Reasons Why God Doesn't Answer Prayers - Part 1

0:05 We've had a busy week and I just want to start today by thanking all of you who have supported these activities we've had over this past week. Thank you, those who last Sunday went to support me in preaching at Faith United last Sunday afternoon. Thank you all. I want to thank those who came to Tuesday night, all 2,000 of y'all that came to Tuesday night, night of prayer. I want to thank those who went to read Temple with us on Wednesday night. I am so grateful. Amen. I'm glad I have a church that supports their pastor. I love y'all. I appreciate that for y'all. I'm going to be continuing my message series that I've been doing since April. I've been talking about finances.

0:57 It looks like I just can't get out of this series here. Last Sunday, I talked about how to pray for money. And God told me to tell you all, today and tomorrow, I'm going to talk about why God doesn't answer your prayers.

1:20 Amen. Amen. So that's what I'm going to be talking about for the next two weeks. and maybe then we'll be finished talking about money and finances. And thank God for that. All right. I got 10 points to talk about, but I'm not going to get all 10 today. I'm going to just do five. Amen. Amen. So I want you all to take good notes and examine yourself as it pertains to your prayer life. What I want to thank God for, I'm so glad that I serve a God who answers prayer.

2:03 It's not a question of whether God has the ability or the capacity. He can and he does. I've seen God answer spectacular prayers. I've seen God do tremendous things. I've seen God heal situations that I thought never could be healed. I've seen God just prove himself strong and mighty. That's why I like singing. I like living this kind of life. I like that song because it's the life that I'm living, that I'm seeing God answer prayers. I'm seeing God work miracles. I'm seeing God do and perform in the midst of the life that I live. And my job is just to try to share with you what I've learned and the things that God taught me and the things that the scriptures teach about it. So I want to talk about these next two weeks, the reasons why God does not answer prayer.

3:03 I want you to take good notes. Here's number one. God doesn't answer your prayer because you break vows. You break your vows. You make promises that you don't keep. You say you're going to do something, then you don't do it. And look at Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 4 through 6. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 4 through 6. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Look at your neighbor and say, the pastor didn't call you a fool, the scriptures did. pay what you have vowed. It's better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error.

4:02 Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? Here's the point that I believe the Lord is trying to communicate to us that you may have never considered. When you make a promise or make a vow and don't keep it, it's a problem for God. It's a problem. It's a problem for him to see that you say you're going to do something, then you don't do it. You say you're going to be somewhere, then you're not there. You say you're going to pay something, then you don't pay it. You make a vow. I want you to think about over the course of your life how many vows you've broken. when you break a vow you damage your relationship with God you weaken the opportunity for God to perform for you because you didn't keep your promise look at your neighbor and say are you keeping your promise look at the person on the other side and really ask them real hard do you keep your promises You need to go back and ask.

5:08 Here's what I would suggest. I want you to ask God to remind you of the promises that you've broken. And then go back and try to make it right. Amen's got a little low on that point right there. Yeah, you might not be to remember them all, but ask God to call to your remembrance the things that you did say you wanted to that you didn't do. God wants us to be people of his word. You know why? Because he is a God of his word. If God say he's going to do something, he brings it to pass. If he say he's going to fix it, he will bring it to pass. That's the kind of a God that we serve. He's a God that keeps his promises. Amen. Somebody help me thank God that he's a God of his promises. Here's number two. Why God doesn't answer your prayer?

6:03 Marital strife. marital strife 1 Peter 3 7 this is a verse that if I had the power to take it out of the Bible I would take it out but I don't have the power to do that it's almost a verse I wish God had not put in the Bible because he says husbands that's the first problem I had it's about husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding the dwell with them means your wife giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered.

