Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayers? | Ask A Pastor Ep. 18

Have you ever prayed for healing, restoration, provision, or direction—only to feel like heaven was silent?

In this episode of the Ask A Pastor Podcast, Pastor Todd tackles one of the most difficult and deeply personal questions Christians ask: Why doesn't God answer my prayers?

Together, we'll explore what Scripture teaches about unanswered prayer, God's timing, and how to trust Him even when His answers aren't what we expected. We'll discuss how sin, unforgiveness, our motives, and faith can impact our prayers, while also recognizing that sometimes God's answer is "no," "wait," or simply beyond our understanding.

Most importantly, we'll discover that God's silence never means His absence. Even when we don't understand His plans, we can trust His character. Prayer isn't just about getting answers—it's about drawing closer to our faithful Father, who hears every prayer, knows every need, and promises that His grace is always sufficient.

If you've ever wondered whether God is listening or questioned why your prayers seem unanswered, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why God sometimes seems silent
• What Scripture says about unanswered prayer
• How to examine your heart and align your prayers with God's will
• The difference between faith and trying to control the outcome
• How to keep praying when God's answer is "no," "wait," or "not yet"
• Why God's presence is greater than any answer He could give

No matter what you're walking through today, we pray this episode encourages you to keep praying, keep trusting, and keep drawing near to the God who is always listening.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Ask a Passer. It's so good to be back with you today. And if this show is um if this show is helpful to you, if you could hit like and subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast, share it with your friends. I think it helps get uh the difficult um truths of God out to the masses. So it's so good to be with you today. Uh my name is Pastor Todd. I'm the pastor here at Hope Church, uh located in Cleaver, Texas. And so if you're looking for a church, we'd love to have you. If you're listening to me on Wednesday today, Wednesday, uh August 5th, we have tonight, we have revival nights. Uh, we'd love to have you. We've got a special speaker coming in tonight. So great night. It starts at 6 30. We'd love to have you. But let's get into it. So today, I this is uh a topic that people ask me a lot about. And I think it's a very complicated, very sensitive topic because we want to be able to pray to God and we want to know that he hears us and that he answers us. So the question that I'm answering today is why doesn't God answer my prayers? Now, listen, I want to encourage you today that God's apparent silence does not mean he is absent, indifferent, or no longer listening. Scripture invites us in to search our hearts, align our prayers with his will, and continue trusting him even when we don't understand his answers. And so, what do we do when heaven seems silent? You know, maybe you've prayed for healing to come and it hasn't. Maybe you've prayed for your marriage and it hasn't improven, or maybe you've prayed for a child who hasn't returned to God, or maybe you've prayed for a job, or maybe you have some financial needs and God maybe hasn't shown up yet. Maybe relief from a burden that you've carried for what it seems like for far too long. You've prayed, but nothing seems to have changed. So asking why does it make you a bad Christian? We've talked about in this whole show. The whole show is ask it, Pastor. Asking the question, why does not make you a bad Christian? In fact, David asked God why in Psalm 22, one through two, it says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groanings? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer me and by night, but I find no rest. David sounds like he's in distress. The psalmist asked also in Psalm 13, 1 through 2, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have my sorrow in my heart all day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Jesus prayed in the opening, or Jesus prayed the opening words of Psalm 22 from the cross. It says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from my groanings? Oh God, my God, I cry out, but you do not answer me. Even Jesus cried out to God uh for some time. And listen, God is not offended by our honest questions. God is not offended by them. The Bible acknowledges the mystery and pain of unanswered prayers. It also gives us several things to consider when God seems silent. So if you're taking notes today, I've got seven points as to what we do when sometimes God seems silent. And as always, at the end of those seven points, I'll give you some practical takeaways to put into practice throughout your life. So, number one, sometimes sin hinders our prayers. Now we don't like to hear that, and we don't like to hear uh that God is um that that sometimes what we do separates us from God. But here's some key scriptures. Psalm or Isaiah 59, one through two, it says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, or his ear dull that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he does not hear. Psalm 66, 18 says, If I have cherished an inquir iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Proverbs 28, 9. If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. So here's some truth. God does not require us to be perfect before we pray. If perfection were required, no one's prayers would ever be heard. Our access to God rests on his grace and his goodness. But there is a difference between struggling with sin and cherishing it. Guys, I want to encourage you today. I think we live in a world that cherishes our sin. I think we live in a world that celebrates sin, and all that does is separate us from God and makes it harder for him to hear our prayers. We cannot deliberately resist God while accepting him to bless our choices. Sometimes our unanswered prayers is God letting us live with the consequences of our bad actions. And so, what are some questions to consider when maybe God is not answering my prayers? It's number one, is a sin, is there a sin I need to confess to God? Is there something that I habitually do that God may not be answering my prayers because I am living in sin? The second is, am I resisting uh something that God has already told me to do? Maybe God's not answering your prayers because you've he's answered a prayer and you have not reacted