Answer: “God doesn’t help me after I pray each time”, it’s also the confusion of most brothers and sisters in Christ. What does it mean? It means that the Lord doesn’t answer our prayers any more. Why doesn’t the Lord answer our prayer? I sought the answer with brothers and sisters and summarized a few reasons and the paths to gain God’s favor in our prayers.
Firstly, we should examine ourselves if we pray to God with a sincere heart. Only when we pray to God sincerely with heartfelt words, will God listen.
The Lord Jesus said: “But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him” (John 4:23). “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). God is faithful and there’s no craftiness or deceit in God. God treats each one of us with sincerity, therefore God hopes that we can speak honest and heartfelt words to Him. Only if we have a fearing heart, open up to God, speak to God our heartfelt words, worship God in spirit and in truth, can we gain God’s approval. However, oftentimes we can’t quiet ourselves before God but only worship God with our lips while thinking about our family, our work and troubles. Some other times, we don’t pray with a sincere heart, but only go through formality and process. We pray cliche all the times and pray perfunctorily. What’s more, we often say nice, empty and deceitful words to deceit God. Compared with God’s requirements, these prayers won’t be heard by God. If we want to gain God’s approval in our prayers, we have to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Secondly, we should examine if we are rational in our prayer. Only when we stand the right position of a created being, don’t have any requirements of God with a submissive heart, will God listen to our prayers.
Many times, we pray irrationally and demand God blindly, and have a lot l of extravagant demands on God. Some pray for wealth, some pray for good jobs, and some pray for God’s blessings to them with their significant half etc. These are irrational and inappropriate requests and they are not in line with God’s will. God is the Creator, we are the created beings, it’s right for us to obey our Creator as created beings. If we always want God to do things in our own ways, it’s too irrational and it’s not approved by God, of course, God’s won’t listen. It’s recorded in the Bible that Job feared God and shunned away from evil all his life. When he lost his properties, his family died and he was painful as he had sore boils all over his body. He didn’t require God to protect his property or release his pain, instead, he bowed before God and did a submissive prayer. He prayed: “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). His ration and his submissive prayer gain God’s approval. Therefore, when we pray to God, we should keep our position as a created being, be pious before God and seek after God’s will with a submissive attitude. We shouldn’t have any request before God. Only such prayers are approved by God.
Thirdly, take a look at whether your church has the work of the Holy Spirit. If there’s none, we should pray for God to help us find the church with the work of the Holy Spirit and it’s approved by God
After we pray, if we don’t get any response back from God, then we have to see if there’s the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. If a church doesn’t have the work of the Holy Spirit, the pastor’s preaching is dry and flat, they always speak the same old platitudes, there’s no enlightenment at all in their preaching, brothers and sisters can’t get the life supply and their spiritual state becomes dryer and dryer, some of them even indulge themselves in flesh, eating, drinking and fleshly pleasure; coworkers all scheme against each other. They don’t feel blamed even though they often sin etc. If the churches in different denominations are without the work of the Holy Spirit, that means the work of the Holy Spirit might have been transferred somewhere else. We should be alert and pray to God to see if God has already returned or appeared somewhere. For where there’s the work of the Holy Spirit, there’s the blessings of God; where there’s the utterance of the Holy Spirit, there’s the appearance of the Lord. If we can be alert and watchful, we will gain God’s approval. When we find the church with the work of the Holy Spirit, we will gain the life supply of the living water.
Thank God for His guidance. Hope that what we share today will be beneficial to you. May our prayer will be in line with God’s will.
All the glory be to God!