Joyce Meyer - Why Prayer Isn't Answered? - Part 2

TOPICS: Prayer

Do you realize that Adam and Eve gave up paradise for an apple? Wow. I wonder what we give up paradise for sometimes. Yeah. Elijah was not a perfect man, yet he prayed and had dramatic results. He prayed, and it didn’t rain for six months, and then he prayed, and it did rain. In James 5:16–18, it says, «The earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working.» That’s quite a sentence there: «The earnest, heartfelt, sincere, continued prayer of a righteous man.» And we all know that we are righteous by faith, not because we do everything right. It makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working.

I’ve come to the conclusion that when we pray, we probably all have a set part time that we pray and then we pray throughout the day as things happen. But I get up in the morning, I get my coffee, my Bible, and my notebook, and I always say, «Thank God for caffeine until the anointing kicks in.» Somehow, I’ve got to do coffee with Jesus, but be smart enough to know that that’s the first place you need to go before you do anything else. You say, «I’m not a morning person.» Well, I’m not either. But I can tell you that if I go and spend time with God in the morning, it makes me a better person the rest of the day. Amen.

But I think sometimes we approach prayer too quickly. We forget who we’re actually approaching, and we need to just take a minute to prepare our hearts and realize what we’re about to do. Think through what you really want to ask for. And is it scriptural? You know, the Bible says if you seek first the kingdom, things will be added. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. So you’ll see when I share Paul’s prayers with you, he never asks for one physical thing.

Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong to do that because I don’t think it is. But I do think it’s wrong if that’s the major part of your prayers: «Give me this and give me that, and make so-and-so do this and so-and-so do that,» and «I want that promotion at work, and I need a new car,» and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Elijah was a human being with a nature just like we have, with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours. He prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. Three years and six months! I said six months; I forgot the three years. And then he prayed again, and the heavens supplied rain, and the land produced its crops.

Well, what does he mean? Elijah had a human nature just like us. I think we look at these people in the Bible like they were otherworldly, but they were people-true, just like us. Just people. True. Elijah had a call on his life, but one day in 1 Kings 18, he killed 450 Baal prophets. I mean, that would have to be a job! And it was because God’s anointing was on him to do that. Yes. And then when wicked King Ahab told Jezebel what Elijah had done, she said, «I’m going to kill him.» And the next day, he ran and hid from her. So, one day he’s killing 450 Baal prophets, and the next day he’s running from one woman. See, I told you we got power! Yeah, and he went out in the desert, sat down under a lone juniper tree, and had a pity party and got depressed and on and on.

There’s a good story there, but that’s not what I’m actually supposed to be doing today. But James makes the point that we’re no different than Elijah. We have weaknesses, we have strengths, and he still prayed boldly for the things that he thought God was putting on his heart. Bold does not mean loud or demanding. We have no right to demand anything from God. I think I used this example in one of the other teachings on prayer, but you know, we have a great inheritance stored up for us. We’re God’s sons and daughters, his beloved, and everything that Jesus deserves is ours also. It’s just kept in store for us until the right time for us to have it. Many of the blessings God has for us will come after we leave this earth and go to heaven to be with him. That may not be too exciting now, but it will be exciting then. Amen.

And if, like if you have, we’ll go big and say you’ve got a million dollars in the bank, well, you’re not going to go in there and say, «Can I please cash this check?» You’re going to write out your check and slide that baby through that window. And if they say anything to you, you probably say, «Maybe you want to check my bank balance before you give me trouble.» You just confidently put it down, knowing that you’re drawing on what’s already yours. And so that’s what prayer is. That’s why you go confidently in Jesus' name.

See, «In Jesus' name» makes all the difference in the world. And it’s all about your heart. If your heart’s right, and God knows I do not want anything that he does not want me to have. Stuff is stuff, and that’s all it is-here today, gone tomorrow. We came into the world with nothing, and we’re going to leave with nothing. So whatever stuff you have, you ought to enjoy it and not just be a hoarder, trying to hang on to everything just so you can look at all your stuff. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we could ever dare to hope, ask, or think-Ephesians 3:20.

