Why are prayers unanswered?

[posthuman]

prayers unanswered?

perhaps we should examine our walk:

Proverbs 28:9 --
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination

we should not go into His presence asking for blessings & power when we should be asking for forgiveness, mercy & help setting our paths straight. when a misbehaving child asks for gifts & a trip to the zoo, don't you first make him mind your instruction & clean his room? God doesn't spoil his children, but 'disciplines those that He loves.'

when we ask Him for bread, He doesn't give us a stone, but when we are asking for bread in the middle of a tantrum, tossing our homework & our bowl of cheerios on the floor, slamming doors & refusing to do our chores -- brothers & sisters, we've got to calm down and sit at the table before we can eat.

 

[just-us-2]

prayers unanswered?

perhaps we should examine our walk:

Proverbs 28:9 --
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination

we should not go into His presence asking for blessings & power when we should be asking for forgiveness, mercy & help setting our paths straight. when a misbehaving child asks for gifts & a trip to the zoo, don't you first make him mind your instruction & clean his room? God doesn't spoil his children, but 'disciplines those that He loves.'

when we ask Him for bread, He doesn't give us a stone, but when we are asking for bread in the middle of a tantrum, tossing our homework & our bowl of cheerios on the floor, slamming doors & refusing to do our chores -- brothers & sisters, we've got to calm down and sit at the table before we can eat.

Excellent example of what I have been trying to say - well spoken!

 

[just-us-2]

Next on the list is “doubt.” If I am to be completely honest, I would have to say that the fewer of my prayers that are answered, the more I doubt. Or at least I question in my mind whether something I have prayed about will be answered.

To be clear, yes, God answers many of my daily prayers, i.e. protection from accidents, exceptionally good health (especially for old folks like us ), good harvest from the garden to supply healthy food, and ordinary things like that. But when I say I question in my own mind if a prayer will be answered, I’m meaning something like healing for someone, either physical or spiritual, or some other need, like someone who needs a job.

James 1:5-8 (CJB)
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in trust, doubting nothing; for the doubter is like a wave in the sea being tossed and driven by the wind.
7 Indeed that person should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 because he is double-minded, unstable in all his ways.


After praying, meditating and contemplating, the conclusion of the matter of doubt is that doubt will decrease, for me anyway, as I see more “yes” answers to my prayers. And that will come about only as I learn my faults through objective self-examination, and then correct them. As my Norwegian grandparents used to say, “Uff da!” This isn’t going to be easy!

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (CJB) “Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvoth [commandments]; this is what being human is all about.

Or as the KJV says it: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

 

[nathan3]

James 4:2-3

King James Version (KJV)

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.


If you let the Earthly part of you take control and get what it wants, you won't get those things that you want. When you demand, bribe and try the ways that the flesh man seeks to get what he wants, there will always be resistance to receiving what you seek to have. Whether it be from a fellow Christian or from God Himself, you don't get your way by lording yourself over others, and by grumbling to get what is suppose to be given joyfully. It just doesn't work that way.

The killing of someone doesn't have to be done physically, but you can kill someone spiritually by the way you treat them and what you say to them. It doesn't take much to kill a person's spirit in the words you say and your attitude towards them. We are to build up our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and not tare them down. When we are focused on that fact that all blessings that we have come from God, it changes our entire view-point of how things are, and how we are to treat others.

James 4:3 "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

James is telling us that we do not receive what we ask for in our prayers, because we ask in the wrong way. There are conditions for the Lord to answer your prayers, and when you do not satisfy those condition, He is not interested in even listening to your prayers. When you ask to satisfy your pleasures of the flesh, it is out of the will of God. You just don't ask right.

First of all, you get right with the Lord by repenting of those things that have come between you and our Father. Then you ask for the wisdom and understanding that only comes from His Word. You ask God to give you the frame of mind to where you are a pleasure to be around. Then you will have all the friends that you need, and the right type of friends. Don't ask amiss for thing that you know are foolish and go against His Will, and cause you to be undisciplined.

Seeking lusts or self gratification, covers anything that places your satisfying of your flesh body and its animalistic nature over the things of God.

Be on your guard against those habits and moods that are of an undisciplined nature that can take you down.

