Level 2 Lesson 16 WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR PRAYERS SEEM UNANSWERED

Level: 2, Lesson: 16
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR PRAYERS SEEM UNANSWERED
OUTLINE

I John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." God always answers any prayer that is prayed according to His Word in faith.

Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." There is a spiritual world and a physical world. They move parallel to each other. God moves in the spiritual realm to answer our prayer and then it is manifest into the physical realm.

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the bridge that takes things from the spiritual world and moves them into the physical world.

Daniel 10:11, "And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling."

Daniel 11:22-23, "And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. 23And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people." In both prayers Daniel prayed, God answered instantly.

There can be many variables causing a length of time between when God answers our prayer and the time we see them manifest.

We have to have faith.
Satan can hinder our prayers using other people. God is faithful. He always answers your prayer. When you ask you receive.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR PRAYERS SEEM TO BE UNANSWERED
Lesson Text

We are like a spiritual transformer. Spiritual power has to be converted to physical power, just as radio signals have to be converted into frequencies that are audible to our physical ears. You don’t hear the actual signal broadcast by the radio station, but rather a signal that has been picked up by a receiver and translated into an audible sound. For a person to say there aren’t any radio signals where he is, just because he cannot hear them, is not true. They are there, but are on a higher frequency than the human ear can hear. They have to be demodulated into a lower frequency that we can hear.

This is the way our answers to prayer come. God moves in the spirit world and gives us the answer by faith and we convert it into a physical reality through our actions. However, that does not mean that we produce the answer by our power. It is God who works the miracles, but they come through us. Without Him, we can do nothing, but He has made us joint heirs together with Christ so that He does nothing without us. Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." We have a part to play in receiving from God. Ignorance of this concept is our greatest problem. Now you can understand much more clearly what Mark 11:24 means, "What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." You receive in your spirit by faith immediately, and it shall come to pass in the physical later. It may take one minute, one day, or one year, but you cannot waiver in your belief that God has already answered your prayer. The time that it takes for God’s answer to manifest in the physical realm is dependent upon many things, but it is not God who determines those things. God answers immediately. Remember, it says you must believe that you receive when you pray. God isn’t asking you to believe something that isn’t true. You do receive instantly in your spirit, then it manifests later in the physical realm.

An example of this is in Daniel 9 and 10. In Chapter 9, Daniel prayed a prayer, and while he was still praying, the answer to his prayer came in the form of Gabriel giving him "skill and understanding" in the things he desired. That’s a quick answer to prayer! In Verse 23, Gabriel says that God sent him forth at the beginning of Daniel’s prayer. God moved instantly, but it took about three minutes for the answer to appear in the physical realm. In Daniel, Chapter 10, he prayed another prayer, and the answer to this prayer took three weeks to manifest. What a difference! Most people ask, "I wonder why God answered that first prayer in three minutes, but the second prayer took three weeks to answer?" Well in Daniel 10:12, we find that God answered the second prayer instantly too. Praise God! The Lord was not the variable. In this case, it was a demonic force, "The prince of the kingdom of Persia," that had hindered the answer to Daniel’s prayer.

Whether it is Satan, people’s wills, unbelief, or any other hindrance, it is important that you know that it is not God who is unpredictable (Psalms 102:27, Malachi 3:6). This is a fundamental truth that you must understand before you can do anything to speed up the answer to your prayer. If you pray a prayer in line with God’s Word, God will answer it immediately (I John 5:14-15, Daniel 9 and 10). If you understand this, then you will be able to release your faith for the answer to your prayer and see it manifest more quickly in the physical realm.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR PRAYERS SEEM UNANSWERED
(Additional Information)

All of us have had experiences where it didn’t look like our prayers were answered, but is that really what happened? The Bible says in Matthew 7:7, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Is that true? Well, many people say it couldn’t mean what it appears to say, because they can cite experiences where they asked for something and didn’t receive it. But you have to make the decision stated in Romans 3:4, to ". . . let God be true, but every man (or in this case, every circumstance) a liar." God’s Word is true. . .not our experiences.