Now to him who, by consequence of the action of his power that’s at work within us, is able to carry out his purpose and do superabundantly far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, purposes, or dreams. Wow! Amen! Wow! It’s good. Maybe you’re just not taking advantage of what’s yours. You know, this rarely happens to me anymore; it used to be a daily event. I would always wake up just with this vague feeling that I had done something wrong, even though I didn’t really know what it was, or that maybe God was just a little bit mad at me-and it was because of the way I grew up and wrong thinking. But we have an enemy, Satan, and he will come and try to whisper in your ear and get you to believe some kind of a lie before you ever get started.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t know how to combat that; I took those thoughts as being my own. Well, I was getting ready to have my time with God, and I recognized right away that this is not true. God’s not mad at me. He loves me. He’s forgiven all my sins. I haven’t done anything wrong, and so I just said, «Satan, shut up. Just shut up.» And I went ahead and had a good prayer time. But how many times do we let the way we feel-you know, especially if you were really bad yesterday, right? No. God says he understands; ask for and receive his forgiveness. It’s already there. You don’t have to talk him into it. Jesus has already paid for every sin we ever have or will commit. Forgiveness is stored up for you; it’s yours. Ask for it reverently, but ask.

So, bold does not mean loud or demanding. Bold means with confidence. Pray for all you can have, not barely enough to get by. The third thing that will keep our prayers from being answered is you must obey God and not regard iniquity in your heart. That means hidden sin. Now let’s not be foolish and think we can hide anything from God; the Bible says someday everything will come out in the open. Yeah. But God already knows. There’s no point in acting like you’re doing some big heroic thing if you confess to God; he already knows it.

So confession is really more for us. I think it’s for us to face it, deal with it, get it up out of us, and then just receive the forgiveness that’s already there and the love that’s already there and go on and have a good day. You know, when you try to punish yourself by feeling guilty all day, you’re trying to add to what Jesus has already done. And that’s really like an insult: «You didn’t do a good enough job, so I’m going to help you and feel bad all day until I’ve paid.»

But you see, we’re reconciled. Our account is reconciled. Reconciliation is one of the gifts that Jesus gave us, and that means your account with God is balanced. You don’t owe God anything to love him, to respect him, but you don’t have to try to make up for yesterday’s sins. Amen? Amen. It’s really too, I mean, I can understand why people have a hard time believing, if you want to know the truth, because there’s really nothing about this thing that makes sense. You’re either going to take it by faith or you’re not going to take it at all. That’s right. That’s right! And the faith is in your heart. We should be thankful that we’re able to believe, because we just believe stuff that seems like a fantasy. If I regard iniquity in my heart-Psalm 66:18–the Lord will not hear me. We cannot pray in confidence with hidden sin.

If we don’t do what God instructs, when we seek him, he will not answer. Proverbs 1:24–28 is good. Now listen to this. First of all, let me say we can’t just obey God when we need something, right? We can’t just disobey God all the time and then all of a sudden, we have a need. «So now I’m going to be a real good Christian, and I’m going to pray now, and God’s going to help me.» No, you live the lifestyle. Being a Christian means a lifestyle change. You change the way you live. You don’t just keep doing what you’ve always been doing and stick the name of Jesus on it.

«Because I have called, and you have refused to answer; I have stretched out my hand, and no man has heeded it. You treated as nothing all my counsel and would accept none of my reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when the thing comes that will cause you terror and panic. When your panic comes as a storm and desolation, and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then will they call upon me, wisdom, but I will not answer. They will seek me early and diligently, but they will not find me.»

I just put down, we cannot just listen to God when we need him to do something for us. Now, that' s not talking about making mistakes. It’s talking about what is your heart attitude toward God with all of your heart. Do you want to obey God? And when you know that he’s saying something to you, will you do it his way and not your way? Isaiah 1:15–20: «When you spread forth your hands in prayer imploring help, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear you because your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil. Now listen to this: Learn to do right, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.»

It’s very important to God how we treat people, especially those who are disadvantaged and have no one to help them. But God helps people through people. That’s right. That’s the thing we’ve got to realize. When you pray for something, God’s got to find somebody to work through. And he will. If he asks you and you say no, if he has to go through a thousand people, he will find somebody that will obey him. Amen. «Come now and let us reason together,» says the Lord. «Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.»