7:06 Man, why would God go up and mess up a good Bible by putting a verse like that in there? But it's true. God says, I want you to understand that if you want me to answer your prayers, you have to have peace and understanding in your marriage. And for brothers, it's a tough thing to try to understand. brothers don't leave me hanging out here by myself But I learned. Even though I don't understand a lot of things my wife thinks and feels and wants, and it's problematic for me sometimes just to understand. I don't understand setting up a dining room table, and then you got this humongous flower, so you can't see the people on the other side of the table.

8:15 You're talking to the people looking around at the table. For some reason, it's important to her. I don't understand it. Yeah, that point's so good. I had to pull some money out of my own pocket and say, I'm saying amen to myself. That word is so good. Praise the Lord. I don't understand it. So I've learned how to do it. I figured out how to keep peace in my family. I've learned how to dwell with her with understanding two words yes ma'am yes ma'am yes ma'am 46 years yes ma'am I know some of y'all have a problem with that, but that's, so my prayers are being answered.

9:18 That's why God's answering my prayers. I do my best to dwell with her when understanding, but sometimes I don't understand. But yes, yes, ma'am. Okay, leave me out here by myself. It's okay. It works. It's all right. This is what God wants us to understand. That's critically important. I don't know how to tell you. Do what you got to do to understand your wife. I go shopping. You know, I try to go shopping sometimes. Don't like shopping. Hate shopping. Don't want to go shopping. I only go shopping when I want to. When I go shopping, I go straight to the store of what I want to get. I go just to the section with what I'm going to buy. when I go and order and I get back out and I'm back in my car on my way back home. But no, when you go with her, you got to do the maze.

10:11 You got to walk around and go into a store that you have no intention to buy anything in the store. But I'm learning, I'm learning. Yes, I'm just walking around. Yes, just... Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. just so I can get my prayers answered. I'm learning. Somebody say, I'm learning how to dwell with her with understanding. It's the heart of God. It's the desire of God.

11:04 Don't push it to the side. Don't ignore it. Don't do any of those things. You got to dwell with her with understanding. Just hang out with her. Just, amen, do what you got to do. Just do what you, for your prayers to be answered. Can I get an amen from somebody this day? I see the brother saying, no, no, no. Well, I'm just telling you what works for me. This is how I get my prayers answered. You can do it, Marcel. You can do it. You can do it, young man. Jesus, give him grace.

11:51 Help the brother out. Amen. Help him out. Help him out. It's what God wants. Here's number three. Secret sin. God don't answer your prayers because you got secret sin Psalm 66 verses 18 through 20. Psalm 66 verses 18 through 20. This is, all these points are important, but this is especially critical and important for this verse here. It's very critical that you understand this. Let me read this verse to you real quick. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly the Lord has heard me.

12:50 He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Oh, that's so powerful. God says when we are in the right posture, in the right heart, in the right direction, and in the right place. He won't turn his, he will hear our prayer. He will extend mercy to us. I love this passage. It means wonderful. But here's the key to this verse, verse 18. Here's the key. If I regard iniquity in my heart. What does that mean? The word regard in my heart means this. The word regard means if I can see it. if I regard iniquity in my heart. If I regard it in my heart. If I regard it in my heart.

13:42 Here's what that means. If I can see it in my thoughts, in my emotions. Ooh, that's good whether y'all know that or not. Here's what that means. You don't have to do it. All you have to do is see it. All you have to do is imagine it. And it affects God's ability to respond to your prayer life. One thing I learned about God in my walk with the Lord, in my relationship with Jesus, I've learned that the most important thing is the condition and the pattern and the posture and the direction of your heart. What's going on on the insides. Y'all think it's just about what you do, but God is saying, I'm taking this beyond what you do. I want to nip it in the bud to help you to deal with it before you do it. So you don't get into the habit of doing it. So you don't practice it. He says, I want you to get your heart right. You think that if you just look at it, it's okay. No, what the scripture says, if you dream it, if you think it, if you want it, you've got a problem. And I don't care.

