Y'all, as a pastor, I will tell you, I find that people don't have a problem with praying. Almost every Christian I know prays. The problem is when they don't see a lot of immediate answers for the things they're praying for, and so they give up, assuming that prayer doesn't work. Their problem is not a prayer problem, it is a persistence problem, and this text addresses that. Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast with J.D.
Greer. We recently received a letter from Daniel, who is currently incarcerated. I just want to read some parts of it today, if you'll bear with me, because it's one of those reminders that even behind prison walls, God is moving in ways only he can. This is what Daniel says. I grew up in a Christian home, but struggled with pornography from a very early age.
That addiction led me to make some sinful choices throughout my life. I could write pages upon pages of God's enduring and persevering grace in my life since that day, but for the purpose of this letter, I want to highlight two of them. The body of believers that I am a part of in my cell block, and the Summit Life broadcasts that have become a mainstay in our spiritual development. The Lord was kind enough to put me in a room where a core group of Christ followers meet daily to read and discuss the word. God could have killed me for my wickedness.
And yet, in his mercy, he has given me a second chance, not only to follow him in love and faith, but to help others do the same. And I owe so much of my confidence in the word and my newfound love for him to the ministry of J.D. Greer. Every message Pastor J.D. preaches is drenched in gospel truth.
I find myself constantly phoning my family to tell them, you need to listen to J.D.'s message from last night. I hope you know how much your broadcast is bringing to people like myself who have fallen hard into sin and are facing the deserved consequences and who need to hear someone say that God isn't done with us yet. You have a contingent of men in this room who gather faithfully with their personal radios every weeknight at 1030 to listen to Summit Life. Your ministry and your broadcasts are changing lives in this place. Summit Life family, these stories spur us on.
So, this December, we're inviting you to join us in a different kind of giving. Through partnerships with 11 correctional facilities, your year-end gift will put God's word in the hands of men and women hungry for hope and redemption. It's one of the most powerful ways to invest in eternity and to help launch Summit Life into 2026, ready to reach even more people with the gospel. You can give right now at jdgreer.com/slash donate. Today, Pastor JD tells the story of Jacob, a man who provided a model for all of us who have ever waited on God to answer, unsure if he hears, if he cares, or if he will ever act.
Through Jacob, we learned that many of the blessings of God are released into our lives only through persistent, unrelenting prayer. Let's jump into today's message titled, Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer? If you have your Bible this weekend, if you'd open it to Genesis 32, in her book, Prodigals and Those Who Love Them. Ruth Belgraham, Billy Graham's wife, tells the story of waking up in the middle of the night, worried for one of her children. She says, it was around 3 o'clock in the morning when the name of someone that I love dearly flashed into my mind.
She said it came into my mind like an electric shock. Instantly, I was wide awake. I knew there would be no more sleep for me for the rest of the night.
So I lay there and I prayed for the one who was trying hard to run from God. She says, when it is dark and the imagination runs wild. There are fears that only a mother can understand. Suddenly she said in that place of darkness and fear and worry She said a voice spoke to me and said, quit studying the problems. and start studying the promises.
That might be our theme for this morning. Quit studying the problems. And start studying the promises. Because that's where true tenacity in prayer is inspired. The Bible, I have told you, is a book of more than 3,000 different promises.
An effective prayer begins with unearthing each of these promises one by one and praying them back to God. It's why we say you should not merely read the Bible, read your way through the Bible. You should pray your way through the Bible.
Well, today I want to talk about wrestling with God in prayer and refusing to give up. We are going to use one of my favorite Old Testament stories, and that is the story of Jacob wrestling with God recorded in Genesis 32. As we turn there, let me just point out to you before we get to Genesis 32, that one of the most predominant themes in Jesus' teaching on prayer was the need to persist, to cling to the promises, to wrestle with God, and to refuse to give up. It was so central that Luke summarized one of Jesus' parables this way. And I'm pointing this out before Genesis 32 because I don't want you to write off Genesis 32 today as just some weird Old Testament story that was kind of bizarre and it's just sort of a one-off.
This was a dominant theme in Jesus' teaching. Here's how he summarized. Luke summarized one of Jesus' parables.
Now, he told them this parable. on the need for them to pray always and not give up. This is what he was trying to teach him. You got to pray and not give up. And to illustrate this, he tells a story about a widow who needs a judge to give her justice, but the judge ignores her because she doesn't have enough money to hire a lawyer.
