How Can I Keep Praying When God Doesn’t Seem to be Answering?

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Looking back on my life now, I can see how some of God's greatest times of blessing in my life happened during seasons of waiting when it felt like he wasn't even listening. He was listening, but there were some things that God wanted to do in me before he did those things that I was asking him to do for me. Happy New Year and welcome to Summit Life. Guys, it's 2021, a new day, a new year with new mercies every single morning. Let's start this year giving thanks to the Lord for all he's done, and we'll look forward to all he's going to do. Amen? Today, Pastor J.D.

Greer is wrapping up a short series called The World Upside Down. Pastor J.D. answers one more question that you might be asking after the year you've had. How can I keep praying when God doesn't seem to be answering? It's a perfect way to start the new year by jumping into God's Word.

Let's get started. Prayer is arguably the primary thing God calls the church to do during a time like this. We can do other things after we pray, but we should never do anything before we pray, and prayer ought to be the first, and the middle, and the end of everything that we do. We see this in the book of Acts when the early church was in an upside down time. In Acts 4, when persecution really broke out, they felt overwhelmed.

They were totally unsure what to do. They gathered themselves to pray, and God answered from heaven by shaking the room they were in, and then, ultimately, shaking the whole world through them. In Acts 12, when Peter, who was the leader of the early church, had been put into prison, the church in Jerusalem gathered together to pray all night, and God released him. In Acts 13, it was during one of their all-church prayer meetings that God raised up Paul and Barnabas and set them apart for the worldwide expansion of the Gospel. In Acts 6, the apostles described, in fact, their ministry.

Their primary ministry is prayer and the ministry of the word, and most churches like ours, we understand the importance of the ministry of the word, but not always as much the ministry of prayer. In the Old Testament, the center of Israel's worship, the temple, it was called by God a house of prayer for all nations. God promised Israel that this is exactly what he would do when they prayed to him at this temple. He says, 2 Chronicles 7, 13, when I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if at that point my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. Verse 15, my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. He's talking about the temple. Verse 16, I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name, my eyes, and my heart will be there forever.

Now, we are not the nation of Israel and we don't have the temple anymore, but we, the church, we've been given the name of Jesus and all these promises for us are fulfilled in Jesus. And Jesus told us that if we, the church, would pray in his name, he would hear our prayers on the world's behalf just like he heard Israel's prayers at the temple. So conviction number one behind this message is that one of our primary roles in this moment is to pray. But conviction number two behind the need for this additional message on prayer is, is to be frank, an honest one. Some of us are just not sure how effective our prayers are, right? I mean, some of you, if you're honest, you've really started praying when the coronavirus crisis began. But after a few days, you stop.

Why? Well, it's not that you stopped caring about the crisis. It's just that in your heart of hearts, you aren't actually convinced that praying about it was actually changing things. I know you felt that. And if I could be totally candid with you, I've felt that also. I saw one guy online say, keep your thoughts in your prayers. What we need are masks and ventilators. The point is because we don't always see direct, immediate answers to prayer, some of us struggle to maintain the motivation to, to do it continually. Am I talking to anybody out there? I mean, come on, don't try to hide and act all spiritual just because you're there in your house.

Be honest. Listen, Jesus taught a lot about prayer and he taught us that there were four things that should characterize our prayer lives. These four words show you not only how to pray, but they teach you what to expect from God when you pray and help you keep the motivation to pray when you're not seeing instantaneous results.

They all come from Luke chapter 11, Luke 11, verse one. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Hey, first, can I just say, isn't it interesting that after everything the disciples have seen Jesus do at this point, what they want Jesus to teach them is how to pray, not teach us to preach or teach us how to cast out demons or teach us to do miracles, but teach us to pray.

They understood that's where the power was. Verse five, Jesus says to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has just arrived on a long journey. And I have nothing now to set before him and he will answer him from within. Do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed.

