How do you personally handle unanswered prayer?

[Soverign Grace]

I have seen several amazing prayers answered so I know without a doubt that God hears. Yet there are prayers that have gone unanswered that deeply trouble me. I pray and pray and nothing changes / I get no inner peach about specific things and I search for why yet cannot get to a place of peace about certain unanswered prayers.

There was a lawyer in our town who claimed to be a Christian. He was a hypocrite and felt that he was entitled to trash others' family members. What is so egregious is that his own son was the town drug dealer. The lawyer represented all the teens in town who got caught with the drugs that his son sold to them...and of course you know that his son was never caught...or he was caught and it was fixed by his daddy and uncle (who was a judge.) If anyone said anything to the father about his drug-dealing son he would threaten and bully them legally since he's well-connected, has a big office and employs many other lawyers.

The drug-dealing son went on to become a lawyer after ruining lives. He and his father are very wealthy and keep expanding offices - and they made their money dishonestly by ruining lives.

All throughout the Bible we're told that God is a God of Justice yet I look around and see very little of it. When I pray I tell God that He put a sense of Justice within us yet we're forced to look on iniquity day after day after day and I often feel like Habakuk. What is really hard is that the above lawyer stole from me with the assistance of corrupt lawyer who works in the probate office. I contacted all the people within the system and they all circled the wagons around the corrupt probate lawyer. Not one would help. So the corrupt lawyer is basically being helped to steal with the blessing of the entire probate office staff. And the lawyer calls himself a Christian.

I've brought this to God and nothing has changed. I prayed and yet do not see justice even though it is promised in Scripture. Why would God place a strong desire for justice and fairness within our hearts only to be frustrated when we're denied it?

What do others do when Scripture is crystal clear and yet we see the exact opposite happen?

 

[Pearl]

It confuses me sometime. In my personal life I have seen many answers to prayer but also many of my prayers don't seem to have been answered. I have been miraculously healed a couple of times yet I still have a chronic cough that has troubled me all my life. In prayer for the wider world or church issues I trust God to show me what to pray and then leave it with him in trust.

 

[Nancy]

I have seen several amazing prayers answered so I know without a doubt that God hears. Yet there are prayers that have gone unanswered that deeply trouble me. I pray and pray and nothing changes / I get no inner peach about specific things and I search for why yet cannot get to a place of peace about certain unanswered prayers.

There was a lawyer in our town who claimed to be a Christian. He was a hypocrite and felt that he was entitled to trash others' family members. What is so egregious is that his own son was the town drug dealer. The lawyer represented all the teens in town who got caught with the drugs that his son sold to them...and of course you know that his son was never caught...or he was caught and it was fixed by his daddy and uncle (who was a judge.) If anyone said anything to the father about his drug-dealing son he would threaten and bully them legally since he's well-connected, has a big office and employs many other lawyers.

The drug-dealing son went on to become a lawyer after ruining lives. He and his father are very wealthy and keep expanding offices - and they made their money dishonestly by ruining lives.

All throughout the Bible we're told that God is a God of Justice yet I look around and see very little of it. When I pray I tell God that He put a sense of Justice within us yet we're forced to look on iniquity day after day after day and I often feel like Habakuk. What is really hard is that the above lawyer stole from me with the assistance of corrupt lawyer who works in the probate office. I contacted all the people within the system and they all circled the wagons around the corrupt probate lawyer. Not one would help. So the corrupt lawyer is basically being helped to steal with the blessing of the entire probate office staff. And the lawyer calls himself a Christian.

I've brought this to God and nothing has changed. I prayed and yet do not see justice even though it is promised in Scripture. Why would God place a strong desire for justice and fairness within our hearts only to be frustrated when we're denied it?

What do others do when Scripture is crystal clear and yet we see the exact opposite happen?