And he's kind of a jerk who doesn't really care about doing the right thing just because it's the right thing. And so Jesus says, this woman, because she cannot get justice, camps outside of the judge's house. And every time this judge goes anywhere, she pesters him about her need. Watch this, watch this. Jesus says, for a while, this judge was unwilling, but later he said to himself, even though I don't fear God, or respect people.
Yet, because this widow keeps pestering me, she won't leave me alone. I'll give her justice so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming. And then Jesus says, quite unbelievably, this is how you should pray to God.
Now, his point, of course, is not to compare God to an unjust judge. His point is to contrast him with one. And he is saying, if even an unjust judge will respond to persistence, how much more will your heavenly father? You see, in contrast to this poor widow, you and I have a heavenly father who loves to hear from us. He's not an unjust judge who cares neither for God or for us.
He is so in touch with us, in fact, that he knows when a hair falls from our heads and values us so much that he sent his son to die for us. But some blessings, even in that kind of relationship, Jesus says, some blessings he grants only through persistence in asking. Today, we're going to look at one of the clearest pictures of that in the whole Bible. It is the story of Jacob wrestling with God. By the way, I've always heard that everything that you really need to know about God can be found in the book of Genesis.
Prayer is a major, major theme in the book of Genesis. It appears in the most dramatic of ways again and again. Don't miss the significance of this. In the very first book of the Bible, the books that's going to lay out the foundation for all of the rest. Of the books and everything else that's taught, God establishes the primacy and the agency of prayer in how He does His work on earth.
Genesis 32, Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. is in quite a pickle in Genesis 32. His brother Esau is about to kill him. And this is the culmination of a 30-year grudge. Let me explain for a moment how he got there.
Okay. I'll have to back up a few chapters, starting in chapter 27, and let me walk you up to Genesis 32. Here's how he got there. Jacob had been a jerk for most of his life. That's how he got there.
Most significantly, he cheated his twin brother Esau out of the birthright. The birthright in those days was the right to officially carry on the family name. It usually came with upwards of two-thirds of the father's wealth, and it always went to the oldest son. Esau and Jacob were twins, but Esau was older by a couple of minutes. All right, so here's how it went down: how Jacob got the birthright.
Esau and Jacob, though they were twins, were very, very different. Esau was tough. He was macho. He was the man's man kind of guy. The text tells us that he was hairy and he liked to hunt.
The text tells us that Jacob, by contrast, had smooth skin and he liked to cook. Right. Which meant he was more of an indoorsy kind of guy. All right.
So you got to, you got the contrast.
Well, one day when they were teenagers, Esau comes in from hunting and he's powerful hungry. Jacob had just finished brewing up a pot of stew, and so Esau asked him if he could have a bowl of stew. Jacob, who is very crafty, sensing a moment of opportunity, says, Sure, I'll trade you something for it. And Esau said, Like what? And Jacob says, How about your birthright?
Which is an insane ask. But Esau, being a teenager and thinking impulsively, as teenagers are prone to do, not having a well-developed frontal cortex and all, and being hangry on top of that, said, Well, sure, I mean, what good is my birthright if I die of hunger right now? It's not going to do me any good then.
So they shook on it, and Jacob says, No takebacks, and Esau effectively relinquishes his birthright.
Well, a few years pass by, and their dad, Isaac, Is about to die. And so Isaac, who probably did not know anything about this deal and would have ignored it as a stupid teenager thing if he had known, wants to formally confer the blessing onto Esau.
So he asks Esau to go out and hunt him up some venison and bring it back and prepare it so they can eat together and he can formally confer the blessing of the birthright onto him. And so Esau leaves to go hunt.
Now, Isaac by this point is old. I mean, he can barely see or hear anymore.
So Jacob thinks, here's my chance.
Now, one thing I forgot to tell you: Esau was Isaac's favorite of the twins, and Jacob was his mama, Rebecca's favorite.
So Jacob runs and gets his mama Rebecca's help while Esau is away hunting. And she says, Genesis 27, verse 8: Now, my son, listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father, the kind he loves. I'll make it just the way he likes it. Then take him to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.
Then Rebecca, verse 15, took the best clothes of her older son Esau. She went to his closet, got some of his favorite outfits, and had her younger son Jacob put them on. Then, verse 16, she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.
Now, to be honest, I'm not sure what that says about Esau, that to look and smell like him, you would tie pieces of a dead goat to your neck and arms. But at any rate, verse 17, she then hands the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob. Jacob takes it back into Isaac, disguises his voice, talks really deeply, and presents himself as Esau.
