<p>Are you sometimes disappointed your <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/prayers">prayers</a> aren’t answered? There are five reasons. </p><p>First, your motives may be wrong. Are you praying for something that will lead you against a Holy life God wants you to live? Take a cue from how the prodigal son in the Bible (Luke 15) who demanded his share of property from his father and ended up squandering his wealth in lavish living till he became miserable and realized how he missed the love, joy and security of his father’s home. The Bible cautions “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3)</p><p>Secondly, if you are in a state of sin and haven’t repented. The Scriptures indicate “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2) but “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12). </p>.Embracing calm amidst life’s storms.<p>Reason three, is lack of humility. Naamaan, a Syrian army General was afflicted with a skin disease but with an inflated ego, he refused to listen to Prophet Elisha’s instruction to wash in the river Jordan. When he later humbled himself and did so, he was cured completely. “God opposes the proud, but shows favour to the humble” (James 4:6)</p><p>Reason four, is Doubt. There’s nothing called ninety-nine percent Faith. Faith has to be hundred percent. “Faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1) When we pray “...we must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind”(James 1:6)</p><p>The fifth reason is when we calendar God. Calendering God implies fixing deadlines for God for things to happen for us. God doesn’t keep our calendar. He has his own time and way of acting in our best interest. The Lord declares “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. ,As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9)</p><p>Check on the five reasons and expect and be sure of answered prayers. </p>
<p>Are you sometimes disappointed your <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/prayers">prayers</a> aren’t answered? There are five reasons. </p><p>First, your motives may be wrong. Are you praying for something that will lead you against a Holy life God wants you to live? Take a cue from how the prodigal son in the Bible (Luke 15) who demanded his share of property from his father and ended up squandering his wealth in lavish living till he became miserable and realized how he missed the love, joy and security of his father’s home. The Bible cautions “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3)</p><p>Secondly, if you are in a state of sin and haven’t repented. The Scriptures indicate “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2) but “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12). </p>.Embracing calm amidst life’s storms.<p>Reason three, is lack of humility. Naamaan, a Syrian army General was afflicted with a skin disease but with an inflated ego, he refused to listen to Prophet Elisha’s instruction to wash in the river Jordan. When he later humbled himself and did so, he was cured completely. “God opposes the proud, but shows favour to the humble” (James 4:6)</p><p>Reason four, is Doubt. There’s nothing called ninety-nine percent Faith. Faith has to be hundred percent. “Faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1) When we pray “...we must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind”(James 1:6)</p><p>The fifth reason is when we calendar God. Calendering God implies fixing deadlines for God for things to happen for us. God doesn’t keep our calendar. He has his own time and way of acting in our best interest. The Lord declares “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. ,As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9)</p><p>Check on the five reasons and expect and be sure of answered prayers. </p>
