Introduction: One of the greatest motivations to repeat something that previously seemed difficult is success. This is true with just about anything—weight loss, exercise, finances, a class, a project at work, chemotherapy. When we overcome or are effective at something that we thought was beyond our capability, we want to do it again. Success at something reinforces us to repeat what made it successful.

The opposite of this is true. One of the greatest discouragements to try something difficult is failure or frustration. This is also true of things like—trying to diet, exercise, trying to express a new idea at work—when you attempt something where you felt inadequate in the first place and you fail, you want to quit.

This principle is true especially in prayer. Nothing motivates me to pray more than answered prayer! Recently I faced a problem that I saw as beyond resolution. I felt helpless and confused as to how to solve the problem. I prayed earnestly and sincerely about it and told God that I needed Him to do something that only He could do. When God answered that prayer in a way that demonstrated His power it made me want to pray more. Knowing how God has answered the prayers of others is also a motivation to pray. I’ve been so grateful for the efforts of our own Doug Doggett for the series he has done on prayer for our local news on KAIT. In an e-mail recently he told me how the stories and interviews of people’s answers to prayer had helped him want to pray more and more. Nothing moves us to prayer like seeing God answer our prayer.

The opposite is true. One of the greatest discouragements to prayer is unanswered prayer. You pray and nothing seems to change. God doesn’t respond and the circumstances are just like they have been. That was King Solomon’s concern in our text for this morning. After leading the nation of Israel to build and finally complete the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon was concerned as to the effectiveness of its purpose. As the Temple is completed and at last dedicated Solomon begins to ask God as to whether God will answer their prayers. If they pray, how will they know God will hear? He says in II Chronicles 6:21, "Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive." Then Solomon proposes to God the things in his mind that could be seen as evidence that God was not responding or answering their prayers: broken relationships, failure in battle, lack of rain, famine, disease and attacks or defeats by an enemy(II Chron. 6:22-39). His question was, "God, when it’s obvious you are not answering our prayers and it’s our fault, will you forgive if we are sincere about changing our actions and our ways?"

Last week we discussed that there are times when God’s answer to our prayer is "No!" and other times when He says, "Not yet!" Yet I believe more often than the fact that God denies our request because He know what is better for us or that the timing is not right, I believe the reason for the unanswered prayer lies with us. He can’t answer because there are things in our lives blocking His response. Just as Solomon proposed several areas that could block God’s response to his prayers, I want us to examine six prayer busters or blockers in our lives. They describe for us six biblical reasons for unanswered prayer that are common for us.

James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask." James makes it clear that a simple reason that God may have chosen to not respond to a need or problem is that we haven’t really asked Him. Now this doesn’t mean that you haven’t offered some noise out of your mouth but to truly describe that as a prayer would be a little weak. The question is, "Does the request reflect the fact that you have prayed purposefully, fervently or expectantly?"

There is the story in I Samuel 1 of the mother of Samuel, whose name was Hannah. She wanted a son but for some reason she and her husband were unable to have children. In desperation she went to the Lord and prayed so intensely and deeply that the priest named Eli saw her and imagined she was drunk! The Bible says she prayed "greatly distressed…and wept bitterly"(I Sam. 1:10) and she "poured out her soul before the Lord. (I Sam 1:15). Then when accused by Eli she said she had prayed "out of my great concern and provocation" (v. 16). Her prayer reflected the intensity of her desire! Jesus, remember, spent the whole night in prayer before choosing his disciples. He also prayed three times in deep agony for God to spare Him from death on the cross!

There is something valid about the earnestness of our prayer. The reason you may not have the answer is that you haven’t prayed purposefully, fervently or expectantly. If someone else heard your prayer, would they think you are taking this way too seriously or way too lightly? God hasn’t answered because you haven’t really prayed.

