Today, Pastor Rick Warren challenges us to keep on praying -- which, let's face it, is easy to do when the answers keep on coming. But this growth plan isn't about when the answers keep on coming. It's about "When God Doesn't Answer."

People have a hard enough time praying when, as Jesus told us, "your heavenly Father knows that you need" because if He already knows, why does He want me to pray? How much harder is it to persevere in prayer when God already knows but doesn't answer?

Our prayers aren't for informational purposes, to give God some sort of news flash that He otherwise might miss. God can tell us what's happening better than we can tell Him. Is God just keeping us busy? Or is He bringing us to the most optimal position in which we can receive from Him? Even a pro football wide receiver can't catch a pass until he opens his hands.

Praying when God already knows what we need must have a deeper purpose, and this is what Warren brings to us.

"Why Keep Praying When There's No Answer" by Pastor Rick Warren

“Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers” (Ephesians 6:18 NLT).

Why should you remain persistent in your prayers when you don’t get an answer? Here are four reasons.

1. Persistent prayer focuses your attention.

When you pray a prayer request over and over, it’s not to remind God. He doesn’t need to be reminded! It’s to remind yourself that God is the source of your answer and all your needs.

If every prayer you ever prayed was instantly answered, two things would happen. First, prayer would actually begin to hurt you because sometimes we pray for things that are not God’s will, or we make mistakes because we see with a limited perspective. Second, you’d never really develop a deep relationship with God, because he would become just a vending machine. If every time you prayed you instantly got results, all you’d think about is the blessing. God wants you to think about the Blesser. 

2. Persistent prayer clarifies your request.

A delayed answer gives you time to clarify exactly what you want and to refine your prayers. When you pray persistently to your heavenly Father and you say something over and over again, it separates deep longings from mere whims. It says, “God, I really care about this.”

It’s not that God doesn’t want to answer your prayers. He does. It’s just that he wants you to be certain what you really want. 

3. Persistent prayer tests your faith.

James 1:3-4 says, “When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (NLT).

The only way you can grow to spiritual maturity is to have your faith tested. One of the ways God tests your faith is by delaying some answers to your prayers.

4. Persistent prayer prepares your heart for the answer.

When you make a request of God, God almost always wants to answer in a greater way than you’ve prayed. Sometimes God denies your prayer request because you’re thinking and asking too small. He wants to give you something bigger and better.

But first, he has to prepare you for it. So God uses delays in answering prayer to help you grow, to help you get ready, and to help prepare you for a bigger and better answer. 

Remember, “God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20 NCV).

Talk It Over

What is something you’ve been praying about for a long time? How might you need to refine your request? 

If God is testing you right now by delaying an answer to a prayer, how can you demonstrate your willingness to grow and accept his will and purpose for you?

Think of something that you prayed for over the years that God has never supplied. How have you seen that his denial was actually a blessing in your life?

This devotional © 2020 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

PRAY

"Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name." That's how You taught us to pray, and You taught us to persevere in prayer. Forgive us when we fall short. Forgive us when we become dependent on ourselves because we aren't sure how to depend on You when we we can't sense Your presence. Thank You for building within us that ability to believe in the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things is unseen.

REFLECT

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." — 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

RESPOND

OK, I'm convinced. I need to keep on praying. But if I'm going to persevere in prayer, it would be a good idea if I'm not defeating the purpose behind it. That's what Dr. Michael Youssef will try to help us with when he teaches us the things that might -- just might -- contribute to our unanswered prayers.