Well, somehow, miracle of miracles, they pull it off. And Isaac mistakenly confers the blessing onto Jacob. And in those days, once a blessing of the birthright had been formally bestowed, you couldn't take it back.
So when Esau gets home and he finds out Jacob has heisted him, he vows to kill Jacob.
Well, Jacob is scared of Esau anyway, and so he flees, and he is gone for 30 years.
Now, Jacob turns out to be pretty resourceful, and through a combination of Hard work and a lot more trickery, he becomes really, really wealthy. His name, Jacob, by the way, literally means in Hebrew, grasper. And the reason he got that name was because when he and his brother were coming out of Rebekah's womb, Esau, like I told you, came out first. But it says that when Esau came out first, Jacob's little hand came out right after Esau left the womb and grabbed the hold of his heel as if to say, oh no, get back in here. I wanted to come out first.
So his parents called him Grasper. But the name Jacob can also mean deceiver. And so those two words, grasper and deceiver, pretty well sum up Jacob's life. And if your name is Jacob this morning, I sincerely apologize for bringing that out right now. But at any rate, somewhere during those 30 years that he's gone, God begins to work in Jacob's life.
And in chapter 31, God appears to Jacob, 31, verse 3, and says, go back to the land of your ancestors and your family, and I will be with you.
Now, to make a long story really short, Jacob gets right with God, and so he obeys. And so he starts this long journey home. But as Jacob is getting close to his birthplace, a place, remember, that he hadn't been for over 30 years, he starts to wonder. He starts to wonder what Esau is going to say. Is Esau still mad?
Maybe he's forgotten about the whole thing. And suddenly he gets word that Esau has come out to greet him with 400 armed men. Which is not the kind of group that you bring for a welcome party. It's the kind of group that you bring for a massacre. And so clearly Jacob understands Esau has not forgotten.
And so Jacob plunges into despair. And so he prays Genesis 32, verse 9, oh God. Oh God of my father Abraham. And God of my father Isaac, oh Lord, who said to me, Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good. By the way, you hear what he's doing?
You see it? I hope I've taught you to recognize this. You see what he's doing? He's holding God's words back up in front of God. God, you said.
You said, return to your homeland and I will do you good. Verse 10: I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, from the hand of Esau, just in case you forgot who my brother was, for I fear him. That he may come and attack me. Verse 12.
But you said, You said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. You see, the second time, he's holding God's word back up in front of him, and he's saying, God, you promised, you said this. Jacob keeps praying to God like this all through the night. And sometime in the middle of the night, verse 24, a man. Notice the capitalization, by the way.
A man came and wrestled with Jacob until dawn. When the man saw that he could not win the match with Jacob, He touched Jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. God's finisher, signature finishing move is the hip flick.
So the question you're supposed to ask is, If this strange man has that kind of power, how in the world did he lose the wrestling match to Jacob? Right? Verse 26, and the man said, Let me go. For it is dawn. Again, this guy is so powerful, he can just touch Jacob's hip and knock it out of socket, but he's pinned and he has to ask permission to leave.
What in the world is going on here? But Jacob panted. I will not let you go unless you bless me. Y'all imagine how much pain Jacob is in. His hip is out of socket.
But he won't let go. I won't let you go. I got no other alternatives. I'm desperate. I won't let you go until you bless me.
Verse 27, my favorite part of this whole story. What is your name? The man asked. He replied, Jacob.
Okay, a little sidebar. How do you wrestle with somebody all night long and not even know their name? Was this heavenly man just out looking for a random fight when he comes across Jacob? He says, Hey, pretty boy, you'll do. And so they beat each other up all night.
Now he's like, Hey, who are you anyway? Is that really what's going on? No, of course that's not what's going on. He already knows Jacob's name. He just wants Jacob to say his name.
Say your name. My name is Jacob. It means liar and deceiver. Verse 28, your name. will no longer be taken.
The man told him. It is now Israel. Which means literally you have wrestled with God and prevailed. Because he says you have struggled with God and man and have won. Verse 29.
And what is your name? Jacob asked him. Why do you ask? the man replied. Uh I don't know.
Maybe because you just snapped my hip socket out of joint. and change my birth name to a different one. And it would be helpful if when I'm telling this story later, I could at least tell people who you were. That's why. Verse 29, a man never answers.
The man blessed Jacob there. In the next few verses, Jacob is going to go on to meet Esau and... God changes Esau's heart. When Esau sees his brother, instead of killing him, his heart melts. And he lays down his weapons and he runs to embrace him and they stand there weeping in each other's arms for a long time.