II. Reason number two for unanswered prayer is because of sin we haven’t admitted. (Isaiah 59:1-2) Isaiah 59:1-2 reminds us that the problem isn’t with God’s ability or failure to hear that’s preventing our prayer being answered. Isaiah says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear." The problem is sin in our life that we haven’t admitted. Our sins have created a separation between God and ourselves and have resulted in God’s unwillingness to respond. That was the same thing that Solomon knew would hinder God’s response to their prayers. Solomon saw a direct connection between a lack of God’s response and sin in the lives of God’s people! (II Chron. 6:24, 26)

A contrast to this is in Psalm 32:1-5 where the Psalmist is aware of the pain and hurt caused spiritually by sin that is not confessed. He then affirms how great it is to feel the relief of admitting to God what God already knew. Listen to what he said, " When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer." (Psalm 32:3-4) The sin that he was unwilling to admit broke him emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally.

Am I saying that I have to agonize over every little or slight offense or omission in my life? That somehow a great and mighty God is restrained because I was rude at work? No, what I am saying is that there are areas of sin, failure and fault in our lives that have built up over time between God and ourselves. Unless those areas are dealt with by our admitting to God that He is right and we are wrong then don’t expect God’s answer to our prayer! We cannot be effective in prayer as long as there is unconfessed sin crippling our lives.

Listen to how seriously Jesus takes this issue " So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God." (Matthew 5:23-24) Jesus makes it clear how seriously issues in relationships hinder our relationship with God! It’s as if He’s says, "Don’t even think about talking to me until you talk to the person with whom you have a conflict." I Peter 3:7 reminds us that even our relationship issues in marriage can affect our prayer effectiveness. Peter says "In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together…if you don't treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard." John writes in his first epistle "If anyone says, ‘I am living in the light,’but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves other Christians is living in the light and does not cause anyone to stumble. Anyone who hates a Christian brother or sister is living and walking in darkness. Such a person is lost, having been blinded by the darkness." (1 John 2:9-11)

What this says to us is that God takes seriously the breakdown in relationships between believers and we don’t! Over and over in the New Testament the writers remind us of how much God desires harmony and unity between Christians. Paul even thought of it as a whole body with different parts functioning properly. Yet where there are broken relationships, animosity, strife, discord then the body will not be effective (I Cor. 12:12-31).

Now we can blame someone else, point the finger and say it is his or her fault but that doesn’t stop the fact that we are out of relationship with someone. The question becomes how long are we going to continue complaining to God that He doesn’t care or why He hasn’t answered our prayer when you can’t even be in the same room with someone. Don’t blame God when the responsibility lies with you!

James 4:3 says "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." James uses language that describes prayer as an arrow show from a bow. The target you are aiming for isn’t God but yourself. The reason or motive is for only what will bring pleasure to you or make your life easier. The reason for God not responding to your prayer is simply because the prayer request is all about ME.

It has been my experience as well as the experience of others that God will stop at nothing to get us to realize the selfishness of our prayer. He may do this by letting the pain of our problem become more intense and obvious. He may do this by delaying His response until it seems we can’t hold out for one more moment. Like the prodigal son who wanted all the inheritance without waiting, God may even give us what we want until we see what we wanted is really what we don’t need. Our request may mean simply, "God, I don’t want to hurt or face an issue where I have to grow. Just keep me happy, content, satisfied and problem-free!"

Do you remember how Jesus taught the disciples to pray? "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Also, how He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will but your will be done" (Matt. 26:39). Jesus placed the will of God at the core of His concern and that was reflected in his prayer. The issue is what does your prayer reflect is at the core of your concern—your will or God’s. The reason your prayer goes nowhere is because it has gone where it was directed—you!

V. Reason number five for unanswered prayer is that we have lost compassion for the needs of others (Prov. 21:13 NIV). Proverbs 21:13 says, "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." The prophet Zechariah reminded the nation of Israel that they failed to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger in direct disobedience to God. Yet they refused to listen no matter how clearly God spoke to them. As a result he says because when God called out to you and you would not listen, so when you cry out to God He will not listen. (Zech. 7:8-14). All of that says to us is that there is a direct correlation between our compassion for someone else’s need and God’s response to our own need.

