So after you say “Amen” and get up off your knees, how confident are you that God will answer your prayers? Would you say 100% sure? Maybe 75%? Or, after you pray do you feel like the quarterback who has just heaved a “Hail Mary” pass in the last seconds of the game, hoping against hope that things might just work out against all odds?
It could be that our expectations of God answering our prayers might have to do with what we have asked for. If we have just requested a quick fix solution for a problem we need to learn from (like overcharging our credit cards with unnecessary purchases), we might feel a little hesitant about claiming a positive answer in Jesus’ name. On the other hand, when we look at what Jesus teaches us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, we might feel that God might more likely honor those petitions.
Here’s something important to remember in our prayer lives: a “no” answer can be just as much a blessing as a “yes” answer. We’ve all read stories about people who have, for example, become incensed over a missed plane flight only to later discover the plane crashed. Their life was saved because of a “no” answer. God can work just as powerfully in our lives through his “noes” as much as he can through his “yeses”.
As we end our series on the Lord’s Prayer, we are going to be studying this weekend, the closing words which are known as the Doxology (or “hymn of praise”). While the words, “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen” don’t request anything from God, they do express a bold confidence that the Lord to whom we have prayed has all the ability to make good on his promise to answer our prayers in the best way possible.
If you have been feeling your prayers are going unanswered, maybe the problem isn’t your prayers, it could be your god. Maybe he is just too small. Join us this weekend for one of our services. Pray with us to the One who not only answers prayer, but who has no limits or restrictions on how he answers us. You can pray and expect an answer. It may not be the answer you want today. But in eternity, you will not stop praising the Lord for those answers.
Saturday night service: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning services: 10:00 am
Hawaii Lutheran Church (WELS)
- Community Lutheran Church
- Honolulu, HI
- Community Lutheran Church holds protestant chapel services in Honolulu, Hawaii near Pearl Harbor, HI. We are next to the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, and Fort Shafter Hawaii. Look for us directly behind the Salt Lake, Hawaii, Target.