Yeah, that's a tough one S.G.
I have to go with the idea that when we do not see Him working in our prayers like the lawyer and his son, we might not get to see the justice that God Himself will dole out. Their end will NOT be a good one and, maybe they will not pay for what they do while still here on this earth. There are a couple people I struggle to forgive and I have moments in taking pleasure in their trials...does not last long as the Holy Spirit immediately convicts me of this. He say's to pray for them.
Proverbs 24:16-17
"16. for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.
17. "Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles:
…"

It is hard to watch these kind of people prosper in their dishonesty, and even harder to pray for them but, we should rest assured because God say's vengeance is mine and these folks WILL pay.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

I have seen several amazing prayers answered so I know without a doubt that God hears. Yet there are prayers that have gone unanswered that deeply trouble me. I pray and pray and nothing changes / I get no inner peach about specific things and I search for why yet cannot get to a place of peace about certain unanswered prayers.

There was a lawyer in our town who claimed to be a Christian. He was a hypocrite and felt that he was entitled to trash others' family members. What is so egregious is that his own son was the town drug dealer. The lawyer represented all the teens in town who got caught with the drugs that his son sold to them...and of course you know that his son was never caught...or he was caught and it was fixed by his daddy and uncle (who was a judge.) If anyone said anything to the father about his drug-dealing son he would threaten and bully them legally since he's well-connected, has a big office and employs many other lawyers.

The drug-dealing son went on to become a lawyer after ruining lives. He and his father are very wealthy and keep expanding offices - and they made their money dishonestly by ruining lives.

All throughout the Bible we're told that God is a God of Justice yet I look around and see very little of it. When I pray I tell God that He put a sense of Justice within us yet we're forced to look on iniquity day after day after day and I often feel like Habakuk. What is really hard is that the above lawyer stole from me with the assistance of corrupt lawyer who works in the probate office. I contacted all the people within the system and they all circled the wagons around the corrupt probate lawyer. Not one would help. So the corrupt lawyer is basically being helped to steal with the blessing of the entire probate office staff. And the lawyer calls himself a Christian.

I've brought this to God and nothing has changed. I prayed and yet do not see justice even though it is promised in Scripture. Why would God place a strong desire for justice and fairness within our hearts only to be frustrated when we're denied it?

What do others do when Scripture is crystal clear and yet we see the exact opposite happen?

Consider Mark 4:16-17 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; [17] And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Going somewhere with this hopefully...lived your OP ...seen others live your OP.

 

[Hope in God]

I have been dealing with health issues since I was 14. I am now 67. The number of healing lines I have stood in are countless. For years, I tried applying the methodologies of the prosperity gospel groups, trying to keep my confessions always perfectly spiritual, quoting verses, rebuking the devil, giving to the church, and all the other parts of that formula in an attempt to get God to heal me. Nothing happened. Oh, yea, I did walk to the altar for prayer for warts on my wrist that went away in two days. So, go figure. I haven't the answer to this very common dilemma.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

I have been dealing with health issues since I was 14. I am now 67. The number of healing lines I have stood in are countless. For years, I tried applying the methodologies of the prosperity gospel groups, trying to keep my confessions always perfectly spiritual, quoting verses, rebuking the devil, giving to the church, and all the other parts of that formula in an attempt to get God to heal me. Nothing happened. Oh, yea, I did walk to the altar for prayer for warts on my wrist that went away in two days. So, go figure. I haven't the answer to this very common dilemma.

He has already answered your prayer. You are already healed and restored to God. There is a song paraphrasing off memory “God, I thought by now you would have reached down and helped us” He has reached down and helped us.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

I have seen several amazing prayers answered so I know without a doubt that God hears. Yet there are prayers that have gone unanswered that deeply trouble me. I pray and pray and nothing changes / I get no inner peach about specific things and I search for why yet cannot get to a place of peace about certain unanswered prayers.

There was a lawyer in our town who claimed to be a Christian. He was a hypocrite and felt that he was entitled to trash others' family members. What is so egregious is that his own son was the town drug dealer. The lawyer represented all the teens in town who got caught with the drugs that his son sold to them...and of course you know that his son was never caught...or he was caught and it was fixed by his daddy and uncle (who was a judge.) If anyone said anything to the father about his drug-dealing son he would threaten and bully them legally since he's well-connected, has a big office and employs many other lawyers.

The drug-dealing son went on to become a lawyer after ruining lives. He and his father are very wealthy and keep expanding offices - and they made their money dishonestly by ruining lives.

