October 16, 2015- The Gift of Gab Part 2: "Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers?"

Last week, I talked about how God wants us to talk to him on a regular basis, that this great God of the universe wants a friendship with us! We learned that God doesn't care about fancy-schmancy formal prayers, he just wants to hear from US! We discovered that prayer isn't just for the "professionals", but that anyone can pray at any time!

This week, we tackled a pretty tough question- a question that all of us have probably asked a ton of times: "Why doesn't God answer my prayers?"

The Bible definitely tells us that God answers our prayer and will do what we ask.

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt...you can even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea', and it will happen. YOU CAN PRAY FOR ANYTHING, AND IF YOU HAVE FAITH, YOU WILL RECEIVE IT." (Jesus in Matthew 21:21-22)

What? Jesus is basically saying here that prayer is like the FORCE in Star Wars- that we could lift mountains and toss them through prayer! He tell us that this is THE TRUTH- that if we pray for anything, believing it'll happen, IT WILL!

So, how come when I pray for REALLY good things- like for someone to be healed from a disease, or for the problems in my life to get a little easier-- teenie-tiny miracle requests, not big mountain-moving ones-- why don't those things happen? Is it because I don't believe enough? Is it because Jesus didn't really mean what he said?

GOD IS NOT A GENIE

Jesus clearly tells us that ANYTHING we pray about will HAPPEN, but does that mean that, if I'm hungry and pray for God to deliver a hot, cheesy pizza to my door, that he's REQUIRED to do it? Does it mean that God is my cosmic servant- that the God of the universe is at my beck and call? If I was able to pull his strings like a puppet, wouldn't that kind of power make ME God? Perhaps there are some ground rules to this whole prayer thing?

"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)

We need to understand that while we can ask God for anything, he's not going to do what doesn't line up with his good plans and purposes for our lives. For example, I love my kids, and they know that they can ask me for ANYTHING, but I would be a pretty lousy dad if I just gave them whatever they wanted. Sometimes what they want isn't very healthy! Sometimes it's downright dangerous! When I say "no" to their requests, a lot of times they'll get REALLY angry. They'll scream. They'll stomp. They'll say that I must not love them. Obviously that's not the case. Not giving them exactly what they want is often the most loving thing I can do for them, they just aren't able to see or understand that.

I shared a few stories of when I was job hunting, and despite my prayers and believing that God had opened up those opportunities for me, when they didn't pan out, I was totally devastated. I was as angry as my kids when I've told them that they can't eat gummy bears for breakfast! But, do you know what? In hindsight, I've actually THANKED God for not answering those prayers! Even when I couldn't see it at the time, God knew what was the best for me, and he wasn't going to say yes to my prayers if it wasn't the right thing for me. Why? Because he loves me!

There are also times where I've prayed that God would heal someone suffering from a disease, or prayed that someone would come to know Jesus-- things that I would assume God would LOVE to answer, but still nothing. While it's super important that we pray those kinds of prayers, we also need to remember that our world is sin-sick and broken, and because of that, everybody is going to die at some point. God MIGHT heal someone miraculously, but someone else might die young, and we simply need to trust God in the midst of our failure to understand why. When we pray for someone to come to know Jesus, God MIGHT accomplish it right away, he MIGHT answer that prayer in 15 years, or we might never see that happen! After all, God isn't going to over-ride someone's choices and re-program them just because we prayed! In the end, it's their choice, and our prayers can't force them to do something they don't want to do.

I'm sure we would all love it if God would answer all of our wishes like a genie-- that an answer to prayer will come to anyone who "rubs the magic lamp", but that's not how prayer works. We need to never stop praying. We need to believe that God can do the impossible! But, we also need to trust him when we're not getting the answers we want.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Have you ever prayed about something and didn't get the answer that you wanted? What was it? How did it make you feel?

2. Have you ever given up praying for things because you just didn't think it worked?

3. Take the time this week to start praying again for impossible things- maybe some things that you gave up praying about a long time ago. Don't give up! Remind your teens to keep trusting God!

CATALYST YOUTH, "The Gift of Gab" Part One, Friday, October 2, 2015

This week is part one of "The Gift of Gab". I kicked off with a video clip from one of the most awkward and hilarious movie prayers ever. The concept of prayer...even thanking God for food...was just totally foreign to this guy. Is prayer awkward and uncomfortable for us? Do we think we need to master Shakespearean English before attempting a conversation with God? Let's clear up any confusion by answering a few questions...

1. WHY PRAY?
The Bible tells us that we were meant to have a friendship (or a father-child relationship) with God, but it's pretty hard to be close to anyone if we never talk to them. In Genesis, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God, in the Psalms people expressed a wide variety of emotions (from joy and worship to sadness and anger). The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:7 that God actually CARES about us and WANTS to hear from us! He wants us to lean and depend on Him. He wants us to express ourselves to Him.

2. WHO SHOULD PRAY?
As a pastor, a lot of people assume that I have a special direct-line to God-- that He hears me way better than he hears other people. While in the Old Testament, the priests acted as middle-men between God and people, we see in the New Testament that we ALL have instant access to God!

3. HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?
Our prayers don't need to be super formal and impressive. God doesn't only understand ye ol' English. In Matthew 5:6-7, Jesus taught people about prayer, saying that God doesn't care about elaborate "show-off" prayers. He doesn't want us to stretch our prayers out with lots of "filler". God just wants to hear FROM US. What does a parent love more, something hand-drawn by their child (even if the coloring is completely outside the lines) or a formal, type-written essay? God just wants our honest scribbles. There is also no prescribed way to pray. While some people kneel, fold their hands, and close their eyes, that's because it helps them focus on what they're doing, not because the position they pray in increases the satellite reception between them and God. If you can think, or if you can talk, you can pray.

4. WHEN & WHERE SHOULD WE PRAY?
1 Thessalonians 5:17 simply says, "Never stop praying". At first glance, this seems ridiculous and impossible, but Paul isn't suggesting that we should LITERALLY never stop praying, but that we have an open line of communication with God at all times-- and we can talk to him whenever we feel like it. Some people find it helpful to set aside a specific time every day to talk to God (and to be honest, this is probably your best chance of actually fitting him in to your life), but I tend to "stop, drop, and pray" whenever I hear about a need, or whenever I want to talk to God. In fact, I often use a lot of "down time", like when I'm driving in the car to take a few minutes to chat with God.

Next time, I'll be continuing the series by talking about why it seems like God doesn't often answer our prayers. Is it because he's too busy? Is it because he doesn't care THAT much?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Do you find it easy or hard to pray? Why?

2. This week I challenged the students to talk to God for at least 2 minutes every day. Encourage them to do that. Encourage them to express themselves to God, to ask him for help where it's needed, to pray for forgiveness when they've really messed up, or to pray for someone they know who's having a difficult time.