Your Encouraging 5 Minute Podcast
A weekly dose of encouragement to start your week off right! Join your favorite WPER hosts every week for uplifting thoughts to keep your eyes focused on Christ and His promises.
Your Encouraging 5 Minute Podcast
Unanswered Prayers
Finding hope when we're facing unanswered prayers is one of our greatest spiritual challenges.
God's no doesn't mean he's rejecting us.
God's silence doesn't mean he isn't listening or disappointed in us.
Ultimately, it can pave a path to deeper trust.
Let's talk about:
• Wrestling with feelings of abandonment when prayers seem unanswered
• Understanding that God's vision extends beyond our limited perspective
• Remembering that God's goodness isn't dependent on Him giving us what we want
• Finding growth in the waiting and silence
• Bringing honest questions and pain to God, knowing He can handle them
God's goodness isn't just what He does—it's who He is
Please, share this with someone who might need the encouragement and reassurance that God isn't mad at them, and certainly hasn't abandoned them.
For more encouragement, you are always welcome to listen to WPER, Virginia's home for encouragement. If you're outside the listening area, listen at wper.org, or visit to download the WPER app.
Well, we're so glad you decided to listen to your encouraging five-minute podcast. My name's Eric, this is Heather Hi, and we are here to encourage you over the next five minutes to inspire you in some way to lift your day. If you need more encouragement at the end of the five minutes you can always listen again, or you can listen to your encouraging WPER. That's Virginia's home for encouragement. If you're outside that area, you can download the app. Just search apps. Wper is what you're looking for.
Speaker 2:So if you've ever prayed or maybe even pleaded with God, only to be met with silence or, maybe worse, an answer you didn't want. Eric and I are awfully glad you're here, yeah maybe that's where you are right now.
Speaker 1:Maybe you've been asking God for healing, for reconciliation, for a breakthrough, and the heavens just feel closed. Well, if that's, you take a deep breath and know that you are not alone.
Speaker 2:And let's start with something painfully honest. God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we hope, and when he doesn't, that can shake us?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it can, and that can lead us to think of things like you know does God really care? Did I do something wrong? That's usually my go-to.
Speaker 2:What did I do wrong? What did I do?
Speaker 1:And is God? Is he still good?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, these are very real, very really human questions. But today we want to sit with you in that space, if that's where you are. We do not want to rush past that pain and we certainly don't want to fling Bible scriptures and quotes at it and just move on. We want to remind you of something true.
Speaker 1:God's goodness is not dependent on him giving us what we want. We know, I know that's not easy to hear, especially when you've been praying for something that feels right or maybe is even necessary. Yeah, Like when we're praying for the life for something that feels right or maybe is even necessary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like when we're praying for the life of someone that we love, or maybe for a door to open that feels like it should open.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but here's the mystery of God that we, you know as humans, forget His ways are higher than ours, yeah.
Speaker 2:And his vision stretches far beyond what we can see. God sees the full picture.
Speaker 1:He does.
Speaker 2:And sometimes, when we feel like it's a no from God, it's actually a deeper, wiser yes to something we're not able to even understand or maybe even see just yet.
Speaker 1:Yet Key word. Yet there's a passage in Isaiah 55 that says my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Speaker 2:Okay, to be honest, even to me sometimes that can feel like a really frustrating answer, because as humans, we want clarity, we want answers, but God invites us into something better than clarity or answers. He invites us to trust.
Speaker 1:And that's easy to trust God when the answer is yes or the answer we want. But real faith grows in the waiting and the silence in those places where we wrestle with disappointment and yet choose to believe that God is still good.
Speaker 2:So think about this. Even Jesus, the son of God, he was crying and he was praying for something that he wanted, and it seemed like a logical prayer in that position, Father, if there's any other way, please let this cup pass from me. But then, realizing that God's got it all planned out, jesus said yet not my will, but yours be done.
Speaker 1:That's such a beautiful picture of surrender. Jesus knew pain was coming. He also knew the Father's will was ultimately for good, not just for him, but for you and me for redemption.
Speaker 2:So when God doesn't answer our prayer the way we want him to, it doesn't mean that he doesn't like us or that he has abandoned us. It means he's doing something that we don't yet understand, something better, something deeper. Now, that can be hard, believe me, eric and I both know, but it takes trust in the face of disappointment, trust that the no or the not yet is actually protecting you from something you can't even see, or something you don't even know yet.
Speaker 1:And maybe he's positioning you for something incredible. You know, think about it. Maybe this is leading to growth or to freedom that you wouldn't have developed any other way, because we're just not able to see the big picture from our perspective.
Speaker 2:Now look, even if you don't see the purpose yet, or maybe even if that pain is still raw. Remember this, whisper this truth to your heart God is still good, he is still kind, he still sees you and he's still working, even in the silence and the disappointment.
Speaker 1:If you're carrying disappointment, if you're grieving a prayer that hasn't been answered the way you hoped, bring it to him. He can handle your questions, he can hold your pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then, while we wait for answers, we could all rest in the truth that his love never fails. God's goodness isn't just something he does. That's who he is.
Speaker 1:We thank you for spending these few minutes with us. If this has encouraged you, sure it was someone who might need it today. If you need more encouragement, Virginia's home for encouragement, Again, that's WPER. If you're outside that listening area, you can always download the app. Just search WPER.