All throughout the Bible we're told that God is a God of Justice yet I look around and see very little of it. When I pray I tell God that He put a sense of Justice within us yet we're forced to look on iniquity day after day after day and I often feel like Habakuk. What is really hard is that the above lawyer stole from me with the assistance of corrupt lawyer who works in the probate office. I contacted all the people within the system and they all circled the wagons around the corrupt probate lawyer. Not one would help. So the corrupt lawyer is basically being helped to steal with the blessing of the entire probate office staff. And the lawyer calls himself a Christian.

I've brought this to God and nothing has changed. I prayed and yet do not see justice even though it is promised in Scripture. Why would God place a strong desire for justice and fairness within our hearts only to be frustrated when we're denied it?

What do others do when Scripture is crystal clear and yet we see the exact opposite happen?

If I’m being honest sounds like you want to be vindicated not justice. And I don’t mean that in condemnation as I’ve been right where you are and even asking Him why ...when He is the great Judge doesn’t He do something. but He is doing something...He is sowing His righteousness (something better)and not ours. Your names going to be trashed. Your going to appear as scum. You will be mocked for not even saying a word and looked down on as poor forgotten lacking in any power. His power is not for your name to be vindicated or lifted up but His own. In some act of mercy God shut my mouth and condemned the flesh by producing something other than my old desire to see these people punished. You have to consider what about Christ Jesus condemned those actions done in the flesh. 1 Timothy 6:13-15 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; [14] That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: [15] Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

He stood before Pontius Pilate seat...not offended but the word says gave a good confession...who is the blessed and only Potentate

If The only Potentate, the King of Kings, Lord of lords has not fully been seen ...why except our own name to be vindicated or justified which it never will...His name continues and thank God for the chance to sow His name as it is the only name above those in your OP.

 

[Nancy]

I have been dealing with health issues since I was 14. I am now 67. The number of healing lines I have stood in are countless. For years, I tried applying the methodologies of the prosperity gospel groups, trying to keep my confessions always perfectly spiritual, quoting verses, rebuking the devil, giving to the church, and all the other parts of that formula in an attempt to get God to heal me. Nothing happened. Oh, yea, I did walk to the altar for prayer for warts on my wrist that went away in two days. So, go figure. I haven't the answer to this very common dilemma.

Perhaps this is your personal "thorn in the side"? As the song "More Than Anything" by Natalie Grant goes:

I know if you wanted to you could wave your hand
Spare me this heartache and change your plan
And I know when he said that you could take my pain away
But even if you don't I pray

Help me want the healer more than the healing
Help me want the savior more than the saving
Help me want the giver more than the giving
Oh help me want you Jesus more than anything

You know more than anyone that my flesh is weak
And you know I'd give anything for a remedy
And I'll ask a thousand more times to set me free today
Oh but even if you don't I pray

I pray now that God heal you, and if it is not His will to do so at this time, that He give you strength, and relief to come through your personal issues. Amen!!

 

[DoveSpirit05]

Its all about timing and it has 2 be within Gods will, he does incorporate our prayers into his plan though again if its within his will, God works on his own time remember, maybe your prayer might be answered much latter, and if your praying 4 someone to get healed or delivered from sin they have to want 2 change themselves before they will get delivered and as for healing for a person or for u again its all about weather its in line with his will, he may want 2 heal dat person in front of people for his glory.

And for u he may want u 2 go through some afflictions just 2 teach you things!! and also if ur prayers are genuine their more likely to be answered, u could also try being persistent, if a son ask 4 a fish will he get a stone and dat. i'd say 1st pray 4 more understanding of his will, also pray 4 his will 2 be put inside of u then wat u pray 4 will be in line with wat he wants.

 

[Soverign Grace]

It confuses me sometime. In my personal life I have seen many answers to prayer but also many of my prayers don't seem to have been answered. I have been miraculously healed a couple of times yet I still have a chronic cough that has troubled me all my life. In prayer for the wider world or church issues I trust God to show me what to pray and then leave it with him in trust.