I cannot get up and give you anything that you're asking. Hey, real quick, few details about the story to make it make it make sense in our context. First in a country without electricity, midnight is really the middle of the night. They weren't like staying up till 1130 every night or one 30 binging on Netflix.

They went to bed right at sundown. So by midnight, this guy has been asleep for probably about four hours. He's well into REM.

All right. Second notice it says that he is in bed with his children. In those days, people lived mostly in one room houses with one big bed area. So literally, he's in bed with his family and his kids. And what that means is that in order to get this guy bread, he's going to have to wake up everybody in the house. That is massively inconvenient.

How's your family react when you wake them up in the middle of the night? Thirdly, notice that the man making the request here doesn't have an emergency. He's not like, Hey, my wife has fallen and she's bleeding out of the ears or, or my guest has a peanut allergy allergy. We need an epi pen or even we're out of toilet paper or nothing like that. He's like, I'm out of bread.

I mean, can't this request wait a few hours until morning? They're not going to starve to death in the middle of the night for lack of pop tarts. Finally, what you should notice is that the request this man makes is exorbitant. In those days, bread loaves were huge. One loaf would have been sufficient for the night, but this guy asked for not one, but three.

That would have been enough to feed a family for three days. Jesus, verse eight, I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his impudence. Some translations say boldness or shamelessness there. He will rise and give him whatever he needs. The man who is the man honors the request, not because he is his friend.

In fact, after this event, he's probably not even his friend anymore. No, he honors the request because of the boldness and the persistence this man has in asking. Verse nine, and I tell you, ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds into the one who knocks, it will be open. By the way, this whole analogy of knocking reinforces the idea of persistence. When you knock, you don't just walk up to the door and bang it once. If Veronica and I hear one single solitary thud in the middle of the night, we don't assume that somebody is knocking at our door. We assume that one of our kids is falling off their bunk bed.

Now, when you knock, you wrap repeatedly. Jesus goes on, verse 11, and what father among you if his son asks for a fish will, instead of a fish, give him a serpent? And parents, you ever do that to your kids? Your kid asks you for a chicken nugget and you're like, no, I don't have any chicken nuggets, but here's a cobra.

Of course not. If he asked for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? Verse 13, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? This parable teaches us that four things ought to characterize our prayer lives.

Here are the first two. Number one, persistence. Jesus' parable shows us that some answers are given only through persistent, bold prayer. Look at the 11, verse 8, because of his impudence, that's why he got the answer.

Impudence is a great word. It means a persistence and a forthrightness in asking that borders on rudeness. Because this man demonstrated a dogged persistence in asking, he got what he came for. Sometimes God grants your request only through your persistence in asking. Well, you say, well, if it was God's will to give it, why didn't he just say yes the first time I asked? Or if he loves us so much, why not give it to us immediately?

Honestly, I don't know the full answer to those questions. I have a few ideas that I'll share with you in a moment, but it's clear from this parable that God grants some things only through persistence in prayer. There's an idea that's really popular among some Christians that prayer doesn't actually change God's mind about anything. It only changes us. I've even seen that on little plaques you can buy at the Christian bookstore, little coffee mugs. Prayer doesn't change the situation, it changes me.

Well, that's quaint, but ultimately it's not true. Yes, prayer does change you for sure, but parables like this one show you that prayer also changes the situation. Luke 11 9 does not say ask, and you'll be changed for the asking. Seek, and the journey will make you different. Knock, and your heart will be transformed just by asking the question. No, what does it say? It says knock, and if nobody answers, knock louder. Keep banging. Don't let God pretend like he's asleep.

Keep hammering on that door until he gets up. The early church understood this. Acts 12 says they prayed all night for the release of Peter.

They didn't just mention it once and resign themselves to the sovereignty of God. Paul understood this. He asked for relief from one of his burdens so often that eventually God had to send out a message from heaven. 2 Corinthians 12 9 saying, Paul, you got to let this one go.