Be protective of your mind and what you feed into it. Take the time to tell those next to you that you love them, and care for them, and then do what is necessary to show that love in your actions. The little things mean a lot in building a good binding relationship. Don't ever take for granted the most beautiful gift that God has given you, and that is your wife.

Link - james

 

[BeanieD]

Or maybe His answer is not yet. We also have to look at James 1:6-8 But when he asks, he must believe and not DOUBT, because he who soubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the lord. He is a double minded man unstable in all he does.

James 4: 3 You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend whagt you get on your own pleasures.

We need to ask that God's will be done, what ever that is, and accept what He provides for us and when.

Blessings all

 

[Richie_2uk]

God answers all prayers in his time. Perhaps those who thinks prayers goes unanswered, needs to look at oneself. How much you believe? how you pray? what you praying for? and most of all, how much faith you have in your prayers. Those aspects needs to be looked at. For an answered prayer, you must have the right attitude, right frame of mind, most of all, Faith.

I heard people say I do believe, BUT!, and there it is, doubt came in without you realise when they said but. When you pray, start by thanking God for his love, his miracles, his care. then ask for his presence, and then lay the prayer request at his feet. Thank him for listening and for an act of faith? Give him the glory, and praise him, and believe you got the request before you finish the prayer with an amen.


God loves to hear prayers that has faith and belief. IF people pray half heartedly, then possibly those prayers are not going to get answered. I'm not saying God does not hear the prayers, as he does, he hears all prayers.

Have faith in your prayers, have belief in your prayers, Have God in your prayers. That's the most important thing with praying. Many people just pray and ask, ask and do more asking. then they expect there prayers to get answered. God is not to be used in that way. God bless. I hope God answers your prayers through the faith you have in him.

 

[just-us-2]

God answers all prayers in his time. Perhaps those who thinks prayers goes unanswered, needs to look at oneself. How much you believe? how you pray? what you praying for? and most of all, how much faith you have in your prayers. Those aspects needs to be looked at. For an answered prayer, you must have the right attitude, right frame of mind, most of all, Faith.

I heard people say I do believe, BUT!, and there it is, doubt came in without you realise when they said but. When you pray, start by thanking God for his love, his miracles, his care. then ask for his presence, and then lay the prayer request at his feet. Thank him for listening and for an act of faith? Give him the glory, and praise him, and believe you got the request before you finish the prayer with an amen.


God loves to hear prayers that has faith and belief. IF people pray half heartedly, then possibly those prayers are not going to get answered. I'm not saying God does not hear the prayers, as he does, he hears all prayers.

Have faith in your prayers, have belief in your prayers, Have God in your prayers. That's the most important thing with praying. Many people just pray and ask, ask and do more asking. then they expect there prayers to get answered. God is not to be used in that way. God bless. I hope God answers your prayers through the faith you have in him.

Would you please supply scripture to back up your opinion?

 

[just-us-2]

You know, seeing myself without those rose-colored glasses has been quite humiliating. After thinking I was doing okay with first few problem areas…before old ‘objectivity’ stepped in… I will spare you the details of looking at ‘disobedience’ and ‘inhumanity’ in myself and go on to the last of the negative points on my list – pride. Although, I don’t know how I could have any left after finding the things in myself that I have in the last couple of days.
It seemed like I should be able to skip this one with the excuse, “I’ve been humbled enough for one week.” But God has other plans - this problem is too widespread amongst professing Christians to skip over. The whole lesson is summarized in this passage from Luke 18:11-14 (CJB)
11 The Parush [Pharisee] stood and prayed to himself, `O God! I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, immoral, or like this tax-collector!
12 I fast twice a week, I pay tithes on my entire income, . . . '
13 But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God! Have mercy on me, sinner that I am!'
14 I tell you, this man went down to his home right with God rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted."

Most of us are familiar with that scripture. The negative side of the example comes through loud and clear but what we are supposed to learn from it requires more of that diligent probing that uncovers so much truth.