Jacob goes on from this moment not only to be reconciled to his brother, but also to father the Jewish nation. Jacob's 12 sons are going to become the 12 tribes of Israel. And from one of those tribes, the tribe of Judah, Jesus himself would be born.
Now, so many questions. First, who is this strange man that's wrestling with Jacob?
Some commentators say it was an angel. Yes, I guess there's some to that theory. I don't know why you'd have to leave at dawn. He's not a vampire, so I'm not really sure what that all means. But most theologians believe it is God Himself because of what Jacob says in verse 30.
Jacob named the place Peniel. Penil, which means face of God, for he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.
So Jacob seems to think that it's God taking a human body.
So then the question becomes, if Jacob is wrestling with God, how does God not win? Again, the guy is clearly strong enough that he can whip Jacob whenever he wants. He can, with a flick of his finger, knock Jacob's hip socket out of joint. Yet he lets himself be pinned by Jacob. And what you see is that God is teaching you something important about prevailing with God in prayer.
And that is that many of the blessings of God are released into our lives only through persistent, unrelenting prayer. He wants you to pin him, so to speak. But see, that raises another question. God had clearly promised those blessings to Jacob. Jacob quotes him twice.
God had told Jacob, go back home and I'll bless you.
So why does Jacob have to wrestle all night with God to obtain the blessing? Write this down. Many of the blessings of God are released into our lives only through persistent, unrelenting, wrestling prayer. Yes, God had promised this blessing to Jacob, yet Jacob had to wrestle all night with God to get it. And only after a full night of wrestling does God let you pin him and obtain the blessing.
Y'all, as a pastor, I will tell you, I find that people don't have a problem with praying. Almost every Christian I know prays. The problem is when they don't see a lot of immediate answers. For the things they're praying for, and so they give up, assuming that prayer doesn't work. Their problem is not a prayer problem, it is a persistence problem, and this text addresses that.
Do y'all remember Martin Luther's definition of prayer? Effective prayer means catching God in his words.
Well, this story is going to add another layer to that, another dimension.
Sometimes you wrestle with God for a long time to get those blessings.
Now, please be clear and don't be confused. I'm not talking here about salvation. I'm not talking about forgiveness. I'm not talking about the filling of the Holy Spirit. I'm not talking about wisdom.
Scripture promises that God will give you those blessings the first time you ask for them. Right, um, what we're talking about is the outpouring, the inbreaking of God's goodness into some area of your life-a broken relationship, a career choice, a ministry opportunity. That's what we're talking about.
Now, you hear that and you ask, you said, well, I don't get why. Why does God do it that way? And I always turn here to the words of Martin Luther, who compares it to the father who has something in his hand that his kid wants, but he won't let it go at first to test the child's resolve, to see how badly his kid wants it. And so the father resists. The kid's trying to pull it out of his hand, and he's resisting to test his kid's strength and to test the kid's resolve to get it.
And God does that with us when we pray, Luther says. He holds the blessing in his hand as we wrestle with him, and he asks, How desperate are you for this? Do you really believe that I'm the only one who can give it? How quickly are you going to give up on me? Do you really believe that I'm good?
Do you really trust me? By the way, a few weeks ago, I asked you, I was like, why does God sometimes make us persist in asking and not just give us what we ask for the first time we ask it? And I, you know, kind of paused a minute for a dramatic effect, and I was like, I don't know. And you laughed, and that's partially true. I don't know all the specific reasons in each situation that God delays, but I do know, y'all.
I do know. I do know based on stories like Jacob's. I do know what his purpose is for us and the waiting. And I know that because scripture tells us he does so to purify and to perfect our faith. He is saying, Do you really trust me?
Do you really believe that I'm good? Do you really believe that I'm the only one who can give this? Or are you already hatching a plan B in your head in case I'm not really good and don't come through? And if I delay, are you going to just give up and you assume that I don't care or even that I don't exist? You see, our belief in the goodness of God is measured by how long we will persist in prayer when the answer does not come.
That's your measure of the belief, your belief in the goodness of God. How long will you persist in prayer? when the answer doesn't come. And write this down. Real prayer, the kind that comes from your soul.
The kind that Jacob prayed. The kind that just comes up as a groan. That always leaves you with a wound. In fact, that's the sign that you've started to pray that way. A wound like Jacob received.
A wound where God drives you to the end of yourself. where you've exhausted all your abilities. and you've lost any confidence that you can do anything. And you're looking out saying, God, there's 400 armed men. I got no answer for that.
