What does the Bible say about answered prayers?
Prayer is the way that we communicate with God and it is extremely vital to the Christian life. We often get discouraged when our prayers are not answered in our own timing and we wonder, does it actually work? Does God actually answer prayer? The quick answer is yes. However, let’s find out more below.
Christian quotes
“If God answered all of your prayers, would the world look different or just your life?” — Dave Willis
“God answers our prayers not because we are good, but because He is good.” Aiden Wilson Tozer
“Answered prayer is the interchange of love between the Father and His child.” — Andrew Murray
“Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. ” – Charles Spurgeon
“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, buy unoffered prayer.” F.B. Meyer
“Many people think their prayers are never answered because it is the answered ones they forget.” C. S. Lewis
How it all works
It’s easy to think that we have to pray a certain way for God to hear us, and that if we pray well enough He will be sure to answer our prayer. But there is no support for that in the Bible. And frankly, that is turning something beautiful like praying to God into merely a pagan spell.
God invites us to pray to Him. God created us and He chose to save us. Our Lord delights in us and sustains us. Praying to Him should be the most natural thing we do. Prayer is simply, talking to God. It doesn’t require a ritual, a specific pattern of phrasing, nor does it require that you stand in a specific position. God asks us to cast all of our cares upon Him, for He loves us. Check out – prayer for strength quotes.
1) Luke 11:9-10 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
2) 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.”
3) Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!’
Getting God to answer
There are some prayers that God will always answer. If we pray for God to be glorified through us He will be sure to answer that prayer and reveal His glory. If we pray for forgiveness, He will hear us and readily forgive us. Whenever we pray and ask God to reveal more of Himself to us, He will do so. If we pray to God to ask for wisdom, He will generously grant that to us. If we ask Him to give us the strength to live obediently, He will do so. If we pray and ask God to spread His gospel to those that are lost, He will do so. This should be so exciting to use. We have been given a beautiful privilege to commune with God and offer up petitions that He will always answer. When we grasp the significance of this, then we realize how intimate and extraordinary that this opportunity to pray truly is.
4) Habakkuk 2:14 “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
5) 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
6) Jeremiah 31:33-34 “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.”
7) James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
8) Philippians 2:12-13 “As you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
9) Matthew 24:14 “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
10) Colossians 1:9 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
11) James 5:6 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
According to God’s will
The Bible teaches that God wants us to pray according to God’s will. This means we should study His revealed will: the Scriptures. As we grow in knowledge of His will, our heart is changed. We become more like Christ. He causes us to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. It is then that we pray according to God’s will. And He will always answer when we do.
12) John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
13) 1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
14) Romans 8:27 “and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Don’t doubt, He hears
God loves His children, and He will hear the prayers of those who belong to Him. That doesn’t mean that God will answer every prayer in the way that we desire, but that should encourage us to persistently pray. If we were asked the question, “does God hear and answer the prayers of unbelievers?” The answer is usually no. If God does answer, then it’s simply an act of His grace and mercy. God can answer any prayer that is according to His will, especially a prayer for salvation.
15) John 9:31 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.
16) Isaiah 65:24 “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
17) 1 John 5:15 “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
18) Proverbs 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
Does He always answer?
God will always answer the prayer of His children. Sometimes the answer is “yes.” And we can see His fulfillment very quickly. Other times, He will answer us with a “No.” Those can be hard to accept. But we can trust that He loves us and that He is answering us with what is best for us and with what will give Him the most glory. Then there are times that the Lord will answer with a “wait.” This can be very hard to hear too. When God tells us to wait, it can feel like a no. But God knows exactly when the best time is to answer our prayer and we need to trust in His timing. God is safe to trust because He loves us.
19) Matthew 21:22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
20) Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
21) Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
22) Psalm 34:17 “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles.”
Reasons for unanswered prayers
There are times that God chooses not to answer prayers. He will not answer the prayer of the unregenerate sinner. There are even times when He will not hear the prayers of those who are saved: for example, He will not hear us when we pray with the wrong motives or when we are living in unrepentant sin. This is because at that time, we are not praying according to His will.
23) Isaiah 1:15 “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen Your hands are covered with blood.”
24) James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
25) Psalm 66:18 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”
26) 1 Peter 3:12 “FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL.”
Don’t forget to thank Him
One of the most frequent prayers we should pray is a prayer of thanksgiving. We should be grateful for all the prayers that God answers: not just the ones that He answered with a “yes.” The Lord God has bestowed such mercy upon us. Every breath that we take in should be released with a prayer of thankfulness and adoration to Him.
27) 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
28) Psalm 118:21 “I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation.”
29) 2 Corinthians 1:11 “you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.”
30) Psalm 66:1-5 “Everything on earth, shout with joy to God! 2 Sing about his glory! Make his praise glorious! 3 Say to God, “Your works are amazing! Your power is great. Your enemies fall before you. 4 All the earth worships you. They sing praises to you. They sing praises to your name.” 5 Come and see what God has done. See what amazing things he has done for people.”
31) 1 Chronicles 16:8-9 “Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his miracles.”
32) Psalm 66:17 “I cried out to Him with my mouth, and His praise was on my tongue.”
33) Psalm 63:1 “O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.”
Examples of answered prayers
There are numerous examples of prayers that have been answered in Scripture. We should read these and take comfort. These people were once sinners just like we are. They sought the Lord and prayed according to His will and He answered them. We can be encouraged that He will answer our prayers.
34) Romans 1:10 “always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.”
35) 1 Samuel 1:27 “For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him.
36) Luke 1:13 “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.”
Developing a life of prayer
Having a robust prayer life takes a tremendous amount of discipline. We are bound by this flesh driven body and prayer is work. If you think that prayer is easy, then you are not engaging in very deep prayer. Prayer is a struggle. It is a battle with our mind and our flesh. It is so hard to pray like we should: mourning over our sins, yearing for Christ, taking our brothers and sisters to the throne of grace.
In order to develop a life of prayer we need to remember a few key points. Prayer is not a spell, we don’t have to worry about getting the words just right. We should pray to the Lord at all times and for everything, for everything in life comes from Him. Our prayer life should also be secret. It is not an act that we should seek to do in order to get adoration from others.
37) Matthew 6:7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”
38) Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
39) 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”
40) Matthew 6:6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Conclusion
How marvelous that the Creator of the entire Universe desires for us to pray to Him. How awe inspiring that the Lord our King desires that we should come to Him about every little thing in our life and that He will take the time to hear us.
Even if God already answered our prayers we should not stop praying. We should always remember God through ups and downs.
Thank you for the encouraging topics for Christians. God bless to all.