What should I do to have my prayers answered the way that I pray them?<\/p>\n\t
I think the hardest thing to remember about prayer is that sometimes the answer is “no”. \u00a0We have the ability to ask for far too much and a father cannot always grant everything that a child could want. \u00a0As fathers ourselves we determine if it is possible to grant our child something; and if it is in their interest to do so, then we would be happy to do that. \u00a0Sometimes there are more things going on at one time than just what is going on with our child and that will modify what we can grant our child.<\/p>\n
Similarly, God has a bigger plan in mind. \u00a0His goal is to save as many people as possible. \u00a0Some people, therefore, are going to have lives that do not match what they would have liked. \u00a0As an example, we have Jesus. \u00a0In Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?<\/em>” \u00a0If you think about that, in order for us to have the benefits of what Jesus brings us, Jesus had to die. \u00a0That was not a pleasant thing from the perspective of Jesus. \u00a0He wept in the Garden and pleaded with God to take the burden of dying away from him. \u00a0However, Jesus said “not my will” (see Luke 22).\u00a0 Jesus’ death was not for his benefit, but it was so that many more of us could come to Christ.<\/p>\n What if God worked the way that many people think He does; in that He just grants His faithful followers whatever they desired?\u00a0 Everyone who asked for money would get a lot of money. \u00a0Once people realize that such was what was happening, people would flock to the services – but not because they were drawn by the word, but because they could get a lot of money.\u00a0\u00a0 At that point, what happens to the spread of the gospel? \u00a0It completely dries up! \u00a0Everyone will come to the church in order to pray to God in order to get money. \u00a0The gospel isn’t about getting rich, it is about forgiveness and the Son of God. \u00a0However, everyone will be blinded by money. \u00a0That is exactly what happened to Jesus in John 6.\u00a0 Early in the chapter, Jesus feeds the crowd – which initially resulted in a lot of people following Jesus.\u00a0 But by the end of the chapter, the majority left once they realized that Jesus was not going to continually feed them and he was going to require that they come to him on his terms and not their own.<\/p>\n Therefore, it is not good for God to make His servants wealthier than their neighbors. \u00a0He may bless us a bit above those around us, but never enough to make us lose focus on who He is. \u00a0The same thing goes for an extra-long life or freedom from oppression. \u00a0If His servants start getting treated too much better than those around us, then the appeal of the gospel dries up because the appeal would shift to the material things and away from the spiritual. \u00a0Jesus said in John 6:63 that the material is of no importance, it is only the spiritual side that really matters.<\/p>\n I think all of us would like to be one of the wealthier members of the church, and we would like to be the ones who get to live longer than most. \u00a0We would like to have a life of general ease, where no one we love dies before we do, and no one even gets sick. \u00a0However, that is not going to happen. \u00a0The mission is to spread the gospel until the time when we are called home to God. \u00a0That means some of us are going to get 20 years on this earth and some will get 100 years. Some will live in relatively good health and some are going to be broken most of their days on earth. \u00a0It would even be great in our eyes if the best preachers lived the longest lives. \u00a0However, God is going to mix it all up. Everything is going to look like random events to us, but it is all coming together to conform to God’s plan. \u00a0And God’s plan is good — to those that love the Lord (Romans 8:28).<\/p>\n Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: What should I do to have my prayers answered the way that I pray them? Answer: I think the hardest thing to remember about prayer is that sometimes the answer is “no”. \u00a0We have the ability to ask for far too much and a father cannot always grant everything that a child could want.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1510],"class_list":["post-52636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":83340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-wasnt-the-child-rescued\/","url_meta":{"origin":52636,"position":0},"title":"Why wasn’t the child rescued?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, First, thank you for your ministry and for sharing. I came across your site and read the timeline for when Jesus was raised in three days. I have a follow up question on this post: \"Why didn't God rescue my friend?\" The reader asked why God didn't rescue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-pray-without-doubt-when-i-know-that-sometimes-i-wont-get-what-i-prayed-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":52636,"position":1},"title":"How can I pray without doubt when I know that sometimes I won’t get what I prayed for?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about prayer.\u00a0 I understand that the Bible states that when we pray, we are to let our requests to God be given in faith,\u00a0 believing that we will receive. So if I pray that God will help me through a difficult time or give me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33084,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-i-feel-like-god-never-answers-our-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":52636,"position":2},"title":"Why do I feel like God never answers our prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is probably a stupid question, but anyway I will proceed. Sometimes I feel like God never answers our prayers; thus, why do we pray? How do we know if God answers our prayers? Are there signs that I should be looking for? I just don't understand why we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28449,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-bad-to-keep-on-praying-the-same-prayer-all-over-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":52636,"position":3},"title":"Is it bad to keep on praying the same prayer all over again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is a question about prayer. Is it bad to keep on praying the same prayer all over again? It could be from desperation, or it can be another reason. For example, you have a problem or worry you share with the Lord and you think that you are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-respond-to-the-prayers-of-the-alien-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":52636,"position":4},"title":"Does God respond to the prayers of the alien sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In my study of God's Word, I've come to the conclusion that God does not respond to the prayers of an \"alien sinner\" when asking for God's blessings on himself.\u00a0 However, what are your thoughts on whether God responds to an \"alien sinners\" prayers when praying for someone else?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29487,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-always-hear-our-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":52636,"position":5},"title":"Does God always hear our prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In John 11:42 it says God always hears you, but in the verse, you showed me in \"Should we pray for Satan's salvation?\" it says that God said that if people were to pray for the extreme idolaters then He would not hear their cries out to him? 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