This is one of the reasons so much doctrinal division has come about. The Word is clear in its doctrine, but when someone tries the Word and doesn’t see the promised results, rather than admit that he failed, he says something like "that must have passed away with the apostles," or "it must not have been God’s will," etc. God is not the one who failed to answer, but rather we are the ones who have failed to receive.

What actually happens when we ask in prayer is that God moves immediately and gives us the answer in our spirit. We are responsible for believing that answer, and acting accordingly to bring the answer into the physical world. God is a spirit (John 4:24) and He always supplies the answer to our spirit man. Through faith we then give physical substance (Hebrews 11:1) to what God has done.

We are like a spiritual transformers. Spiritual power has to be converted to physical power just as radio signals have to be converted into frequencies audible to our physical ears. You don’t hear the actual signal broadcast by the radio station, but rather a signal that has been picked up by a receiver and translated into an audible sound. For a person to say that there aren’t any radio signals where he is, just because he cannot hear them, is not true. They are there, but they are on a higher frequency that the human ear can hear.

This is the way our answers to prayer come. God moves in the spirit world and gives us our answers by faith and we convert them into a physical reality through our actions. That is not to say that we are the one who produce the answer by our own power. It is God who works the miracles, but they do come through us. Without Him, we can do nothing, but He has made us joint heirs together with Christ so that He does nothing without us. Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." We have a part to play in receiving from God. Ignorance of this truth has been our greatest problem.

Now you can understand much more clearly what Mark 11:24 means, "What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." You receive in your spirit by faith immediately, and it shall come to pass in the physical later. It may be one minute, one day, or one year, but you cannot waiver in your belief that God has already answered your prayer. The time that it takes for God’s answer to manifest those things in the physical is dependent upon many things, but it is not God who determines that. God answers immediately. Remember, it says you must believe that you receive when you pray. God isn’t asking you to believe something that isn’t true. You do receive instantly in your spirit, then it is manifests in the physical realm later.

An example of this is in Daniel 9 and 10. In Chapter 9 Daniel prayed a prayer, and while he was still praying, his answer to prayer came in the form of Gabriel giving him "skill and understanding" in the thing he desired. That’s a quick answer to prayer, but in verse 23, Gabriel says that God sent him forth at the beginning of Daniel’s prayer. God moved instantly, but it took about three minutes for the answer to appear in the physical realm. In Daniel, Chapter 10, he prayed another prayer, and his answer to this prayer took three weeks to manifest. What a difference!

Most people would say, I wonder why God answered that first prayer in three minutes, and the second prayer took three weeks? But in Daniel 10:12, we find that God answered the second prayer instantly too. Praise God! The Lord was not the variable. In this case it was a demonic force, "the prince of the kingdom of Persia," that hindered the answer to Daniel’s prayer.

Whether it is Satan, people’s wills, unbelief, or any other hindrances it’s important that you know that it’s not God who is unpredictable (Psalm 102:27, Malachi 3:6). This is a fundamental truth that you must understand before you can do anything to speed up the answer to your prayer. If you pray a prayer in line with God’s Word, God will answer it immediately (I John 5:14-15, Daniel 9 and 10). If you understand this, then you will be able to release your faith for the answer to your prayer and see if manifest more quickly in the physical realm.

Here are some questions to think about for this lesson

Level 2 Lesson 16 Questions
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR PRAYERS SEEM UNANSWERED

According to I John 5:14, what is our confidence in?
According to I John 5:15, since God hears us, what is the result?
What does Matthew 7:7-8 say?
Why does it seem as if some of our prayers are not answered?
According to John 4:24, what is God and how must people worship Him?
According to Hebrews 11:1, what is faith?
According to Daniel 9:23, when did the command to the angel come forth?
According to Daniel 10:12, on what day of Daniel's prayer was the angel sent?
According to Daniel 10:13, how long did it take for the angel to bring the answer and why?

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