7 Possible Reasons God Isn’t Answering Your Prayers

Today on TBN, John Hagee provided seven possible reasons God isn’t answering your prayers. First, it might be helpful to know what prayer is and why you should pray.

What Is Prayer?

“Prayer is not getting God prepared to do your will. Prayer is getting you ready to do God’s will,” Hagee said.

“Not my will but [your will] be done. Say that with me. Not my will but [your will] be done.

“Prayer is the only way to release the supernatural power of God in your life, in your marriage, in your business to show you great and mighty things. But … as powerful as God is, God cannot answer prayer until you pray. You often hear — or I often hear — ‘I wonder when God is going to do something.’ The initiative rests with you, not God. God says, ‘When you pray, I will answer.’

“[The Bible says], ‘What you bind on Earth, I’ll bind in heaven. What you loose on Earth, I will loose in heaven.’ But the initiative rests with you. God’s not sitting there wondering what you want. He wants you to tell him, because if you tell him in faith, believing, you will receive it. …

“As powerful as God is, he cannot answer prayer until you pray it. Prayer is the key that unlocks the gates of heaven and closes the gates of hell. I saw the power of prayer all of my life in my mother. When she got on her arthritic knees and started whispering the name of the lord, every demon in Harris County started running for Louisiana. …

“Prayer is the weapon that God has given to his children to wage war in the heavenlies.

“[T]ake up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

“God is sitting in heaven saying, ‘Pray to me. Ask me for great things. Ask me to pull down strongholds. Ask me to break Satan’s grip over your job, over your family.

“Elevate your prayer [life] from, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep,’ to spiritual warfare. Go to war! Go to war in the authority of Jesus’ name. …

“When you pray, ask God for big things. … Nothing is impossible! … When you have a big need, ask big. … Ask him to send fire from heaven. … Ask him to walk you through the fiery furnace. Ask him. He’s the God who cannot fail. And he’s just waiting to show you his awesome power. You need to turn that power loose in the authority of Jesus’ name.”

Seven Possible Reasons God Isn’t Answering Your Prayers

One: You Haven’t Asked

“You do not visualize prayer. You ask God — out loud,” Hagee said. “You don’t visualize a prayer. You say a prayer.”

Two: You’re Doubleminded

Three: You Don’t Pray in Jesus’ Name

“That’s the name. … I’ve heard people say, ‘Dear God,'” Hagee said. “There’s a pantheon of gods. That’s why the lord’s prayer says, ‘Our father, who art in heaven.’ That’s the God we’re talking to. That’s why … we pray, ‘God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ There’s only one God that answers to that.”

Four: You Aren’t Asking According to the Will of God 

“Some people think the will of God is mysterious,” Hagee said. “It’s not. … God’s will is consistent with his word. You can know the will of God by the word of God. The word and the will of God are exactly the same. When you pray and you pray the word of God, you are using a nuclear bomb in the supernatural.”

Five: You Aren’t Praying in Faith [and] Believing

“The Bible says, ‘Have faith in God.’ … It doesn’t say, ‘Try to have faith in God,'” Hagee said.

Six: You Aren’t Praying for Specifics

Give us = who; this day = when; our daily bread = what.

“Don’t pray to God in vague terms,” Hagee said. “Nail it down so that when God answers, you know it was him.”

Seven: You Have Unconfessed Sin(s) in Your Life

You can fix that by repenting.