If you read my "Life Journey" thread, you might get the impression that my prayer life is a life of continuous miracles in answer to prayer. That impression would be false because that thread shares the highlights of my life in the Spirit. In truth, it seems like most of my prayers go unanswered, at least so far as I can see. I have learned by experience that we can't just TRY to believe God's promises because the very concept of "trying" implies an unconscious belief that we our faith will probably fail. This thread is intended to inspire discussion on the apparent problem of unanswered or ineffective petitionary prayer.
A major reason why thoughtful skeptics reject Christianity can be succinctly expressed in this sentence, "Experience shows that Christianity just doesn't deliver on its promises." Consider how rarely most Christians have experienced or known people who have experienced indisputable miracles in response to petitionary prayer. Yet Jesus provides many glorious promises about how God always answers petitionary prayers offered up in faith (Mark 11:22-25; Matthew 7:7-8: John 14:13; 15:7; 16:23; cp. 1 John 5:14). Indeed, Jesus praises faith for healing when He encounters it, even among Gentiles (e. g. Matthew 15:28; Luke 7:10). This praise seems to imply that we can somehow successfully pursue or develop miracle-working faith. Indeed, Jesus issues this challenge:
"The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, WILL DO GREATER WORKS THAN THESE because I go to my Father (John 14:12)."
Many evangelicals who claim these promises are discouraged by the unimpressive results and must battle the doubts that result from prayer lives that don't seem to measure up to Jesus' promises. For example, how many people do you know have been healed through prayer of blindness, deafness, congestive heart failure, Type-1 diabetes, and crippling disorders that confine them to wheelchairs?
These frustrated or confused prayer warriors feel compelled to rationalize the disconnect between Jesus' promises and the discouraging reality in at least these 5 ways:
(1) It just must not be God's will for me (citing 1 John 5:14).
(2)I guess God's answer for me is always the same as God's answer to Paul's request for removal of his "thorn in the flesh:" "My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:5-8)."
(3) God responds to the need behind my request, not to the literal request (Romans 8:26).
(4) Perhaps God denies me my requested miracle because of unconfessed sin (James 5:16) or because of grudges I hold, consciously or unconsciously, towards others (Mark 11:24-25).
(5) Perhaps miracles were primarily intended for the apostolic age to help spread the faith, even though the Bible teaches that God "is the same, yesterday, today, and forever."
How should we react to these prayer dilemmas? What can we do to develop a more effective life of petitionary prayer?
A major reason why thoughtful skeptics reject Christianity can be succinctly expressed in this sentence, "Experience shows that Christianity just doesn't deliver on its promises." Consider how rarely most Christians have experienced or known people who have experienced indisputable miracles in response to petitionary prayer. Yet Jesus provides many glorious promises about how God always answers petitionary prayers offered up in faith (Mark 11:22-25; Matthew 7:7-8: John 14:13; 15:7; 16:23; cp. 1 John 5:14). Indeed, Jesus praises faith for healing when He encounters it, even among Gentiles (e. g. Matthew 15:28; Luke 7:10). This praise seems to imply that we can somehow successfully pursue or develop miracle-working faith. Indeed, Jesus issues this challenge:
"The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, WILL DO GREATER WORKS THAN THESE because I go to my Father (John 14:12)."
Many evangelicals who claim these promises are discouraged by the unimpressive results and must battle the doubts that result from prayer lives that don't seem to measure up to Jesus' promises. For example, how many people do you know have been healed through prayer of blindness, deafness, congestive heart failure, Type-1 diabetes, and crippling disorders that confine them to wheelchairs?
These frustrated or confused prayer warriors feel compelled to rationalize the disconnect between Jesus' promises and the discouraging reality in at least these 5 ways:
(1) It just must not be God's will for me (citing 1 John 5:14).
(2)I guess God's answer for me is always the same as God's answer to Paul's request for removal of his "thorn in the flesh:" "My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:5-8)."
(3) God responds to the need behind my request, not to the literal request (Romans 8:26).
(4) Perhaps God denies me my requested miracle because of unconfessed sin (James 5:16) or because of grudges I hold, consciously or unconsciously, towards others (Mark 11:24-25).
(5) Perhaps miracles were primarily intended for the apostolic age to help spread the faith, even though the Bible teaches that God "is the same, yesterday, today, and forever."
How should we react to these prayer dilemmas? What can we do to develop a more effective life of petitionary prayer?