I got a greater plan involving this thorn, and I'm not going to take it away from you, but the point is Paul had to be told to stop asking. Or one of my favorite scenes in the Old Testament, Exodus 17. As Israel goes into battle, God tells Moses to go up on the mountaintop overlooking the battle and raise his hands, which is of course symbolic of being in prayer. When Moses' hands were up, Israel would win, and if Moses put his hands down, then Israel would start to lose. Makes you wonder what would happen if Moses had started doing jumping jacks. That would have been traumatic for the army, chaos.

But could the picture be any clearer? As the church's hands are raised in prayer, God gives the victory. When they cease, so does the victory. John Wesley, who was one of our nation's greatest evangelists, just finished a book about him. He said he was so convinced of prayer's agency and bringing the power of God that he said, I am convinced that God does nothing on earth except in answer to prayer. Persistent prayer. Now again, you wonder, well, I mean, if God wants to give us these things, why not just do it immediately?

The first time that we asked for them. Again, honestly, I'm not sure the full answer, but I have learned that there are things that God does in us during times of waiting. In Lamentations 3.25, Jeremiah, who was a prophet that was himself very broken in prison, felt like he was abandoned, like he'd lost everything. He said, he said, Lamentations 3.25, it's good for a man. It's good for a man to wait quietly to see the salvation of the Lord.

He called out on God multiple times for his deliverance, and God told him to wait. Times of waiting can have a purifying effect on us. I know from experience that waiting on God in silence can help us see all the false places that we trust.

God reveals that. Waiting on God. Waiting on God can help shake us of our self-confidence. Waiting is how God tests our faith in his goodness. Martin Luther said, it's like a child trying to push against the hand of a parent.

The parent gives only enough resistance to test the resolve of the child. Martin Luther said, that's what God does with us in prayer. He wants to see our resolve in his goodness. Looking back on my life now, I can see how some of God's greatest times of blessing in my life happened during seasons of waiting when it felt like he wasn't even listening.

He was listening. But there were some things that God wanted to do in me before he did those things that I was asking him to do for me. I love how the popular praise song puts it. God, if you're not done working, I'm not done waiting.

And until he comes back, until Jesus comes back, or until I'm dead, he's not done. The first word that should characterize our prayer lives is persistence. The second word is desperation. Desperation. One thing we do know about the man in Jesus' parable is that he's out of options.

All the stores in Israel were closed that time of night, and Amazon didn't even deliver until the morning time, and even they were on a seven to 10-day delay. If the neighbor doesn't provide the bread, then this man is out of options. One of the things that keeps us from praying is the subtle belief that we still have other options besides God's provisions, that we're not absolutely desperately dependent on the mercy of God to get things done. I would say this is probably especially true for us as Americans. It's true of the whole human race, but especially us as Americans, because we're the can-do people. It's right there in our name.

We're the Ameri-cans, not Ameri-cants. We assume that with enough time and energy, we can figure out the solution to anything. And that's mostly good. I mean, that's innovative, can-do spirit has led us to great success in many areas. But listen, that spirit is deadly when you're dealing with a God who says regarding eternal matters, apart from me, you can do nothing. In a pandemic like this one, we should see that at the most fundamental level, the solutions that we're looking for are not going to be found in our ingenuity.

Our country's hope is not in Dr. Fauci or Dr. Gupta or the Republicans or the Democrats. This pandemic is to shake us up, to show us that our ultimate and our only hope is in God's mercy. If my people, God says, my people will humble themselves and pray.

Humble means admit that apart from His grace, we can't survive as a race. Any fix we come up with is only going to be temporary. We're unable to overcome the curses of death and even unable to guarantee the necessities of life without God. As a church, we are unable to wake our families and our communities up to their spiritual needs. I feel desperate.

Don't you? Only God can do that. Knowing that, see, we pray with desperation.

Summit, we are desperate. We are desperate for God to awaken people to the reality of their sin and to the living hope that can be theirs only in the gospel. Characteristic number three Jesus tells us to pray with, boldness. When you think about this story, there's one troubling detail to me. The parable, obviously, is supposed to represent our relationship to God, right?