I got nowhere to run, I got nowhere to turn. My only hope is you. And from that point onward. You're going to walk for the rest of your life with a limp. Have you been there?
Maybe you're there right now. You feel desperate about something.
Something you want to change.
Some change you want to see in your life.
Some change you need to see in somebody else's life, some change in the situation, and you despair. And at some point you have found yourself screaming at God. By yourself in your car, maybe at home when nobody else is there, or out in the wall, and you're screaming at God, I can't do this, I don't have anything else. You're the only one who can do this. You're the only one who can give this blessing.
And I won't let you go because I got no other alternatives. I won't let you go until you bless me because I know you're good and I've got nowhere else to turn. And I promise you from that point onward. You're going to spend the rest of your life walking with a limp. Reminding you of when God brought you to that point of despair and you clung to Him because you had no other alternative.
It is usually, Spurgeon said, Charles Spurgeon said, it is usually when you have no words. and you can only groan in prayer. That's when you've really started to pray and you've offered your best prayer. We'll be right back with the rest of our teaching in just a moment, but I wanted to remind you that today is the final day to make a year-end gift. Remember, every gift equals one Bible for an incarcerated brother or sister.
Let's share Jesus behind bars and help launch this ministry strong into 2026. Give the gift that lasts, God's Word. Go online to jdgreer.com to make a donation today. This is what the Bible teaches us effective prayer looks like. We press through what looks like God's unwillingness.
to lay hold of his promises. Y'all, I could use example after example after example from the life of Jesus. But you're going to see the same pattern play out again and again in how he bestows his miracles, right? I mean, to give you one: Mark 7, Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile, comes to Jesus to get healing for a daughter. And Jesus responds with what is without question the rudest thing in the Bible.
What's he saying? Woman? It is not right to take the bread intended for children and to give it to dogs. He called the woman a dog. I've heard commentators say, well, you know, the word he used actually means a little dog, like puppy.
Yeah, but it still means dog. Right? And in no culture at any time has it ever been flattering to call a woman a dog. Whatcha doing? Whatcha doing?
He's resisting her. What does she do? She comes back. She presses back. She says, I'll see you, you know.
Arm move and I'm gonna put the figure four on you. Yeah, Lord. But in a rich man's house, there's so much food on the table that some of it tumbles off, and even little dogs get to eat. That's her version of wrestling. Hey, Jesus, you're acting like you're trying to get away, but I won't let you go.
Until you bless me, because my daughter's got no alternative. What happens? Jesus stops. He says, wow. I've never seen faith like that anywhere in Israel.
By the way, don't miss the use of the word Israel. That was the kind of faith Israel showed. And he's looking at this group of people saying, All these people that are essentially in church, he says, None of y'all pray that way. I haven't seen faith like that, but this woman knows. that Iowa looks like resistance is not actually resistance.
And he gives her the blessing. Think of it like this. Instead of doing what Jesus originally said he would do, Jesus did what the woman believed he could and would do. Jim Simbala, who's pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Wrote one, maybe one of the best books on prayer I've ever read called Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.
He said, The great battle of our spiritual lives is: Will you believe? It's not will you try harder. It's not can you make yourself worthy. It is squarely a matter of believing that God will do what only God can do. And then you pray and you pray and you wrestle and don't give up until God gives the blessing.
I know I'm talking to a lot of people this weekend who are waiting on God to answer some prayer, and you're sitting here thinking, I don't know why it seems like a good thing. I don't feel like I'm asking selfishly, why hasn't God answered my prayer? It's a fair question. And some of you, for some of you, it's led you to doubt, quite honestly, God's goodness. Or to wonder if he even exists.
So I want to end this message by giving you four reasons. glean from this story. For why God may not be answering your prayer, or why at least you feel like He's not answering your prayer. I want you to consider these, okay? They won't all apply to you, but maybe one or two of them will.
Number one reason you may not sense him answering your prayer like you think he should be answering it. Number one, maybe you're not yet pursuing his will. Hear me out. It is significant that this wrestling match does not happen until Jacob had stopped his life of swindling and was on his way back to the promised land, right? God will not pour blessing into your life when you are living in open rebellion to him.
How do I know that? Because the psalmist says very plainly: if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Peter says to husbands that if you husbands are mistreating your wives, if you're not respecting them, if you're not honoring them, if you're not putting their needs and wants before your own, then your prayers, 1 Peter 3:7, are going to be hindered. And for some of you men, that's why God has not answered a prayer since you got married. All the wives are like, mm-hmm.
