7 Things - Seven Reasons Why Our Prayers Are Not Answered

Our God is a loving Father - He hears us when we call to Him; He loves our voice and He loves our company. I believe that He delights in answering our cry:

Matthew 7:7-8 Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks

...but there are times when it seems as though He does not hear us. Here are seven possible reasons why our prayers don't get answered - (All references are from the New Living Translation)

• We stop caring for others - The Lord expects us to listen to the cry of others - then He will hear our cry. 

Proverbs 21:13
Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor
will be ignored in their own time of need.

• We are separated from God because of sin in our lives -  

Isaiah 59:1-2
Listen! The Lord is not too weak to save you,

and he is not becoming deaf.

He can hear you when you call.

But there is a problem - your sins have cut you off from God.

Because of your sin,
he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Psalm 66:18-19 also states that the Lord will not hear us if we hold on to sin in our lives, and if we love sin. The Message Bible says - if we become "cozy with evil" the Lord will not listen.

• We move away from the Lord and apart from his Word - 

John 15:7
But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you,

you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted!

According to this verse, those who God hears and answers are those who are close to Him, and who abide in His Word

• We don't believe God can answer our prayers
. Jesus said that if we believe "...you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22; also:

James 1:6-8
But when you ask him,

be sure that you really expect him to answer,

for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea

that is driven and tossed by the wind.

People like that should not expect to receive
anything from the Lord.

They can't make up their minds.

They waver back and forth in everything they do.

• We forget to ask. James 4:2 tells us 

...and yet the reason you don't have what you want
is that you don't ask God for it.

• We ask out of selfishness and other wrong motives. The next verse in James 4 - verse 3 tells us that we don't get what we ask from the Lord is because our hearts are running after our own pleasures - our motives are suspect: 

And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong - 

you want only what will give you pleasure.

• We are disobedient - the Lord will not hear and answer our prayers when we disobey Him. I am taking this point from the verse in 1 John 3:22 that says "And we will receive whatever we request because we obey him and do the things that please him. We can take from this verse that the opposite is also true - if we do not obey Him, we will most likely not receive answers to the things we are asking for.

If any of these reasons apply to you, quickly turn to the Lord, repent and He will hear your cry.

Rick Warren tells us 6 ways that God answers prayer:
Yes; No; Not yet; You be the answer; Trust Me, and Are you kidding Me?