to it. Another is am I asking God to bless an area of willful disobedience? Willful disobedience, meaning we know what some we know what is better to do, but we don't do it. So the second point today, sometimes unforgiveness hinders our prayers. Sometimes unforgiveness and resentment hinders our prayer. Mark 11, 24 through 25 says, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And wherever you wherever you stand praying, forgive if anything against you, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. Listen, Jesus connects prayer with our willingness to forgive others. Listen, if you if you cannot forgive others when you have not deserved forgiveness yourself, why do we expect God to willfully answer our prayers? We cannot cling to bitterness and expect unhindered fellowship with God who has forgiven us. You can't not offer forgiveness to those that are in your life and then expect God to just forgive you and answer your prayers. God tells us very clearly, you are you're forgiven in the measure in which you are forgiven. So, some questions considered on this point. Is there someone I need to forgive? Am I holding resentment in my heart towards someone or maybe holding resentment towards God? Am I asking God to change something while refusing to change me? And so I didn't change over a microphone setting, so the audio probably just got a little bit better. But listen, forgiveness does not mean pretending the offense didn't matter. It it also doesn't mean uh immediate reconciliation or restored trust. It means releasing personal vengeance and placing the justice in God's hand. Listen, I'm not saying that you need to allow someone to completely continue to hurt you, but what I am saying is God calls us to forgive. He doesn't call us to change somebody's actions, he calls us to forgive and let go and let him take control of what's going on. So number three, sometimes our motives are misaligned. Sometimes our motives are misaligned. James 4, 3 says, you ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it, spend it on your passions. Sometimes the issue is not we are what we are requesting, but why we want it. It's not necessarily why what we're asking, it's why we are asking. Our motives are rarely completely pure. So we should invite God to examine them. Prayer is not a method for getting uh God to approve our agenda. Listen, God is not a genie in a bottle. We don't get three wishes and we don't get to rub the lamp and expect God to do exactly what we want to. God calls us to do some stuff. And if we're living in disobedience and we're not doing what God has called us to do, then we have to um we we have to get into alignment with him before we expect him uh to answer our prayers. And so am I asking God, God's glory, or merely my comfort? Sometimes we just want to be comfortable. And listen, if you read the Bible, God doesn't really call us to a life of comfort. Am I seeking God's will or asking him to approve mine? You know, sometimes we have to, we're asking for God to approve the plans that he doesn't approve. And so, why would God answer our prayers and approve a plan that he doesn't want us to do? Would receiving this make me more faithful or merely more comfortable? Oftentimes we just want to be more comfortable, but God calls us to be more faithful. And so, listen, guys, prayer is more of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, listening, surrender than making requests. Now, yes, God wants you to make requests, but we also have to stand in awe of the God that answers those requests. And so the greatest gift of prayer is not merely what God places in our hands, it is that God gives us Himself. God gives us His presence, God gives us Himself in prayer. Number four, sometimes we need to grow in our faith. James 1, 6 through 7 says, But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. Hebrews 11 6 says, And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. First John 5, 14 through 15, and and this is confidence that we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us whenever we ask, we know that we have a request we have asked to him. So here's some truths in this in this point. Faith is essential, but biblical faith is often misunderstood. We have to ask for the things that God wants us to ask for. You know, sometimes we're asking out of our own selfish ambition, but we have to align our prayers with his heart. Faith is not convincing ourselves that God must give us what we request. God doesn't have to give us anything, but we need to align our prayers with his will. Faith is not spiritual, is not a spiritual force we use to control the outcome. Listen, we can't use our prayers to manipulate or control God. It's that's not going to work. Faith is confidence in God's character, wisdom, goodness, and power. Faith does not say, I know God will do exactly what I want. Faith says, I know God hears me, I know God is good, and I trust Him to do what is right. Sometimes faith is just saying, God, I don't have all the answers here, but I trust you to do what is right. So let me clarify before I move on to the next point. An unanswered prayer does not necessarily mean that you've failed to believe hard enough. Jesus and Paul both made requests to God that were denied. Sometimes the answer to your prayer is going to be no. That doesn't mean that you're not faithful. That doesn't mean you didn't pray right. It just doesn't mean that it allies with God's will. Number five, God's answer sometimes is no. God's answer to prayer sometimes is no. So some examples. Jesus sent Gethsemane. Jesus asked that if it was power, if it was willing for God, uh, if God could take this cup from him to go to the cross, and he said, Yet not my will, but your will be done. And ultimately, that prayer was known. Jesus had to go to the cross. Paul's thorn in his flesh. Paul asked three times for his affliction to remove, and God answered, he said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness. And you see that in 2 Corinthians 12, 8 through 9. So some truth. God is not, God's no is not the same as indifference. God's no is not the same as indifference. It just means he loves you. It just means he is uh pressing in towards you. God may decline a particular request while answering the deeper need beneath it. Paul requested relief, but God supplied his sustaining grace. Paul wanted his weakness to be removed, but God wanted his power displayed through his weakness. And so listen, God, guy, guys, God may give us the answer, may not give us the answer that we requested, but he will give