Three Critical Questions When God Declines Our Prayers

Daily Devotional – Saturday, January 8, 2022

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

John 14:14 (NKJV)

One of the critical aspects of prayer is presenting our petitions to God. Here is a beautiful promise: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”. (Matthew 7:7).

However, why is it that God does not answer some or most of our petitions? Have you ever prayed for something for so long that you gave up because God was not answering?

One of the key reasons God may decline our prayers is found in Jesus’s teaching in the Gospel of John:  “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14).

Are We Limiting God and Ourselves?

According to this passage, there is nothing wrong with being ambitious as long as our achievements will bring glory to God. Note the phrases, “Whatever you ask in My name” and “If you ask anything in My name.”

We can be wealthy and super intelligent. We can be the best in our studies, careers and vocations. We can excel in sports, music, the arts, the sciences and any other chosen field. As Paul affirms, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). Are we limiting God hence limiting ourselves? Have we placed ceilings on what we can accomplish in this life? Is the life I am living a reflection of the resources and abilities God has placed at my disposal?

Ask Anything in My Name

In addition, and more importantly, the passage in John chapter 14 emphasizes one thing. Everything is available to us as long as we “ask in My name” or “ask anything in My name.” We must pass this test if God will answer our prayers.

Asking in Jesus’ Name means our requests do not contradict His commandments. It implies that whatever we ask for will glorify God in the short and long term. We cannot ask God to give us means and ability to harm others or ourselves, for example.

Yet You Do Not Have Because You Do Not Ask

James had an interesting perspective to this issue. He wrote, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-4).

God owns everything on earth and is happy when His children demand the highest blessings He can give. Unfortunately, as James observes, perhaps we do not have enough faith in God to ask for the best blessings.

Asking With Selfish Motives

The other reason we lack what God is ready to provide is that we have selfish motives. When James says we ask for God’s blessings to spend them in our pleasures, He agreeing with Jesus and John, in his first epistle:

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14).

Three Critical Questions When God Declines Our Prayers

In conclusion, we must ask ourselves three important when God declines our prayers or when we want Him to answer honour our petitions:

1. Have we asked God to meet our needs?
2. Do we have enough faith to demand the best God can offer, or we are limiting Him and ourselves?
3. Are our prayers in tandem with God’s will?

Jesus gives us a challenge today: “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24).

Loving Father, teach me How to ask, genuinely, in Your Name.