Question

My question, I probably even know the answer, it’s just been something I have been experiencing, which is, I’ve been in a lot of prayer lately about certain things and when you go through the Scripture and you read things, for example like John 14:13, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son,” and John 15:7, “If ye abide in Me and my Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” I know God is not a cosmic genie, He is not there to grant our every wish, which would be kind of absurd, but sometimes I have a hard time, because when you really want something, you pray for it. I know you have to pray in His will, as the Lord did, “Not my will, but Your will be done,” but how do you blend that sometimes when maybe you think it’s a burden He’s putting on you to pray and yet you don’t see it come and you are still asking in His will, but then you look at some of the other verses and it says, Matthew 21:22, “And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.” And you know I guess it just gets kind of tenuous sometimes, because you are waiting for an answer, even if its “no,” but you still have the burden on your heart to pray and you’re praying in His will and you want it and “tah-dah”...

Answer

How many of you have experienced that dilemma? (audience laughs and raises hands) Does that help you? (speaking to the questioner) 

How many of you know the answer? How many of you know why that happens? To teach us to trust the Lord. That’s fair enough. Yeah. To teach us to trust the Lord. How many of you asked your parents for something and didn’t get it? I mean some time in your life. How many of you got a lecture about the fact that it wouldn’t be good for you to get that? How many of you know your parents were right? Thank you, both of you (audience laughter). Sure, I don’t know the answer to that, because I don’t know the mind of God and sometimes I get very frustrated because I know what the Kingdom needs, see….I mean, I know! You’ve got to do this Lord, this is what you have to do!

We have to have this! And then we can get on with the work and it’s not happening and so you say, well why is God putting this heavy burden on my heart? Why does he give me such a confidence that this is really His will and then it doesn’t happen. Well, what you have to realize is, is that we can’t trust our feelings because sometimes we think something is of the Lord, when the truth of the matter is it’s really just a strong desire that we have. The ultimate answer to your question is that we really don’t know how it is that God can burden us with things that are deeply felt burdens and yet seemingly not fulfill those things. There is really no answer to that other than the sovereignty of God and we have to trust that what happens is His perfect will. And then, also, and this is the thing I always wind up doing in my own life, is a little spiritual inventory to make sure that I am not in a position to not have my prayer answered because there is something in my own life that isn’t as it ought to be. In other words, James says, “You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it on your own lusts”. In other words, you can be disqualified in your prayer because of the fact that you have a selfish motive. Also, you remember what Peter writes. In 1 Peter 3 he says, you know that husband and wife had better get along well, “that your prayers be not hindered.” It’s possible that if things aren’t as they ought to be between you and your wife that you have put a block in God’s flow of blessing. Sin, of any kind, gets in the way, so whenever I pour out my heart to the Lord about something that seems to be heavily laid on my heart, my first response, if it doesn’t come to pass is a little spiritual inventory and I ask God if there is anything in my life that prevented Him from doing all that He would have done. Secondly, if I pass the test of spiritual inventory or get my life right with Him, then I just have to say, “Lord, I trust you completely in this and thank you for the answer you gave and I accept that as your answer.” And sometimes the burden is still there and I just keep praying and asking God to do it, you know, even though it appears it won’t happen, until the Lord gives me sense of release from that.

Question (continued)

I just remember one time, you were talking about the parable, I can’t remember exactly where it is, it’s about the person that comes to the house and knocks….

Answer (continued)

Yeah, it’s in Luke, and that’s how I feel sometimes. Because of your continual knocking you will get an answer…yeah…the idea of that parable is, you know the guy is in the middle of the night bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang on the door and the guy finally lets him in and gives him bread just to get rid of him, and what our Lord is saying is, if a guy is angry and gives bread to somebody who beats on his door or somebody he is mad at, what do you think a loving God who loves you is going to do when you have a need. Bread is a need and I don’t believe that you will ever come before the Lord in behalf of a need that He will not meet, but it’s some of those discretionary things that He has a right to say no to. 

Question (continued)

That’s true and I guess sometimes it’s just realizing when he says, “no”.

Answer (continued)

And you know, it’s fair enough, you know I remember, oh I suppose it’s been a few years ago now, somebody said to me one time, “Do you ever ask the Lord for something that is so specific that He can say no and you’ll know He said no?” Because most of the time we say, “Well, Lord, this is what we’d like, but….do your will” and you know we go through that whole deal, so whatever He does is so non-descript we don’t know whether he said, “no,” “yes,” or what. So I think it’s healthy for you to go in there and with importunity and persistence plead for God to do something and if He says “no," you know He said “NO”.

Question (continued)

So, you can really be specific, like, I want THIS laid out to me?

Answer (continued)

Yes, but you know, you say if this is Your will Lord, but I want to be specific and if you say “no,” then I know you had something better than that. 

Question (continued)

I know you can’t put God in a box or put Him in time frames, but when you have a burden on your heart, can you say specific things like give me some sort of a yes or no within….you know, you can say it with a little flexibility?

Answer (continued)

You can say anything you want, but He may say no to that too. He may say no, I’m not giving you what you want, and I’m not giving it to you in that time frame either. That isn’t going to help. I mean the guy that says, “Show me by Tuesday, let something fall through my roof or let me…”

Question (continued)

“Yeah, I was trying to give Him a lot of leeway, but…it’s just hard to be specific because He might say no to that, too.” You know for two months I’ve been praying……

Answer (continued)

Do you know what the Lord wants to hear from you? I believe that He doesn’t want to hear some kind of theology. I think what the Lord wants to hear is the real deep cry of your heart. He knows what it is you really want to say, so you might as well say it. I mean if you really want it badly and you say, “Lord, I just want your will….”, He knows what you want.

Question (continued)

Oh I said it badly enough, I walked on top of a mountain for four hours just to make sure He heard me.

Answer (continued)

All right, He knows what you want, now you’ve gotta…..(laughing) you wanted to get as close as possible right? It’s not up there, it’s in here, right…where the Lord abides.  

Question (continued)

I unloaded on Him too, I told Him exactly what…..

Answer (continued)

Well, you just keep asking Him and then you learn to trust His answer. I mean, we all do that, we all do that, I mean that’s routine. The wonderful thing about it is that we know that He is on our side and we are on His side, and we are all in this together in the Kingdom, and so it’s going to come out the way He wants it to come out. It’s exciting.