Reader question: Does God answer prayer?

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by

Amy
in

A few days ago I got an email from a reader asking a question I think most of us ponder.

Does god answer prayer? I have prayed and prayed for loved ones and they have died and gone to He** without knowing Jesus. How can I keep on believing knowing where they are?

As I have explained many times, I am NOT a Biblical scholar. Yes, I have read the Bible cover to cover several times, but I am not a scholar. But I pray and do my best.

My answer was this:

I believe that God does answer prayer, just not always in the ways we expect or in the ways we understand at the moment.

You bring up a tough point, one that I wonder about quite often, to be honest.

But I still just have to have faith that HIS will will be done, in His way.

I don’t know what happens when our earthly bodies stop functioning and exactly what happens as believers go to heaven. But I trust that God is in control and I pray for those who are lost, trusting that He is in control.

How would you feel about me presenting your question to my other readers via a blog post?

The commenter responded that  she would  like for me to present it to you, as well. So, dear readers, again I ask a question of you: What are your thoughts on the matter?

Comments

4 responses to “Reader question: Does God answer prayer?”

  1. Celee Avatar
    Celee

    I think this is a great question and one I still grapple with very much. It’s one of the issues in fact that I’m going to focus on my next time through the Bible in 90 days so maybe I’ll have more insight after that. For now, I have several thoughts.

    1.) God not only glorifies Himself through saving sinners, but also by damning sinners. This has been challenging for me to accept, but He is not only merciful and gracious, loving and forgiving, but also holy and just. I read a sermon by John Piper that really helped me get this. It helps me to make sense of why everyone will not be saved. God’s wrath must be satisfied. We are told we do not have what we ask for because we ask for wrong motives. Maybe this comes into play here. Is our greatest desire really that God glorify Himself by the means that He chooses?

    2.) When I look at the prayers in the NT, or OT for that matter, I don’t see a pattern of praying for the lost to be saved, but of praying that the gospel will go forth unimpeded. I know this may sound like an issue of mere semantics, but I think it’s more than that. We are to pray that God’s Word will be accurately shared, the response we are to leave in God’s hands. This, too is a hard truth. There’s a section in 1 John 5 that I believe deals with our prayers in this regard. “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 a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” It’s generally accepted that the sin which leads to death is blasphemy or the sin of unbelief. Taken this way the above verses would mean we are to pray for believers in sin, that they will repent, but not for unbelievers. Interestingly enough, Jesus says much the same thing in John 17:9-10. “I pray for them (referring to His disciples). I do not pray for the world but for those whom You (referring to the Father) have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” Even Jesus said that He spoke in parables so that those with hardened hearts such as the pharisees would not see the truth of His message, repent, and be saved. You won’t hear that preached in church! That sounds so crazy to us, but Jesus wanted those who were meant to respond to respond and those who weren’t to not. (Not exactly seeker-sensitive!)

    3.) I do not pretend to understand how election and free will co-exist, but I know that they do. Both are Biblical. Those who belong to the Lord are chosen- we just can’t put white out on the scads of verses that teach this doctrine. But of course we also have free will, or limited free will, anyway. The Bible says God hardened pharoah’s heart and also says that pharoah hardened his own heart. Both must be true. We are not able to choose God. No one seeks Him, no not one. All have turned away. This is Romans quoting Psalms.

    Even though the above Biblical teachings are hard, they definitely take a load off my heart and mind. I must be obedient to share the gospel, the Lord does the rest. I can ask Him to give me opportunities to share His Word and ask for boldness. I can also ask that He glorify Himself through my loved ones life- however He chooses to do that. I, too, have had loved ones die that I’m unsure of. I wonder where they are now. I hope for the best, though sometimes I fear it may be only wishful thinking. But I can rest in God’s sovereignty. That He is in charge, nothing escapes His notice or His providential care. And I can remind myself that He is holy and just and that He is good even when I don’t understand His methods. This allows me to praise Him even when I don’t like the outcome. Hope this helps.
    .-= Celee´s last blog ..Blue or pink? =-.

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  3. Cindy Avatar
    Cindy

    I’m not gonna get all deep and theological here, because I am neither deep nor theological, but I think the Bible makes it pretty clear that God saves whom he will, and also that our prayers are not in vain. Our prayers, however, can’t change God’s will, nor can they force other people with free will to do what they won’t do, no matter how effective praying is in other ways. I’ve had a LOT of prayers for salvation answered. I’ve had a lot of prayers for salvation go unanswered, while the person I’m praying for turns on me unjustly and without even knowing why (even though they don’t know I’m even praying for them), so I know that *something* is going on in the spiritual realm when I pray for people.

    I’m not going to do the usual thing (at least at funerals!) and say “Maybe he got saved in his last five seconds on Earth”. Most of the time, that just doesn’t happen. I have relatives I have little hope of seeing again. At a certain point, we have to let go of the thought and trust that God has done what fulfills his own purposes. The people around us don’t get some kind of special grace just because they rub elbows with our praying selves. They have to be saved just like the rest of us. Sometimes they choose wrongly.
    .-= Cindy´s last blog ..Contests Today =-.

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  4. Tammy Patrick Avatar
    Tammy Patrick

    I agree!

    Reply

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