Right? So is Jesus comparing God, the one who answers the prayer, to a detached, indifferent, sleeping neighbor? You know, I'm glad that Jesus made that comparison, not me. And wouldn't that contradict the other pictures Jesus gave of the Father in the gospels? A father who, He says, knows how many hairs we have in our head, for example, or knows what we need before we even ask it?

Ah, now, now, see, you're asking the right question. You see, Jesus in this parable is not trying to compare God to a sleeping, annoyed neighbor. He is trying to contrast God with one.

And Jesus' point is this. If even an indifferent neighbor responds to this kind of persistence, won't your heavenly Father, who knows how many hairs you have in your head and who loves you more than you could love yourself, won't He respond to you through your persistence? Listen, prayer does not produce compassion in the heart of God.

It just releases it. God has hardwired the universe to run on prayer. His power is released into the world through faith. So pray boldly, Jesus says, knowing that He cares. Pray boldly, knowing how many times He has promised that He'll answer. When you read your Bible, make a list of the promises of God and recite them back to Him in prayer. That's what I do when I read the Bible. Jot down promises and pray them back.

Pray boldly, knowing that God has commanded you to cast your cares upon Him, to be anxious for nothing because you leave your cares with Him, and then lean on Him for repose and refuge. You know who naturally makes requests boldly like this? Our children. My youngest child is now 10 and my oldest is 17, so this doesn't happen a lot anymore. But it used to be quite often that I would open my eyes at 3 a.m. and there'd be two little eyes staring at me right beside the bed, right? It kind of freaked me out and all they would say, just words were, I need some water. No, excuse me, or so sorry to bother you, Dad, or even an introduction about who they are.

Just, here's my need, take care of it. Now, who else but my kids could get away with that kind of impudence? I mean, if you were to do that in my house, if I open my eyes and you're standing beside my bed, then I'm probably going to call the police.

Even if it were my wife, I mean, I wouldn't call the police, at least, you know, probably not, but I'd say, listen, listen, you got two legs, get up and get it yourself, right? But when it's one of my kids with this kind of request, I do what any good dad would do in that situation. I say, listen, your mom's right there on the other side of the bed.

No, no, seriously, I get up and I help my kids. My kids approach me with undaunted confidence in my goodness toward them. Well, see, that's how the Heavenly Father wants us to approach Him.

We're like children who are welcome right into our daddy's bedroom at whatever hour of the night with whatever need we have. In fact, look how Jesus drives us home in verse 13. He says, He says, if you who are evil, love to give good gifts to your children, right? Now, evil is a big old word, is it not? Why is Jesus using that word in this context?

Is that just like a gratuitous insult, you filthy animals? No, no, it's because most of us are at our most loving when we're dealing with our kids. That's when we're at our best. Yet even in that moment, compared to the goodness of God, we're still evil.

Think about it. Even if we're generally not very generous people, we tend to be generous and loving with our own kids. Yet, Jesus says, compared to God's love for His children, even the best parent on the best day would still be categorized as evil. I want you to think about the incredible promises that God gives about prayer. 2 Chronicles 7, 14, if my people will humble themselves and pray, then I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land. Philippians 4, 7, let your requests and your supplications be made known unto God. James 5, 16, the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well and the Lord will raise them up.

If they've sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 1 John 5, 14, and 15, and this is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we've asked of Him. Or right here in Luke 11, ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be opened to you. Okay, lastly, number four, your prayers should be characterized by trust. Look again at Luke 11, what father among you? If his son asks for a fish, well, instead of a fish, give him a serpent. Or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion. You parents, again, if your kid asks you for a chicken nugget, you're not going to hand him a scorpion.

Well, let's reverse that, though. What if your kid asks for a scorpion? Will you give them a scorpion?