14:36 I'm trying to help you understand that if you want God to answer your prayer, you've got to guard your heart. You've got to guard what you think. You've got to guard what you want. You've got to take care and protect what's going on in your mind. The scripture says, if I regard it in my heart, the Lord will not hear. Somebody say amen. Thank God. he's telling us and giving us clarity that he doesn't want this to be the life that we live if I regard it in my heart the scripture is clear it settles it the Lord will not hear but thank God when you guard your heart he certainly will he will hear your prayer and he will attend to your voice if you do that right here's number four pride pride, Psalm 1017, pride.

15:30 We've talked a thousand times. I've taught, it just seems like all the time I try to teach people about the importance of humility. Psalm 1017 says, Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear. I like that verse right there because here's what he said. Lord, when a person is humble, God says he will make his ear hear you. Isn't that something? When God makes a decree, I'm going to make sure my ear listens to what you pray and what you ask God for. Why? Because God loves humility. He loves people to walk in humility. The problem is when you think you're everything. The problem is when you think the world revolves around you. The problem is when you think you're more important than anybody else. The problem is when you think you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, when you failed to realize it was God who made a way for you. It was God who opened the door.

16:31 It was God who gave you the opportunity. It was God who created a job. It is God who gave you. You didn't deserve. There's so much you have not deserved, but God gave you stuff you didn't deserve anyway. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and what he has done for me, my soul cries out hallelujah. I thank God that he saved me. I thank God of every door he's opened, every prayer he's answered, every provision that he has provided, everything that the devil tried to do to cut me down, but God protected me and kept me and healed me and fixed me and did all that stuff for me. I thank God because I know I need God. Without the Lord, I would be nothing. Somebody high five your neighbor and say, I'm nothing without God. Go ahead and look at your neighbor and say, you're not all you think you are.

17:29 Life doesn't revolve around you. Everything ain't about you. You're not the most important thing. What God is looking for is people who have a heart to recognize. It is the Lord who has done this thing for me. Humility means I realize that without the Lord, I would be nothing. I would be defeated. I'd be frustrated. I would lose on every side. But I'm thankful that the Lord made a way. Matter of fact, verse 17 says, you have heard the desire of the humble. I like that. He'll do something for you even before you ask him. This is why I like living my kind of life because God has answered a lot of my prayers that I haven't even asked him to do.

18:25 He asked nobody yet. But he opened, he made a way and answered the prayer even before I asked him. That's why I like... Y'all got it. Thank you. I mean, do you know what it's like to see God open a door and answer a prayer that you haven't even talked to him about? And the scripture says he'll do your desire of the humble. I like that.

19:22 He sees your desire and he'll make a way for you. And that's what I see God doing for me. Here's number five and I'll be finished for today. Lustful motives. God doesn't answer your prayer because you got lustful motives. This is in the book of James chapter 4 verses 2 through 3. James 4 verses 2 through 3. This is an important thing too. He says, you lust, verse 2, you lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that word amiss means you're asking for the wrong reasons you're asking for selfish reasons you're asking for personal motives see what God wants us to do is to live our life for his glory to advance his kingdom you want a new car but you ain't driving nobody in the car that you got right now This used to be my go-to section right there.

20:44 I used to come over here when it was getting weak and low, and people stopped clapping. It's too late now. Y'all have missed the point, so I had to find me a new section of people who will support the pastor while he's preaching. you ask and do not receive because you asked for selfish motives. It's all about you.

21:40 You know what I learned about God? It's not about me and my life anymore. It's about the people I serve. It's about my family. Amen. And whatever God's doing in my direction, it ain't for me. And what he's doing for your direction, it ain't about you. You know, I learned if God can get it through you, he'll give it to you. If he can get it through you, he'll get it to you. You're not going to use it just on yourself, but you're going to take it and use it to bless other people and help other people and support other people and encourage other people. God will get it to you.

22:33 Amen. I want you to take a look at your own life and find out, have you broken vows? Do you have marital strife? Is there secret sin? Are you proud, full of pride? Do you have lustful motives? These are the first five. I'll do the other five next week. But let me just ask you to examine your life in these first five.