Well, we’re all willing, but obedience has to go along with it. Let me tell you something: It’s not a light thing to knowingly disobey God. If you disobey God out of ignorance and you don’t know. I mean, Paul said he received mercy because he was ignorant. He didn’t really, when he was killing and well, gathering up Christians to be imprisoned, he really thought he was doing the will of God. He was a very religious man living under the law, and he felt like this new Christianity thing was ignoring the law and taking things way out of context. And so he was happy to be chasing down Christians.

But God revealed himself to him for nothing good that Paul was doing, and he revealed his grace to Paul so Paul could teach grace. That’s good. He was given grace, knowing that he did not deserve anything that God did for him. And sometimes, God has to let you go through something so you have the experience-not just something you’ve read. When you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the fat of the land. The fourth thing is not praying in the will of God.

Well, Joyce, I don’t really know what God’s will is. Well, then tell him that! «I’m not positive this is your will, but I’m going to ask you. And if it’s not what you want me to have, then don’t give it to me.» I don’t think we have to be afraid to ask, but we have to want God’s will. «If we ask anything-» 1 John 5:14 — 15 «And this is the confidence, the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in him; we are sure that if we ask anything, make any request according to his will, in agreement with his plan, he listens to and hears us. And if, and since we positively know that he listens to us in whatever we ask-now listen to this -we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of him.»

So you have it, but you don’t see it yet. And God works just the opposite of the way things work. What do we live in? The show-me state? «Show me, then I’ll believe it!» But God says, «You believe it, and then I’ll show you.» See, he told Abraham, «Leave where you’re at. Everything. Leave everything behind.» Wow! «And go to a place that I will show you.» «Okay, where are we going?» «No, you go, and I’ll show you.» «No, you tell me, and I’ll go.» Well, God’s going to win that argument every time.

I cannot properly explain what it was like for me when God called me to do this. I mean, the grace of God was all over it. I mean, why in the world would I think that I could do this? But God spoke to my heart, and I believed I could. You know, I believed as much as I could believe. You know, you believe, but boy, your head does warfare with you. My heart says I can; my head says I can’t. My friends told me I couldn’t. My church said, «We’d like you to leave.» You know, women didn’t do this. I had no education, no qualification, but I noticed just the other day that it said Jesus was qualified because he was anointed. You know, he didn’t go to seminary either. He sat at other great teachers' feet and listened to them and learned, and he studied, but he didn’t go off to a place somewhere to learn.

And I tell you, a lot of times when people do go to places, they have to unlearn what they learned before they can do any good. God taught me, and I’m proud of that. «Well, how’d you do this?» «Followed the Holy Spirit.» «Well, how’d you do that?» «Followed the Holy Spirit.» That’s the only thing I can say. I mean, I came into this at a time when the spirit was really moving in the earth, and we were being taught a lot about God’s anointing and about just being led by the Spirit.

Being led by the Spirit. And we’re not taught as much about that today as we should. When was the last time you heard a really good sermon on the anointing? A large majority of people don’t even know what it is. But that’s really the only thing I’ve got going for me; God’s anointed me to do this. Amen! Somebody said to me the other day, one of our kids-in- law, and they’ve been in our meetings for as long as we’ve been having them. They don’t work for us full-time, but they’ve volunteered at these meetings. And he just said, because he knows me personally -he’s been around me a lot at family parties and stuff-he says, «When you step out on that platform, you become like a different person.»

Well, that’s the anointing. It changes you, and it enables you to do things. You know, like people say, «Oh, you’re so funny!» Well, I asked my kids how funny I am. Actually, now that I’m getting a little bit older, they do think I’m funny. I read one of my journals the other day while I dried the dishes last night and put them in the refrigerator. So we do do some funny things, but I mean, I would not be like this really humorous person. And when I started preaching, I mean, I was just funny.

We first possess things by faith and then second by manifestation. When you ask for it, you have to believe that it’s on its way. Amen! Amen! And it’s yours; you just can’t see it yet. Faith is the evidence of things we don’t see-the title deed to those things that we don’t see. We have it in our hearts, and then we see it in the natural. Amen! Amen! All right, let’s give God praise. Thank you, Lord.