First Baptist Church of Niles
Bible Study
A Study of Prayer
God's Answers to Prayers
God does answer prayers
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matt 7:8
God considers our prayers through His perfect will.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless. Ps 84:11
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Rom 8:32
Categories of His Answers to Prayer
Yes – Immediately
Sometimes the answer is immediate
Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear. Isa 65:24
Consider Isaac – his prayers were answered before he stopped praying
Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Gen 24:12
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. Gen 24:15
Yes – in due time
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. Luke 1:13
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Rev 22:20
We should not let yesterday's seemingly unanswered prayer, discourage us from praying.
Yes – So you will learn from it
Israel desired to have a king…thinking this is what they needed.
When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”ull Ó 1 Sam 8:18
This will lead us to freely accept His will, just as Christ accepted the will of His Father.
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
No – Because your heart is not right
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3
“Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord. Proverbs 1:28-29
No – I have a better plan
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:6,8
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. John 11:21
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, Eph 3:20
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. James 4:2