That's what I wrestle with - I've seen the Hand of God and I know He answers - yet at other times he makes us look on iniquity and we don't see the justice He promised or some other prayer goes unanswered. It really pulls at the soul at times.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Yeah, that's a tough one S.G.
I have to go with the idea that when we do not see Him working in our prayers like the lawyer and his son, we might not get to see the justice that God Himself will dole out. Their end will NOT be a good one and, maybe they will not pay for what they do while still here on this earth. There are a couple people I struggle to forgive and I have moments in taking pleasure in their trials...does not last long as the Holy Spirit immediately convicts me of this. He say's to pray for them.
Proverbs 24:16-17
"16. for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.
17. "Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles:
…"

It is hard to watch these kind of people prosper in their dishonesty, and even harder to pray for them but, we should rest assured because God say's vengeance is mine and these folks WILL pay.

Yes it is tough to pray for someone who cheats you - especially in egregious ways. It's hard to sustain that forgiveness I've found so sometimes I don't even try to forgive after an initial attempt - I let God do whatever work in me He's going to do. God can be maddening at times.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Consider Mark 4:16-17 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; [17] And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Going somewhere with this hopefully...lived your OP ...seen others live your OP.

You've experienced this too? How did you resolve it with God/ your own walk?

 

[Soverign Grace]

I have been dealing with health issues since I was 14. I am now 67. The number of healing lines I have stood in are countless. For years, I tried applying the methodologies of the prosperity gospel groups, trying to keep my confessions always perfectly spiritual, quoting verses, rebuking the devil, giving to the church, and all the other parts of that formula in an attempt to get God to heal me. Nothing happened. Oh, yea, I did walk to the altar for prayer for warts on my wrist that went away in two days. So, go figure. I haven't the answer to this very common dilemma.

I was badly injured and did not get a miraculous healing either. And I'm living in a time when the CDC is drastically cutting pain medication. I was up at 2 a.m. in severe pain and sometimes I say some things to God. But I go back because there is nowhere else to go. I look into alternative therapies constantly. I am beginning to see some reason for this one. I'm pushing my family in the medical field - maybe some day they'll be instrumental in coming up with cures. It's still very hard.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Perhaps this is your personal "thorn in the side"? As the song "More Than Anything" by Natalie Grant goes:

I know if you wanted to you could wave your hand
Spare me this heartache and change your plan
And I know when he said that you could take my pain away
But even if you don't I pray

Help me want the healer more than the healing
Help me want the savior more than the saving
Help me want the giver more than the giving
Oh help me want you Jesus more than anything

You know more than anyone that my flesh is weak
And you know I'd give anything for a remedy
And I'll ask a thousand more times to set me free today
Oh but even if you don't I pray

I pray now that God heal you, and if it is not His will to do so at this time, that He give you strength, and relief to come through your personal issues. Amen!!

I have a number of "thorns"! But what a beautiful poem.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Its all about timing and it has 2 be within Gods will, he does incorporate our prayers into his plan though again if its within his will, God works on his own time remember, maybe your prayer might be answered much latter, and if your praying 4 someone to get healed or delivered from sin they have to want 2 change themselves before they will get delivered and as for healing for a person or for u again its all about weather its in line with his will, he may want 2 heal dat person in front of people for his glory.

And for u he may want u 2 go through some afflictions just 2 teach you things!! and also if ur prayers are genuine their more likely to be answered, u could also try being persistent, if a son ask 4 a fish will he get a stone and dat. i'd say 1st pray 4 more understanding of his will, also pray 4 his will 2 be put inside of u then wat u pray 4 will be in line with wat he wants.

I just had a prayer answered that I prayed for 15 long years - it was one of the hardest prayers that I beat on heaven's door for. I fasted repeatedly and prayed throughout the day many many many times. I 'prayed until I touched the throne.' I'm waiting on others and sometimes I don't know when to give up and when to continue. I want a rest but God said we're soldiers and I see He means what He said. Maybe He's leading me into another time of fasting. It's so hard. But we're told to 'endure hardness.' I just wish things would come easy sometimes.

 

[Stranger]

I have seen several amazing prayers answered so I know without a doubt that God hears. Yet there are prayers that have gone unanswered that deeply trouble me. I pray and pray and nothing changes / I get no inner peach about specific things and I search for why yet cannot get to a place of peace about certain unanswered prayers.

