From: ragraca@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Randy A. Graca)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Unanswered Prayers, Why?
Date: 20 Nov 92 05:14:50 GMT
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.

Steve.Gross@lambada.oit.unc.edu (Steve Gross) writes:
>There are 14 main reasons why a Christians prayers may not be answered in
>my opinion.  They are listed below.

>1)  DISOBEDIENCE   Deut 1:45, 1 Sam 14:37, 1 Sam 28:6
>                   "And ye returned ans wept before the Lord; but the Lord
>                    would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you."

>2)  SECRET SIN     Psalms 66:18
>		   "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not
>		    hear me."

I would agree with the above with the following qualification:  if you
first ask the Lord for forgiveness (in the spirit of sincerely repenting
of your sin/disobedience;  for Catholics such as myself this would
probably constitute going to confession), then your prayer might be
answered.  The key point here in my opinion is that we all sin from time
to time, but if we do not repent of our sin, our prayers will not be
answered.

>3)  INDIFFERENCE   Prov 1:28
>		   "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they
>		    shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."

I hope that you do not mean indifference on God's part.  Matthew 7:7
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it
will be opened to you."  I could give other references, such as Luke
18:9-18, which speak of God answering the prayers of those who have
faith, but I think it is clear that God is not indifferent to our needs.
If I have misinterpreted what you mean by indifference here, I
apologize.

>4)  NEGLECT OF MERCY   Prov 21:13  "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the
>		    		    poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall
>				    not be heard."

This I would agree with completely.

>5)  DISPISING THE LAW  Prov 28:9  "He that turneth away his ear from hearing
>6)  BLOOD GUILTINESS  Isaiah 1:15  "And when ye spread forth your hands, I
>7)  INIQUITY  Isaiah 59:2  "But your iniquities have separated between you
>8)  STUBBORNESS  Zech 7:12-13  "Yea, they made their hearts as an adament
 
These four I think are basically the same thing as your (1) and (2)
above, that is, the prayer of one who has sinned *and* is unrepentant
will not be heard.

>9)  INSTABILITY  James 1:6-7  "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering...
>			       for let not that man think that he shall 
>			       receive anything of the Lord."

Faith, I believe, is a very key ingredient to getting your prayers
answered.  It is probably the most important one.

>10)  SELF-INDULGENCE  Jam 4:3  "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
>			        that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

I would agree with this also, but really, if you are truly devoted to
living a Christian life, would you actually pray for self-indulgent
purposes (say, to win the lottery or something)?

>11)  WRONG RELATIONSHIPS OF WIVES TO HUSBANDS, AND VICE VERSA.
>     1 Peter 7   "That your prayers be not hindered."

In light of the recent long thread in this newsgroup regarding
relationships in marriage, I think this one is really open to question.

>12)  WRONGS UNRIGHTED, DEBTS UNPAID, OFFENDED BROTHERS UNRECONCILED.
>13)  UNFORGIVENESS  Matt 6:14   "For if you forgive men their trespasses, 
>				 your heavenly father will also forgive you;
>				 but if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
>				 neither will your father forgive your 
>				 trespasses."
>     (If christians will not forgive others, their prayer for forgiveness 
>      will not be heard.  A grudge, root of bitterness.)

YES!
>14)  NOT GIVING OFFERING AND TITHE  Malachi 3:9
>				    "Will a man rob god?  Yet ye have robbed
>				     me.  but ye say, wherein have we robbed
>				     thee?  In tithes and offerings.  Ye are
>				     cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed
>				     me, even this whole nation."
>   (They were under a curse... God withheld the rain... He had not heard their
>    prayers.)

This is an interesting one.  I don't know that I could imagine God using
the amount of our contributions as a measuring stick for whether or not
he will answer a given prayer, but there was a statement that the pastor
at our church made in a sermon once that I liked that I think is
relevant, "God is never outdone in generosity."  How very true!

>I have found some conditions of successful praying, but am out of time to
>write it in this post.  i will hopefully write it in one coming soon.

I'm looking forward to seeing them.
>Steve.Gross

Randy Graca