“No.”

I once heard theologian David Ashton speak on the topic, “Reasons Why God Says No to Prayers.” May I share from my notes?

Sometimes God answers with a “No”...

1. Although He’d rather say yes, but there’s sin in my life. (Ps. 66:18).
2. Because God is God. He has a mind and a game plan of His own. He knows what is best.
3. Because I do not persist in praying. In Mt. 8:7, the Greek actually means, “Ask and keep on asking... seek and keep on seeking... knock and keep on knocking... Why might He want me to persist?
.....my greatest need is for fellowship with God Himself
.....my desire for the answer will be increased and I’ll appreciate it more
.....my patience and frustration tolerance will be developed
4. God says no because my prayers collide with each other. In these cases, God wants to say yes to my greatest prayers. Ex: “Help me start attending Bible Study each Sunday night” and “Help me be picked for the skydiving team” (that practices Sunday evenings).
5. He may say no because I haven’t prayed about it with other people. Why might He want me to pray with others?
.....sometimes it’s hard to pray alone. When I’m dry or discouraged, I need the prayers of my own life primed by the prayer of others.
.....sometimes I can see the problem more objectively when I share it with another
.....they might be part of the answer to those prayers
.....I might learn how to pray better. “I love to eavesdrop to learn how saints pray,” says Ashton.
.....I am part of the Body of Christ, not a Lone Ranger
.....God is there in a special way when two or more agree (Mt. 18:19,20). Prayer unites us at the subterranean levels of our lives.
6. God only answers real prayers – prayers that are meant, not my lips saying one thing, my heart another.
7. God may say no to my prayers because they interfere with the freedom of my neighbor (their free will). Still, I should intercede because God wants me to be a participant in the salvation of the world.
8. God may say no because I have not prayed in the right way. There is a healthy way to pray [desiring His will alone], and an unhealthy way [my way].

My notes are incomplete, but one more point catches my eye:

It is not bad, Ashton asserted, to live with mystery. Many times I just don’t know what God is doing, or why He is saying “No” or “Not now.” I’m thinking that those are the times when it’s important, as Pastor Rick reminded us Sunday, to bank on God’s character or, as the Babbie Mason song says, “When you can’t trace his hand, trust His heart.” And His Word:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him. – 1 John 5:14,15 NIV, emphasis mine.