By Steve A. Hamilton

Introduction: I was watching Hannity and Combs on the Fox News Network when they had Pat Robertson as a guest to the show. Combs asked Robertson if God answers all prayers and Robertson confessed he did not know. Robertson admitted that he gets that question a lot and he personally struggles to answer it. Yet, He wrote a book to answer questions like that and in which he answers that question as best he could. Robertson concluded by stating that he thinks God answers all prayers but sometimes the answer is no leaving us the impression God didn’t answer our prayer.

Is that what the Bible teaches about prayers being answered? Certainly not! Let us spend our time together to address this question that many people struggle to answer.

I. Prayer is a privilege extended only to Christians.

    A. God does not hear sinners (John 9:31).

        1. “Sinners” literally, means one who misses the mark. It denotes the wicked or criminal. Specifically, it means those outside of Christ.

        2. Must be a worshipper of God and a doer of God’s will (1 John 3:22).

    B. Sin has always been a hindrance to prayer (Psm. 66:18; Isa. 59:2).

    C. God hears the righteous (1 Pet. 3:12).

II. We often hinder our own prayers

    A. Lack of faith (Jas. 1:5-8; Mark 11:24).

    B. We ask amiss (Jas. 4:1-3). Amiss means “evilly” or “out of bounds.” The intent of our asking is for our own pleasure.

    C. Lacking forgiveness (Mark 11:25-26).

    D. Praying for show (Matt. 6:5-6).

    E. How we pray.

        1. Repetition (Matt. 6:7).

        2. Made in pretense (Mark 12:38-40). Pretense means to cloak. For example, by making a long prayer the person appears to be religious though he may only be doing so for show.

    F. Relationship with spouse (1 Pet. 3:7).

III. God answers according to His will.

    A. Prayer answered hundreds and thousands of years later (Heb. 11:13-16).

    B. His answer may not be in agreement with my will (1 John 5:14-15).

        1. If we ask according to His will. How do we know? Study!

        2. Paul’s thorn in the flesh is a good example (2 Cor. 12:8-9).

IV. Can a Christian obtain forgiveness through prayer though sinful?

    A. Simon the sorcerer was told to by Peter (Acts 8:22).

    B. Of course, you can always ask another to pray for you (Acts 8:24; James 5:16).

Conclusion: Prayer is an honor and one which we must handle respectfully. Our sins, our actions, our words, our relationships and even how we pray can all hinder our prayers from being heard. God does not answer all prayers. The main reason is the simple fact that we often do not deserve for our prayers to be heard due to any number of reasons already mentioned.

If you, like Simon, wish for someone else to pray for your sins to be forgiven, we offer this time to let your request be made known if you would come…