Does God Answer Prayers?

For most of those who claim to be Christian, the answer to the title "Does God Answer Prayers?" is yes. The question behind the question is "Does He answer all prayers with an affirmative Yes?"

Now in God's way of doing things He may simply say yes to all prayers, but state them in this way: "Yes, I will answer your pray in this way...." Being that He is sovereign, our quest is to understand His answers so we do not despair or lose hope because they are not answered the way we perceive they have to be for our hearts to be glad.

Take for instance, Israel had always known that their Messiah would come. The prophets foretold the promise down through the ages. But, was His death on the cross the answer to their prayers, "Lord send the Messiah!"?

It certainly was and it was a positive Yes! But in their eyes it was an utter failure, because it did not change their circumstantces which was the very heart of their prayers.

The Cross is the means of understanding God's way of answering prayers. He sees much further than we do, because we look through the mind's eye of our circumstances(the sum of essential and environmental factors). What is essential to us in our environment determines what we pray and our expectation of the answer to that prayer.


What say the Scriptures? Matthew 6:9-13 in the Message Bible does a rather straight forward approach...simple... no holding back...ideology.


"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best— as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes."

"And he looked up and said, 'I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.' Then again, He ( Jesus ) laid his hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and he began to see everything clearly" Mk 8:25

Ever wonder why you see things not so clearly? Perhaps it is due to a less intent desire than is needed in order to see things fully as God intends. Notice that the blind man's sight was restored after "he looked intently".

Most of us would do anything to see God's will in our lives more clearly. We pray, we read the Scriptures, and we may even walk the talk. But for some reason, we simply seem to only see partially.

I would like to suggest that a return to Jesus might be in order. In a moment when we realized that Jesus was ministering to us, we got in too big of a hurry and took off thinking that He was through, thus we saw things in a haze and we were bumping around from one thing to another in our Christian walk.


"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." I Cor. 13:11

As a child, everything in front of me was what I wanted and most of the time could not hold all of it in my little hands. But as I grew older, I became more intent and focused on one thing and that was what I really wanted. As Children of God, we might need to stay at the moment Jesus is teaching us something and focus intently on that and then move forward with our spiritual sight restored.


Job 8:5-7 (New International Version)
But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.

Jesus could no longer........

Every Been in a Huge Crowd of People ? No matter which way you turned, it was overwhelming?

Jesus healed a leper according to Mark's Gospel that created a real stir when he chose to tell everyone what had happened to him.

" But he went our and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in the unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere." Mark 2:45 ( NAS)

So have you ever been apart of such an event within your Christian walk?

"Saturday was a day of power and excitement. The event turned into a series of gatherings. The main centers of preaching were: the meetinghouse, the tent, and a separate meeting where the Negroes gathered. Numerous other attractions caused people to spontaneously rush back and forth when a stir took place during some nearby preaching or the many physical exercises that occurred throughout the week.

During the preaching the sounds of moaning, groaning, screaming and crying had become commonplace in the western revival. The most universal exhortation, "Lost! Lost!" struck terror throughout the camp. The unsaved would cry and weep, while compassionate friends entreated them to turn to the Lord Jesus.

The most prevalent physical "exercise" was falling down. It was usually accompanied with fainting, some bodily agitation's, and even a trance or coma. It caused the crowds to begin exhortations and praises, while trying to co-labor with the preacher. Confusion reigned. James Finley said that, "the noise was like the roar of Niagara."

The above quote was in the 1800s and was a Cumberland Presbyterian Revival. Are we looking for the same? We should not, because it was a period of history that God chose to work that way. What we need is the type believers who will share their faith in Christ with such fervent belief that people would over whelm and growd the churches, begging to know this Jesus !!