Unasked and Unanswered Prayers
Introduction:
1. Our prayers reveal, in striking detail, and great accuracy, the character of our hearts to ourselves, to others, and to God.
2. Therefore, we must examine ourselves and ascertain what we have asked for or what went unanswered.
3. These two verses supply the consequence of lust and sinful desires of the heart.
4. The unasked prayer and the unanswered prayer present to us that we have disregarded God's plan for humanity, especially Christians, to obtain what we want and need.
5. As a result we must learn that a lustful and sinful heart teaches us a lesson in futility and results in a barren and unfulfilled life.
I) What are Unasked Prayers?
A) They are the result of obtaining one's desire apart by earthly, sensual, and devilish means.
1. We can think of this as acting in behalf of one's self.
a. One takes it upon himself to fulfill his needs and desires by his own means.
b. If he wants a job them he tries to go out and get it.
c. If he wants to evangelize the lost then he tries to evangelizes the lost.
d. If he wants to build a strong family then he tries to build a strong family.
2. While there is nothing wrong with working to your end it is when one doesn't rely upon God to provide the solutions that is the problem.
a. God tells us to work.
b. Proverbs 6:6 - Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
c. It is the non-reliance upon God that costs us true blessings from God.
d. Matt 6:25-34 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
B) Unasked prayers result when one's lusts cause him to kill.
1. This man wishes to have what he does not and takes it by his own forceful means.
a. Lust is a strong passion or intensity of feeling.
b. It is covetous and can be traced back to unlawful desire.
c. When lust, desire of this low character is entertained and encouraged, it becomes overpowering and the dominant feature in one's life.
d. It becomes the master of the soul which enslaves creating a helplessness in the heart of the sinner and propels him into the vortex of sin.
2. The natural consequence of lust is killing in a mainly figurative way.
a. The motive to obtain, lust, became murderous when the fulfilling of one's lusts failed to obtain.
b. The disposition of the heart inclines one to act to fulfill his lust by destructive and murderous means.
(i) The job seeker damages his opponent's reputation to get the job he wants.
(ii) The evangelist refuses to utilize meekness and gentleness when dealing those lost in sins.
(iii) The husband desiring a strong family focuses upon material things rather than spiritual ones.
(iv) Each of these individuals murders that which he seeks because of his own lust.
c. Yet, James intends to point out that despite all their killing they cannot truly obtain what they want.
(i) Notice the rich man who uses his money to fulfill a hole in his heart but does he really fill it?
(ii) No.
3. These people killing because their lusts do not obtain have not because they do not pray to God to give these blessing to them.
C) Unasked prayers come about when fighting and warring reveal a covetous heart.
1. Here we read of the connection between desire and conflict.
a. James has alluded to this in verse 1.
b. Let's look at Cain as an example.
c. Let's consider Israel in the wilderness wanderings.
2. The consequence of choosing lustful desires of the heart is conflict.
a. When lust fails to obtain, then by means of killing, there will be strife.
b. It is a certain consequence without wavering in the lives of men.
3. These Christians seek to obtain what they wish for but seek it improperly, by force, through fighting and wars yet cannot obtain because they ask not.
II) What are Unanswered Prayers?
A) They describe the heart of a man whose focus is upon earthly things.
1. It is not unusual for men, full of sin, to pray for the blessings of God.
a. The Denominational world.
b. The Pharisees.
c. Jesus clearly speaks against this by pronouncing woes upon these wicked people.
d.
Matthew 23:29-35 - Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the
tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If
we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with
them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves,
that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the
measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye
escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise
men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them
shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar.
B) Unanswered prayers are the fate of those prayers asked amiss.
1. Amiss means base or mean.
a. To ask amiss is to pray being influenced by low, mean, and selfish considerations.
b. In other words, these Christians prayed for earthly things because their hearts were driven by wisdom from below, that is earthly, sensual, and devilish.
2. James teaches us that the expectation of God's blessing was to fulfill their own pleasures.
a. We cannot forget that James is speaking about Christians.
b. God saw these prayers as wasteful and squandered prayers.
c. Should we expect God to grant a Christian his desires and wants when they will be wasted fulfilling earthly, sensual, and devilish lusts.
d. Whether God grants a prayer for health, wealth, the ability to serve depends on the motive of the petitioner.
III) How, Then, Shall We Pray?
A) Recognized that God encourages us to bring our temporal needs to Him.
1. If our desires and wants are for our welfare, the welfare of others, and the cause of Christ then it is necessary that we pray.
a. 3 John 2 - Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
b. We must recognize to bring our temporal needs to God.
c. Matthew 6:9-13 - After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
d. Prayer for God to deliver our daily bread explains the need we must have for God to grant to us what we need to survive and live in this world.
2. Jesus promises that if we put his affairs first then he will give us material needs to boot.
a. Matt 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
b. The word added means "to boot" or in addition to.
c. He who gains heaven must sacrifice his desire to get what he wants in this present world.
(i) The Christian must choose either the things here or the things in the hereafter.
(ii) The Christian nor any man can have both.
(iii) Yet in recognition of the might and majesty of God and prayers from peaceable, pure, and gentle wisdom God will give us what we desire and want.
B) Pray that God's will be done.
1. Our prayers must be concerned with fulfilling God will rather than our own.
a. John 17:4 - I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
b. These words of Christ should present each Christian who truly wants to be Christ-like with the need to do the Lord's will.
c. Regardless of the evils and persecution of world, every Christian must forsake the desire to fulfill his own wants and needs and rely upon God for them.
2. James is concerned with show us that the supply of our desire and wants and needs come unendingly from God.
a. Jas 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
b. In light of this promise of good and perfect gift we are obligated to God as his created beings to request and to beg for them.
3. Each proper prayer is conditional and relates to God our reliance upon him.
a. We must ask for fulfillment of our desires and wants by asking for the right thing, in the right way and from the right motives.
b. It is necessary, then, to take extreme care by examining our motives in order pray that God's will be done.
c. By fulfilling these conditions we show God our confidence and faith in his power to answer our petitions for our desires and wants.
C) If prayers are not given then God knows best.
1. Finally, we must conclude that because God grants every good and perfect gift given freely and plenteously to the Christian motivated by righteous wisdom there will be a divine answer.
2. If prayers are not answered in the manner in which we think they should be given we cannot believe that God doesn't care.
a. For a negative answer to our prayers explains to us that God does not see that need or desire as necessary to do His will.
b. It is even the case that God may say no in order to give us something far better at a later time.
Conclusion:
1. The person who tries to get what he wants by his own motives lives a life that is barren.
2. He will never get it because he doesn't go to the source of blessings.
3. The person who intends to receive God's blessing for selfish motives lives a futile life.
4. He will always fall short of the goal he tries to obtain.
5. We must recognize that what God intends for His people is for them to rely upon His will rather than their own.
6. How does prayer reflect your life? Is it barren or futile?
7. God wants you to come today and remit your sins in baptism or in repentance and confession of them.
Posted in: Book of James, Sermon Outlines