There was a lawyer in our town who claimed to be a Christian. He was a hypocrite and felt that he was entitled to trash others' family members. What is so egregious is that his own son was the town drug dealer. The lawyer represented all the teens in town who got caught with the drugs that his son sold to them...and of course you know that his son was never caught...or he was caught and it was fixed by his daddy and uncle (who was a judge.) If anyone said anything to the father about his drug-dealing son he would threaten and bully them legally since he's well-connected, has a big office and employs many other lawyers.

The drug-dealing son went on to become a lawyer after ruining lives. He and his father are very wealthy and keep expanding offices - and they made their money dishonestly by ruining lives.

All throughout the Bible we're told that God is a God of Justice yet I look around and see very little of it. When I pray I tell God that He put a sense of Justice within us yet we're forced to look on iniquity day after day after day and I often feel like Habakuk. What is really hard is that the above lawyer stole from me with the assistance of corrupt lawyer who works in the probate office. I contacted all the people within the system and they all circled the wagons around the corrupt probate lawyer. Not one would help. So the corrupt lawyer is basically being helped to steal with the blessing of the entire probate office staff. And the lawyer calls himself a Christian.

I've brought this to God and nothing has changed. I prayed and yet do not see justice even though it is promised in Scripture. Why would God place a strong desire for justice and fairness within our hearts only to be frustrated when we're denied it?

What do others do when Scripture is crystal clear and yet we see the exact opposite happen?

This will occur in the world. It is galling to say the least, but it is going to occur. I just trust God in it. He sees it all. Whether I see a righteous judgment against is immaterial. I know God will deal with it in His time.

Donald Grey Barnhouse once gave this illustration. I don't have the exact quote, so it is from memory. I can give the gist of it though. A farmer had a crop that would be harvested in October. He was a Christian and didn't work on Sundays, and instead went to church. His neighbor was a farmer with the same crop, and was not a Christian and worked all day on Sunday. The Christian farmers crop was devastated somehow and the non-believing neighbors was not. Why he asked the pastor. The Pastor simply said God doesn't settle all his accounts in October.

I have said before what was told me once. Never begrudge the non-believer any thing he gets in this life. It is the only heaven he is ever going to know. By the same token, never feel to sorry for the believer for the suffering he goes through in this life. It is the only hell he is ever going to know.

Stranger

 

[Episkopos]

How do you personally handle unanswered prayer?

Wait on the Lord.

 

[DoveSpirit05]

I just had a prayer answered that I prayed for 15 long years - it was one of the hardest prayers that I beat on heaven's door for. I fasted repeatedly and prayed throughout the day many many many times. I 'prayed until I touched the throne.' I'm waiting on others and sometimes I don't know when to give up and when to continue. I want a rest but God said we're soldiers and I see He means what He said. Maybe He's leading me into another time of fasting. It's so hard. But we're told to 'endure hardness.' I just wish things would come easy sometimes.

pray for wisdom and understanding I believe dats wat he wants, so you can know what he wants from you!! then you pray inline with his will then your prayers will be answered one way or another look wat happened to Solomon. remember God works in mysterious ways, also I just got the urge to do something else but I believe God may have been leading me 2 come on here to reply to ur post, this may be him answering ur prayer? and I mean this seriously!!!!

 

[Nancy]

I have a number of "thorns"! But what a beautiful poem.

I too have several thorns, lol. Here is the whole song if you haven't already heard it:

 

[Nancy]

Yes it is tough to pray for someone who cheats you - especially in egregious ways. It's hard to sustain that forgiveness I've found so sometimes I don't even try to forgive after an initial attempt - I let God do whatever work in me He's going to do. God can be maddening at times.

Oh yes, right after the initial hurt, I cannot bring myself to forgive...I pray for Him to soften my heart so as to allow me to truly forgive without reservation. I just remember all the things He has forgiven me for. It is not an easy thing to do, at first. The pain and betrayal is so very shocking and raw that we cry and just want to hurt that person or persons yet, we know it is wrong to think that way...we are still human and He will help us to forgive. I have 3 on my list that I pray to forgive each day...and it IS getting easier! Not there fully, yet but I know one day I will be...He is so faithful!