That's right. Amen.
Okay. Multiple other places where Jesus says open sin cuts us off from the blessing of God. Listen, if you have not surrendered yourself to the Lordship of Jesus this morning, God puts himself under no obligation to hear your prayers. You're not his child. And so none.
None of the promises of prayer are yours. I don't say that to be mean. In fact, the opposite of mean. You can become God's child right now, today. Just by repenting of your sin and receiving his free offer to forgive and save you, he offers that to you.
But see, the point is, until you do that, none of these promises of prayer are yours.
Now, maybe, maybe you've done that. You're like, well, I'm a Christian, I've received Christ, but maybe still, right now, this weekend. You're living with some kind of unconfessed. Willful sin. Again, if I regard iniquity in my heart, in other words, if there's something that God has told me I shouldn't be doing, but I'm kind of doing it anyway, thinking it won't be that big of a deal, the Lord will not hear me.
Your sin has placed a block between you and God that scripture says may keep your prayer from being answered. Is that true in your life this morning? Is the Holy Spirit putting his finger on something in your life right now? If so, then you need to stop praying and start repenting.
Now, I want to give one caveat here, because specifically In the case of children who have walked away from God, many parents... assume that it's some sin in their lives that made their child wonder. Talk to parents like this all the time. The author of Prayers for Prodigals says this. He said, You know, when we parents are not getting an answer to our prayers to bring our prodigal children back.
We look for somebody to blame. A lot of times we'll turn to somebody else. It's this person's fault, these friends' fault. He said, but we don't look very far. More than one parent of a prodigal son or daughter has found themselves looking in the mirror and asking, Is God punishing me?
Through my child. For something I did in the past. The author says emphatically, No. We know that because Ezekiel 18 says clearly that in the new covenant, God will not punish the children for the sins of the Father. The author says a better explanation for what's happening would be more John 9.
When the disciples encounter a man who's been born blind from birth and they ask Jesus if he's blind because of his sin or his parents' sin. And Jesus says very simply, verse 3, neither this man nor his parents sin. This came about so that God's works might be displayed in him. In other words, this happens not because God is punishing somebody for some sin, but he's created a situation where he gets to show off his power and grace.
So in other words, parents, hear me. It's not your fault. The father in Jesus' story of the prodigal son had not done anything wrong, per se. There is nothing in Jesus' story that indicates that this young prodigal son left because of failures in the father or deficiencies in his parenting. You can't blame yourself.
They get to make their own decisions. God created, after all, he created only two humans directly, Adam and Eve, and both of them rebelled. And it's not because God was a deficient father. They're not being punished for your failures. God has just created a situation where you got to press into His grace.
He's created a situation where you got nothing left to do except grab hold of God and say, I can't let you go until you bless me. The wrong thing to do in the situation of a prodigal is to blame yourself. The right thing to do is pray that God's great works would be displayed in him or her. But to return to the main point. If you're not experiencing an answer to prayer, You should at least ask.
Am I pursuing God's will in all the ways that I know how? Right now this morning are you are you doing everything you know God's told you to do? Any past sins, Jesus' blood is covered, so He's not paying you back for those. But right now, are you following His will? And once you're satisfied that you are, Well, then you can proceed to number two.
Number two, maybe he has a better plan. Maybe he's got a better flight, but we have to at least acknowledge that with our limited knowledge. We can't know everything. And sometimes God overrules us in love. Right?
I mean, every parent understands this.
Sometimes I overrule my kids' requests of me, not despite my lack of love for them, but because of my love for them. Right? I mean, right now I got to get something for my 16-year-old to drive. Naturally, she wants a self-driving Tesla. Instead, I got her a Honda Accord with a stick shift.
Now she's like, Dad, why am I having to learn to drive a stick? This is so hard. And I say, I know, I know. But A, I think this is actually a valuable skill for you to have. B, this will help remove the temptation to have the phone in your hand when you drive.
I'm giving her something different because I have a better plan, and I think my plan is better.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm infinitely wise. Maybe Tom will tell my decision wasn't the right one. But I can tell you the wisdom of our Heavenly Father is always better.
So Jesus teaches us to begin every single prayer we pray by saying, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. No less than the Apostle Paul was told by God in answer to a persistent prayer. God says to Paul, hey, Paul, stop praying that. I'm not going to remove this storm from your flesh like you're asking because I've got a better plan. And my grace is going to be sufficient for you in this affliction.