Chances are, no. If your child asks for a scorpion to eat, you're probably still going to give them a chicken nugget. As a parent, see, sometimes you tell your kids no, not in spite of the fact that you love them.

You tell them no because you love them. Well, see, God is no different. And so sometimes what looks to us like bread, He knows is actually a scorpion. And what looks to us like a scorpion is actually bread.

I mean, think of the cross, that looked like a scorpion, right? Like the worst situation ever, yet that turned out to be the greatest blessing that God ever gave us. And that's the pattern, see, for a lot of things in the Christian life. What looks like disaster, what looks like a scorpion often turns out to be the bread of blessing.

Write this down. Sometimes God answers our prayers by giving us what we would have asked for if we knew what He knew. I love Psalm 84-11, what a great promise. No good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly in Him. And see, when we come to Him, we come to Him with that confidence. And that means if God says no to us on some request or He tells us wait, as sometimes He does, we trust that in that waiting, He is not withholding goodness from us. His goodness to us is guaranteed.

If we trust Him, the one thing that the Christian should never doubt is the goodness of God towards you. After all, the one who told us this parable, right, is the one who offered up His own flesh to save us from our sin. He is telling us that in light of what He does for us at the cross, surely we can trust Him. When we come to Him for bread, He didn't give us popped hearts from His pantry. He gave us the eternally satisfying bread of His own torn flesh. And see, if He gave us that, then we trust that He'll not withhold any good thing from us now that we are His children. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to pray, see. It shows us how desperate we are for the mercy of God and how willing our God is to give it to us. So Summit Church, yes, let's ask God for miracles. Remember prayer does not produce compassion in the heart of God. It just releases it. It's like the electric wire that connects the electricity in your wall outlet to the appliance that needs it. Your prayer connects our community to the power of God.

Let's release it into this generation at this moment. Let it never be said of us what was said of Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth when He returned there as an adult, Matthew 13 58, one of the saddest verses in the New Testament, right? Many mighty works Jesus did not in Nazareth because of their unbelief. I mean, you think about it, of all places Nazareth was a place for Jesus to do miracles, right?

And that's where His hometown was, where He loved people from relationships, right? He passed them by, not because He was unwilling, but because there was nobody there to believe Him. Let not that ever be said of our city, our family, our nation, our generation. If they're going to miss the Gospel, let them not do it because they are simply unprayed for. You say, well, I'm praying, but nothing's happening. This parable says to keep praying and don't give up.

You see, God has ordained that some things, sometimes the greatest things, happen only through bold, obedient, persistent, waiting prayer. Wrapping up our series titled The World Upside Down, you're listening to Pastor JD Greer, and this is Summit Life. These messages are available because friends like you stepped up and partnered with us financially this past year, and we're so grateful. Last month especially, we asked you to help us end the year well, and you rose to the challenge.

Are you a resolution maker? Have you set spiritual goals for this year? And if there's one thing that'll transform your walk with the Lord more than anything else, it's spending one-on-one time in God's Word. If you'd like to take that challenge and read more of the Bible than you ever have before, we have a tool to help you do just that. We've included a year-long Bible reading plan through key passages and only one or two chapters per day in the 2021 Summit Life Day Planner.

Plus, the planner also comes with monthly Bible verses to memorize and remind you of the truth that God makes all things new. We'd love to get you a copy today as our way of saying thanks when you donate to support this ministry at the suggested level of $25 or more. Give us a call at 866-335-5220.

That's 866-335-5220. Or give online at jdgrier.com. And if you haven't signed up for our email list yet, be sure to do that today. It's the best way to stay up to date with this ministry. You'll get Pastor JD's latest devotional blog posts, and we'll also make sure that you never miss a new resource or series.

Sign up today at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Bitovitch inviting you to join us again next week for the kickoff of a brand new teaching series titled Cast Away. Pastor JD is opening to the book of Jonah to remind us that no one can run and hide from God.

Ready to get this new year rolling? Join us Monday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.