Does God Really Answer Prayer?

Is prayer some form of hocus pocus or spellweaving?
Definitely not, according to Signs Lifeguide columnist Carole Ferch-Johnson.

Lucky dips and lotteries are merely games of chance, while magic wands and witches’ spells are really fantasy. People pray and then decide that prayer is fantasy too: “Give me proof that God is real, and I’ll talk to Him . . .” or, “Frankly, I don’t think anybody is up there listening . . .” and, “I’ve read a couple of books on amazing answers to prayer. I’m afraid this stuff is right out of my league. I don’t get answers to the simplest things, let alone the big issues. I think we just have to fend for ourselves and hope for the best in life.” Such are typical responses.

So is prayer mere fantasy, or does it belong in the real world? If prayer is real, how does it work?

People who trust in God say that prayer belongs in our world, but they caution us against misunderstanding its function. If we make it into some magic incantation, we’ll be disappointed. There’s no power in the words used or in the praying person. Neither is there power in the place nor method of prayer. However, there is great power in the God who hears it.

what is prayer?
Like communication between people, prayer is the connection that gives meaning to our relationship with God. In this relationship, God develops us and enjoys our company while we grow as persons and benefit from His presence.
In this context, prayer can be formal and rote, or it may be informal and spontaneous. We can set aside a place and a time to focus on prayer in the quietness of our own private space or we can chat to God while we drive to work, walk from the bus stop or stack the dishwasher. Some of both might be best.

Primarily, prayer keeps us in touch with God, allows us to deepen our relationship with Him, makes us sensitive to His will and helps preserve us from morally foolish choices. These are the major gains that come to us when we pray.

There’s a second dimension to prayer that’s equally important, which is prayer for others. This is harder to do with any consistency because, by definition, it’s unselfish. There is no kudos in our world for commitment to praying for others, and unless we advertise the fact that we’re doing it, no-one but God knows of our efforts.

Yet God puts the highest value on prayer for others. When Moses prayed for others, Israel was saved from destruction (Exodus 32:9-14). When Daniel prayed, the nation was restored to its own land (Daniel 9). When Jesus prayed, the whole world gained access to eternal life (Matthew 26:36-45). This is evidence that prayer moves the hand of a powerful God.

n Prayer is also a community activity. Praying with others helps us to pray. It motivates us to focus on a wider variety of needs than our own and draws us closer to other praying people. When we pray in community we tend to remember regional, national and world needs.
Prayer is the universal language of believers. It crosses denominational and other faith boundaries. It aids in the quest for mutual understanding among diverse peoples. Praying with others enriches the time we spend praying on our own.

unanswered prayers
So what about all those unanswered prayers? Maybe you’ve prayed for help in finding a new job, the restoration of a broken relationship, enough money to meet your commitments or a parking spot at the supermarket. Why does God sometimes deliver on such requests, but mostly not?

I once spoke to a troubled woman who had recently withdrawn from a prayer group. “I’m perplexed by the prayers I hear,” she confessed. “There’s so much prayer for success in study, getting a better car or being healed from cancer, but not much about growing in Christ, developing gracious habits or forming the fruits of the Spirit. Are they not what prayer is really all about?”
Perhaps she was right. God’s priority in prayer is different from our own. He is surely more interested in our developing into citizens of His kingdom than in fulfilling every material wish we might have.

God does promise to supply us with the necessities of life if we ask, but not with its luxuries. In fact, Jesus says we should take our focus off our material needs, knowing that God will provide them, and spend time on the more important issues of seeing His kingdom grow within ourselves and in the world at large (see Matthew 6:31-34).

But God is a God of surprises. His activity is beyond our prediction. So it’s good to keep every concern before Him. Don’t judge Him, however, on His seemingly disappointing response to a given prayer. Remember, His blessings have attended you all your life. See the big picture and remember His priorities for prayer. Be mindful of your own need to trust Him. This includes trust that His timing is perfect, His wisdom greater and His methods are best. If you find that hard, a prayer for more trust could be a timely priority for you.

For those who trust God implicitly yet find themselves in need, material answers to their prayers do come. A friend of mine had fallen on hard times. She was finding it difficult to feed her family. Because of her financial circumstances, her two small sons had had to forgo a few things.

One day the boys came home enraptured by a neighbour’s skateboard. In fact she noticed every child in the street seemed to have a skateboard, all except her children. My friend priced the skateboards at the local shopping centre. They were $45 each. She prayed that God would help her find the money so her boys could have their wish.

In the mail that week an unexpected cheque arrived for $45. “Thank you, God, for one skateboard,” rejoiced my friend. But pray as she might for a second cheque, none appeared. With some uncertainty, she made her way back to the store where she stood with a skateboard in each hand checking the price on the sticker. It still said $45.

“Does it matter to you if you have one that’s not quite perfect?” inquired a cheery salesman. “We have two out the back with a few scratches on the underside. If you’re interested, you can have them both for $45.”

how God answers prayer
There’s no question that God answers prayer. He does it in harmony with the teachings of His Word. There’s no formula we can use to make sure God hears and answers. No special word order, degree of detail, length of prayer or time of day that gets a result. We can’t demand, for God is Sovereign. However, Scripture does set out the conditions for God’s response.

To be safe, claims that God has acted must be measured against the Bible. This means we must look with suspicion on assertions that God has answered prayer purely on the basis of subjective experience.

Convictions such as, “It’s God’s will that you marry me,” or “God is impressing me that we should move interstate,” might be real to the person involved, but are suspect as far as divine direction is concerned.

On the other hand, Scripture abounds in encouraging comments about God’s willingness to hear us. The basis for this is our humility and repentance.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Jesus illustrated the same point with a story: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God” (Luke 18:10-14).

God answers the prayers of the humble, the penitent and the trusting. They are those who come seeking Him in prayer with a view to establishing a relationship with Him. They benefit not from the things He bestows, but from the renewal He brings, the growth He enables and the change He makes in their heart.

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