So I know this is what you want, but I got a better plan. Quite often, God is up to something better in our lives that we just can't see yet. We love around here the way Tim Keller summarizes it. Look, God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or. He will give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything that he knows.
God will either give you what you're asking for, he's like, but I actually knew if you knew what I knew, this is what you'd ask for. Let me give you one biblical example really quickly, and y'all, there are hundreds I could pull from. But this is a new one for me, so let me share it with you. Do you remember the story? And Luke 1, where Zachariah is in the temple.
And suddenly Gabriel the angel appears to him and tells him he's going to have a son. John the Baptist, who's going to announce the coming of the Messiah. Yo, I saw something in that story the other day I've literally never seen before, and I couldn't believe I'd never seen it. When the angel first appears to Zachariah, do you know the first thing he says? Luke 1:13.
Don't be afraid, Zachariah, because your prayer has been heard. What prayer? Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name his name John. A prayer to get pregnant. The first thing the angel says is, hey, I'm here because God heard your prayer.
Here's the thing. How long ago had Zachariah stopped praying that prayer? I ask because the text says that Zachariah and Elizabeth were. In Hebrew, very old. Not just old.
Very old. As in, so old that an all-nighter for Zachariah meant not getting up to go to the bathroom. Right. Or so old that if you said something to Zachariah about getting lucky, he just assumed you meant finding a good parking spot at the grocery store. That kind of old.
You follow me? Like late 70s, early 80s, kind of old is what commentators say. Yo, I can see Zachariah and Elizabeth praying to get pregnant into their 40s. Maybe they were even bold and audacious enough to ask God for that gift into their 50s. Maybe.
Because now she's in her mid to late 70s. That's a prayer they have long ago stopped praying. They just assumed that God had said no or that he wasn't listening. But the first thing the angels says when he shows up, the first thing is, no, no, no, God heard you. He's had a better plan.
One you had to wait for. And one you couldn't have comprehended had he tried to explain it to you. Friend, what if, what if, what if when we get to heaven we see there was something like this for every supposed unanswered prayer in our lives? Again, Ruth Bell Graham, when I am dealing with an all-powerful. All-knowing God, I, as a mere mortal, must offer my petitions not only with persistence, but also.
with patience.
Someday I'll know why. Number three. Number three, maybe you're approaching God without confidence in his goodness. Let me tell you why I share this one. James 1:5, Jesus' half-brother James says, Now, look, if any of you lacks wisdom.
He should ask God. And hey, good news. God will give generously. Oh, he just pour it out. And ungrudgingly, my favorite word in the verse, ungrudgingly means he doesn't do it while pointing a finger at you, criticizing you for being so dumb to get yourself in a situation where you needed that wisdom.
He's not bringing up your past sins. He's already forgiven those in Jesus. It's not going to be any condemnation. Just ask and your Heavenly Father will give it to you. Watch, what's this?
But let him ask in faith. Without doubting, For the doubter is like the surging sea driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive. Anything. From the Lord.
Being double-minded and unstable in all his ways. In other words, you come to God, you need wisdom. You got to believe that he's good and that he will provide it. You have to be certain of his goodness and his willingness. This is not name-it-claim it theology, y'all.
Name-it-claim-it theology is when you believe you know better than God what you need and he's obligated to give it to you. And God's like a pinata, and faith and prayer are like a whacking stick. And if you whack God hard enough, then he's just going to give you whatever candy you're asking for. That's not what James is talking about. James is talking about approaching God with certainty about his character.
Certainty about his promise of goodness. Jesus, I know you're good. I know it, and I know you're listening. You're just like I see you in the gospels. You're just as attentive.
You're just as moved with compassion. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. You know when a hair falls out of my head. You know every thought before I have it. You have intended good for me.
I'm coming with that confidence. I believe James' promise about asking for wisdom would apply to anything we asked for. Because he says you will receive anything from God, right? He's talking about more than just wisdom. Anything you ask God for, you got to be certain of the goodness and character of Jesus, or like James said, you're not going to receive anything from him.
You won't receive, that person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
So let us say as we pray, Jesus, I know you're good. I know it. I know you're listening. And I know you're able to help. Just like I see you in the Gospels.
Remember the great battle of our spiritual lives. is will you believe? Not will you try harder or be worthy, but will you believe? Which leads me to the last one, number four. Maybe you've not yet prayed long enough.