us the grace that we need. He may not give us the answer that he request we request, but he will give us the grace that we need. Sometimes the answer to our prayers is no. But the great thing is, is when God answers us no, he will give us the grace that we need to walk through it. And so, number six, sometimes God's answers is wait. Sometimes God's answer is wait. Luke 18, 1 through 8 says, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought to always pray and not lose heart. He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected him, respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by continually coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says, and will not God give justice to the elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, we will find an will we find faith on earth. Here's the important truth in that passage. Jesus taught the disciples to pray continually and to not lose heart. Keep praying and don't lose heart. Persistence is not an attempt to wear God down. It can it is continuing to come to him because we trust his character. A delay may feel like abandonment, but delay and abandonment are not the same thing. Sometimes God is just delaying the answer to grow us a little bit more. We see the urgency of this moment. God sees the entire story. Sometimes what we think needs to happen quickly, God knows needs to happen over time. So things to consider from this point is what might be what might God be developing in you while you wait? What might God need to develop in you while you wait on his answer? Are you willing to trust God, God's timing as well as his answers? And will you keep praying even when you cannot yet see what he is doing? So the last point today, number seven, sometimes we simply just don't know. Sometimes we just simply don't know. Not every unanswered prayer can be traced to sin, improper motives, or insufficient faith. We should be careful not to give shallow explanations to people that suffer. Never try to give explanations to people in things that you don't know. Job's friends thought they could explain his suffering, but much of what they said was absolutely wrong. Some of God's purposes remain a mystery to us. And we have to understand that. Romans 8, 26 through 27 says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows that the mind knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Some encouragement I have for you today. When we don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit helps us. And there's been times in my life that I just said, Lord, you just have to, you just have to pray your will. This is where I believe our prayer language comes in. And I'll do another episode on that at another time. But this is where we get prayer language, you know, Romans 8, 26 through 27. Groans and understood. Sometimes God has to pray for us because we don't know what to pray. When we run out of words, we have to run to prayer. God has not promised to explain every decision, He has promised to remain with us. So some practical things for you today when it feels like God is silent, some practical truths to things you should do. What should you do when you feel like God is an answer? Number one, examine your heart. Ask, is there some sin in my life? Is there something that is separating me from God? Number two, confess what God reveals. If God reveals something to you, confess it and make it right with God. Number three, forgive those who've hurt you. Listen, I see one of the biggest markers between those who are immature in Christ and mature in Christ is how fast they forgive. God calls us to be quick to forgive. The quicker you forgive, I believe, the more spiritually mature you are. Four, examine your motives. Why are you bringing this? Are you just bringing this to God because it'll make your life easier? That's not necessarily what God wants, always. Pray honest and specifically. Pray honest and specifically. And number six, surrender the outcome to God. Whatever He answers, be okay with it. And here's the thing: just keep praying. Kind of like Dory says in finding an emo, just keep swimming. As a Christian, we're called to just keep praying. Pray when the answer is yes. Pray when the answer is no. Pray when the answer is wait. Pray when you cannot recognize an answer at all. Just keep praying. Because silence is not absence. Prayer is not pretending like everything is fine. Prayer is bringing what is not fine into the presence of our faithful Father. God's silence does not mean he stopped listening. A delayed answer does not mean he has forgotten us. An answer we do not want does not mean that he does not love us. The cross gives us perspective. On Friday, the disciples saw defeat. They saw no answers. But by Sunday, they discovered that God had a plan all along. God can be working the most powerful even when he seems like he's absent. Imagine what Saturday was like. Imagine what Saturday was like for the disciples. Jesus was dead. God seemed like he was silent, but Sunday was coming. And maybe, just maybe for you today, you're sitting in your Saturday. Be comfortable in the Saturday because one day God is going to answer your prayers in a mighty and powerful way. So some final encouragement I have for you today. Tell God what you want. Tell him how much it hurts. Ask him the hard questions. He can handle it. Then ask for the faith to pray. Sometimes we just have to say, Father, I don't understand what you're doing, but I trust you and I'm here. And so my thought, final thought for you today is we may not always receive the explanations we want, but we can remain close to God who hears every prayer, know every need, and promise that his grace will be enough. Guys, I'm so glad that you were with me today on Ask a Pastor. It was such a great uh episode. I think this is something that a lot of people struggle with. And so uh if you know somebody needs to hear this, share it with them today. Uh, if you don't have a church, we would love to have you here at Hope Church in Cleburn. We have a campus in Cleburn at 9:30 and 11 and in Meridian at 10:30 and one coming very soon uh in Alvaredo. Uh and so if you don't have a church home, we would love to have you as a part. If you'd love to support uh this podcast, this is a ministry of Hope Church in Cleburn. You can get online at hope churchcleberne.com uh and support it that way. But thank you so much. Thank you so much for being with us today because I think God wants us to answer the difficult questions. So thanks for being with us today, and we'll see you next time on Ask a Pastor.