by John S Foster

Created on: January 30, 2010   Last Updated: January 31, 2010

If God never answers your prayers, are you praying for the right things.  

 There are many aspects to this question.  Here are a few.

   It is possible that one can be praying for the wrong things. Let’s assume that first of all the one praying is a believer of the Christian God and has confessed Jesus as Lord. This is important because according to the Bible we pray to the Father (God) in the name of Jesus. We are not to pray to Jesus, but to the Father, in Jesus name. (Matthew 28:18) Further more, one does not pray to anyone else like the Catholics like to do, praying to Mary or some other Saint. But to God alone. Even Jesus prayed to the Father. God taught us in the Commandments that He is a jealous God and that nothing else is to come before Him. God warns us about Idols, which come in many forms. One of which, is praying to anyone else but Him. (Exodus 20:2 and 5)  

Also in praying, we have to have the right motivation in prayer. (John 5:30) The Bible tells us to first seek the Kingdom of God, then ask what we might and it shall be given. (Matthew 6:33) We to often place the cart before the horse in that we are more concerned about our own issues more than the things of God. We need to first try to understand who and what God is about and what He has for us in this life and beyond. We must get some kind of understanding of Gods’ principles so that we will have the right motivations for prayer. (2 Chronicles 7:14)    

One example is say you want to be rich and you pray to win the lottery. We must first ask ourselves, why I want to be rich. Is it because of ego, to look good so people will idolize us so we can think we are something that we are not? Or is it simply to feed and take care of our loved ones, to live comfortably without the stress of living pay check to pay check. The latter would be the more honorable motivation. But God wants more than that from us. God wants us to be wealthy and to live happy lives. But He also wants us to help others. To feed the hungry, clothe the naked and the like. God allows us to become wealthy in order to advance the Kingdom of God. Not to selfishly hoard money for our own purposes. Furthermore most people, who have not ever had a great deal of money, would not know how to properly handle it. How to invest it or spend it wisely. In praying for such things, there is a growing period so that we will be properly prepared for wealth, Gods’ way. Not the way of the

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