walk with Him.

In our modern society, we seem more than ever to be slaves to our calendars.  There have always been special days, but now with the help of our technology we can schedule our lives down to the minute.  I’ve never quite understood it.  We’ve turned a tool for marking time into a taskmaster that dictates when we rest, when we rejoice, and when we remember.  As the arbitrary New Year approaches, we typically take time to remember.  We evaluate the year past and make resolutions about what we want to do in the year to come.  That’s not a bad thing.  It is good to evaluate where we’ve been and where we want to go from time to time.  It is good to resolve to do those things we know we ought to do.  I would say that if you know there’s something you need to do, don’t wait on the calendar.  Make that resolution today!

But let us not forget that it is relationship that our Lord seeks.  When we learn the meaning of communion with Him and thereby with one another, we will find joy, life, peace, and love.

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The Lion's Roar
In Remembrance of Me
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A Real Whodunit

The Lion's Roar Posted on by

My text is from 2 Samuel, chapter 24.  The week before I preached this, I was looking through my old blog entries and found something I wrote about it several hears ago.  I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  It’s a troubling story and one I really didn’t want to address at any greater depth.  Yet every time I asked the Lord what I should speak on, I kept coming back to that chapter.

So there I went, and tried to answer as best I could the mysteries it contains.  Along the way we’ll learn some valuable lessons about the nature of God and man, the consequences of sin at a personal and national level, and the willingness of God to forgive if we will only ask.

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The Lion's Roar
A Real Whodunit
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Blessed Are the Merciful

The Lion's Roar Posted on by

In Matthew 5:7, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  In a previous podcast, I talked about our need for mercy.  Now we’re going to talk about how to show mercy.  The word in this context is active.  It is more than a feeling.  It is more than words, though it might take that form.  Let’s explore His word together, learn to be merciful, and be blessed.

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The Lion's Roar
Blessed Are the Merciful
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The Gift of the Season

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Someone recently asked me what I thought about Christmas,  so I thought this would be a good time to share this podcast.

Most of us really enjoy this time of year, but it can also be hard.  Maybe we have sad memories.  Maybe we feel overwhelmed by the expectations that we feel are placed on us.  Maybe we just don’t like what we see happening to the season, or maybe we even have some conscientious objection to celebrating it.  The truth is that the timing is wrong and many of the trappings are adopted from pagan practice.

What God is showing me is that we have been given a gift, and we should rejoice in it and make full use of it.  Have you considered that even amidst the commercialization and even anti-Christmas attitudes that we’ve seen in recent years, this is still a time of year when people are more open to hearing about Jesus than at any other time?  Though less often than we might like, you can still be out shopping and hear Christmas carols in the stores.  People who are normally uninterested in anything to do with Christianity will attend Christmas presentations, put up manger scenes, and maybe even go to church!

We have a wonderful opportunity here.  Howe will we use it?  Will we get all wrapped up in the trappings and forget the purpose, which is to celebrate the coming of the Savior of the world?  Will we shun it entirely as I confess I have wanted to do in the past?  Or will we take advantage of the gift of this season to share the real Gift of the season?  Let’s do that!

But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Pet. 3:15 NASB)

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The Lion's Roar
The Gift of the Season
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Behold: When God Says, “Pay attention!”

The Lion's Roar Posted on by

One day while I was reading the Bible, a word jumped out at me.  It’s a seemingly insignificant word.  It occurs so often in the Bible that many commentaries and word study resources ignore it. The word is, “behold.”  Look!  Pay attention!  Take note!  Sometimes it’s part of conversations between people and may not have any more significance than when we preface our sentences with something like “look” or “you see.”  But maybe we should look a little more closely when Biblical authors use it to highlight what they have written.  Maybe we should listen more closely when God says, “Pay attention!”  Walk with me through some key places in the scripture when God said, “behold!”

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The Lion's Roar
Behold: When God Says, "Pay attention!"
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We Need God’s Mercy

The Lion's Roar Posted on by

What comes to mind when you hear the word, mercy?  Doubtless many of us who have been in church for years will think of God’s mercy toward us, or maybe Jesus’ words from Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  Depending on the version of the Bible you read, you may find the word used in several different ways.  The King James often uses it where newer translations use “lovingkindnesss, faithful love, or loyal love.  So we’re going to focus on the most prevalent meaning and the one most precious to us as children of God.

God offers us mercy.  That is, we are spared the punishment we all deserve.  Mercy doesn’t mean much to us until we come to the place where we realize we need it.  Sometimes even after we have been there, we get caught up in the life of the church and we forget we still need it.  We learn all the right things to do, and if we think we’re checking off the to-dos at least most of the time we think we’re doing alright.  I don’t say that we need always be in fear of judgement.  God tells us there’s no condemnation for those that are in Jesus, but when we forget how much mercy we have been shown, we lose the capacity to truly show it to others.  We can only appreciate the mercy of God when we understand that we need His mercy.

Read Ephesians 2:1-10 and let’s explore God’s word together.

I almost decided not to publish this because the background noise is very distracting, but I really want you to get this, so please give it a try.

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The Lion's Roar
We Need God's Mercy
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