James 2:15-16 says that our response to someone in need demonstrates the validity of our faith. "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?" John says in I John 3:17 that our response to someone’s needs demonstrates the sincerity of our love. "But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?"

There is a direct line of connection between the needs in the life of someone else, my response to those needs and God’s answer to my prayer. If you refuse to share your money, time and energy for the need of someone else then there is little reason to expect that God will be eager to respond to yours.

VI. Reason number six for unanswered prayer is because we have inadequate faith (James 1:5-8) Listen once again to how faith affects our answers to prayer. "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." What you see is that God is not unwilling or unable to respond. The problem is not with His willingness or ability but with our faith in His willingness and ability.

We have mentioned before in this series of how Jesus was particularly stern toward the disciples’ lack of faith. Mark 11:23-24 is an excellent example "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." Is that verse some sort of magic formula? No, but I know I spend a lot more time living denying the reality of that verse than affirming it! So who is to blame for the lack of answered prayer? Is it God’s inability or my inadequacy? Don’t blame God when you refuse to believe.

Conclusion: What was God’s response to Solomon’s concern? If prayer is unanswered and the barriers removed then he says " and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. ( 2 Chron. 7:14 ) You see the reason for your prayers not being answered is waiting to be removed not by God but by you.

Bruce Wilkinson tells the story:

"One day when our kids were preschoolers, Darlene and I found ourselves with them at a large city park in southern California. It was the kind of park that makes a grown man wish he were a kid again. It has swings, monkey bars, and seesaws, but what was most enticing were the slides—not just one slide, but three—from small to medium, to enormous. David, who was five at the time, took off like a shot for the small slide. "Why don’t you go down with him?" Darlene suggested. But I had another idea. ‘Let’s wait and see what happens.’ I said. So we relaxed on a nearby bench and watched. David clambered happily to the top of the smallest slide. He waver over at us with a big smile, then whizzed down. Without hesitation he moved over to the medium-sized slide. He had climbed halfway up the ladder when he turned and looked at me. I looked away. He pondered his options for a moment, then carefully backed down one step at a time. ‘Honey, you ought to go help him out,’ my wife said. ‘Not yet,’ I replied, hoping the twinkle in my eye would reassure her that I wasn’t just being careless.

"David spent a few minutes at the bottom of the middle slide watching other kids climb up, whiz down, and run around to do it again. Finally his little mind was made up. He could do it. He climbed up…and slid down. Three times, in fact, without even looking at us.

"Then we watched him turn and head toward the highest slide. Now Darlene was getting anxious. ‘Bruce, I don’t think he should do that by himself. Do you?’ ‘No,’ I replied as calmly as possible. ‘But I don’t think he will. Let’s see what he does.’

"When David reached the bottom of the giant slide, he turned and called out, ‘Daddy!’ But I glanced away again, pretending I couldn’t hear him. He peered up the ladder. In his young imagination, it must have reached to the clouds. He watched a teenage boy go hurtling down the slide. Then, against all odds, he decided to try. Step-by-step, hand over hand, he inched up the ladder. He hadn’t reached a third of the way when he froze. But this time, the teenager was coming up behind him and yelled at him to get going. But David couldn’t. He couldn’t go up or down. He had reached the point of certain failure. I rushed over. ‘Are you okay, son?’ I asked form the bottom of the ladder. He looked down at me, shaken but clinging to that ladder with steely determination. And I could tell he had a question ready. ‘Dad, will you come down the slide with me?’ he asked. The teenager was losing patience, but I wasn’t about to let the moment go. ‘Why, son?’ I asked, peering up into his little face. ‘I can’t do it without you, Dad,’ he said, trembling. ‘It’s too big for me!’

"I stretched as high as I could to reach him and lifted him into my arms. Then we climbed that long ladder up to the clouds together. At the top, I put my son between my legs and wrapped my arms around him. Then we went sipping down the slide together, laughing all the way." (Prayer of Jabez, p.49-52)

God is wanting to respond, He’s just waiting for us to admit we need His help.

Sunday, March 11, 2001

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org