Yo, maybe you've not yet prayed long enough. Maybe. Maybe there's a little bit more of the night of wrestling ahead. Don't give up friend Don't give up. Hold on.
to that heavenly man. Hold on and say with Jacob, I am not going to let you go because I got no other alternatives, and I can't let you go until you bless me. Remember Martin Luther's definition of effective prayer, effective prayer. catching Christ in His words. And then wrestling with him until he fulfills it.
Hold on to God. Hold on to him. Cling to him in desperation through the darkest hour of the night, saying, God, why aren't you doing this yet? God, you promised, Lord, you promised good to me. My hope in you is secure.
You said, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. You've said that I'll see the goodness of the Lord of the land of the living. You said that the children of the righteous will be blessed. You said that you would use me as a blessing and not a curse. You said you would use me to point other people to your goodness.
God, I'm believing what you said. God, I'm not letting you go because you're the only one who can fulfill this. Listen to me, friend. Listen, God feeling distant from you is just an illusion. It's just an illusion.
He is testing your faith in his goodness. He's seen, he's seen if you're gonna give up on him. He's seen if you're gonna turn away from him to something else, or maybe just conclude he doesn't exist. And he's listen, he's giving you a wound. He's given you a wound at the place of your brazen, foolish self-confidence.
Then be honest, that foolish self-confidence, that independent streak, is what caused you to wander into a life of grasping and deceiving. And through this time of waiting on him in desperation, he's going to create in you a limp. A limp where you learn to lean on his strength and not yours anymore. And for the rest of your life, I promise you. You're going to look back.
and say that's the most blessed wound. than I've ever received. Before God uses a man greatly. They all always hurt him very deeply. Because he's got to create that wound.
Where you lean on him and you teach other people that salvation is not found. And my goodness, my abilities is not found in my parenting. It's not found in my persuasion. Oh, no, no, my hope is in his goodness, and my limp is going to show you that. Let me tell you about my place of brokenness.
Let me tell you what God did in it.
So, see, press on, my friends, press on. Because some answers are only given after a night of painful wrestling. Don't give up. Don't give up. After all, after all, you're praying to the God who went through the darkness of Gethsemane and through the torture of Golgotha for you.
I can assure you, He's listening. If he didn't turn his back on you when sin was crushing the life out of him, he's not going to close his ear to you now that you are his child. You feel like he doesn't care about your broken marriage? You feel? You feel like he doesn't care about your unsaved husband?
You feel like he doesn't care about your wayward child? He doesn't care about your lost friends or your broken body. He cares. The distance is just an illusion. Keep praying.
Keep praying. And if you push with persistence, And you get past the resistance. What you'll find is not indifference. What you'll find is intimacy.
So, the 19th century evangelist and orphanage founder, George Mueller. George Mueller committed To pray every day for five young men to be saved, five teenagers. two of which were one of his best friends. High school sons. He prayed for 18 months before the first one of those five came to Christ.
Which is a long time. Think about it. Every day pray, and that's 540 days. Every day for over 500 days, you pray the exact same thing without seeing an answer. Prayed for 18 months.
The first young man got saved. When he got saved, George Mueller wrote in his journal that he praised God for that one. He said, but there's four more left, so I'm going to keep praying. He prayed every day for another five years. Second one came to Christ.
Said, I kept praying another six years. The third one came to Christ. He kept praying every day for 36 years. Mueller was now a very old man. Right?
And he wrote in his journal right before he died. Of all the great ways God had answered prayers, but he said there's two still. that are unconverted. of these five young men, and I will not stop praying. Until my dying breath, I will pray for them every day.
He said, I continue to hope in God and I pray on. And then he died. Just a couple of years after his death though, Those final two, the sons of his friend, Both came to faith in Christ. George Mueller had prayed daily for those two young men for almost 45 years. years.
Frit, don't give up. Jesus told these parables so that you would always pray. and never lose heart. Are you ready to just keep on asking? Stick with it.
God promises to answer. I can't thank you enough for joining us in 2025. You make all of this possible. From the very beginning, Summit Life has existed to help people go deeper into the gospel and take the gospel wider into the world. That mission hasn't changed, but in 2025, God has shown us again how He uses ordinary believers to make an extraordinary impact.
Through your prayers and generosity, everyday people are living sent, equipped to share the hope of Jesus in homes, workplaces, and even prison cells. Every story of transformation this year begins with someone like you because you make it possible. You can go online to jdpreer.com and on behalf of the entire Summit Life team and all your fellow listeners, let me just say thank you for making this ministry possible. Join us next time as we begin both a new year and a new series on the book of Exodus called Rescue. See you then.
Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries. Yeah.