 

[just-us-2]

Undoubtedly, God knows far better than we do and we can find several examples in the Bible where He waited a long time to answer prayers. We cannot argue with His timing. And along with that we see where the Bible tells us about the persistence of the woman in Luke 18:5. So, I am not saying that God never says, “not right now” or “wait” but that we too quickly dismiss unanswered prayers to God’s refusal or better timing than ours, rather than honestly look at ourselves first. There is a serious disease going around the Christian community these days – many have succumbed to the false teaching that we have little or no obligation, responsibility, or duty and God is going to shower us with undeserved blessings unceasingly. They claim Mark 11:24 as their birthright for being born again without a thought of what else God tells us about prayer…and there are plenty of things! (Purity of heart, believing, in Christ’s name, according to God’s will, forgiving spirit, to mention just a few) God’s timing is perfect and crucial.

Of the several things mentioned in the Bible that are required for prayer, ‘humility’ is only one of them…but I dare say, the most elusive.

We, as Christians, are aware that whatever knowledge we have, or wisdom, or anything else, comes from God. It is a gift to us, whom He loves so dearly. We realize this and we know all the right words to say giving God the glory for His gifts. The problem is our sincerity. Paul wrote in Romans 12:3 that we have a tendency to lack humility and said, “For I am telling every single one of you, through the grace that has been given to me, not to have exaggerated ideas about your own importance...”

I take that to mean amongst other people as well as before God in prayer. We all too often speak the right things to other people, saying we give God the glory for whatever blessing we might be discussing, while inwardly gloating at our own supposed knowledge, godliness, wisdom, talent, etc. It is pretty easy to pick it out in others, but ourselves – that’s another story. It happens a lot when we want to “share” some particular knowledge we have acquired concerning some topic or scripture or some song we can sing or play. We say we “just want to share this” with someone but we are actually wanting them to see how ‘sanctified’ we are because of all our knowledge or talent, and hear them say how much they admire us.

Sadly, we sometimes approach God in prayer with an attitude of something like, “I do so much for you” even though we say the right words…”in Jesus’ name” and “thank you for…” and various praise phrases. There is even an old song that says, “I oft complained to Jesus how folks were treating me” and “’I work so hard for Jesus’ I often boast and say.” This is human nature in action, by the way.

Here is a scripture to meditate on and I will get more of what I have learned as I’ve studied this posted as soon as possible because this is getting too long …again.

“I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical "Temple worship" for you.” Romans 12:1 (CJB)

 

[just-us-2]

Picking up where I left off, Romans 12:1 (CJB): “I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical "Temple worship" for you.”

So when we come before the Lord in prayer, while He is sitting on His mercy seat, are we presenting ourselves a sacrifice without blemish as commanded in the law? One might say, “If I had no blemishes, and Christ had no blemishes, there would be no reason to present myself as a living sacrifice.” That train of thought misses the entire point. The High Priest offers our sacrifice to God. The High Priest is already consecrated. “Without blemish” means without hypocrisy, in short. If we come before the Lord saying all the right words, and do that without a humble and contrite heart, God sees our blemish, and right away, He rejects our sacrifice. That’s Biblical according to…

Leviticus 22:24-25 (KJV)
24 Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.
25 Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.

Malachi 1:13 (KJV)
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.

And any excuse to not comply – not by killing an animal on an altar – spiritually, as Romans 12:1 says, would be a “lame” excuse. Pun intended.

A New Testament counterpart to these scriptures could be Luke 3:8 (CJB) “If you have really turned from your sins, produce fruit that will prove it! And don't start saying to yourselves, `Abraham is our father'!”
To paraphrase that to apply to 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century Christians would be something like, “If you are really born again, live your life to prove it, and don’t say that just because you are born again all of your prayers should be answered just as you ask.”

We know that the purpose of God answering our prayers is to glorify himself and then we read:
John 15:7-8 (CJB) "If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you.
8 This is how my Father is glorified -- in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim [disciples]… .

and see that God is glorified when we bear much fruit. Putting two and two together it becomes clear that WE have the greatest impact on whether God answers our prayers.

Then I ran into something else, apart from our spiritual condition but I got long-winded again so will put it in the next post.

 

[just-us-2]

Now, I am going to assume for a little while that I am free of all of the aforementioned faults, which seems like quite a stretch after what I have learned about how my human iniquity can flourish so easily and so unnoticed by me! That was embarrassing

Taking ‘self’ out of the way, our – I say “our” because I know others have this problem - other problem is the Adversary. I did wonder as a young Christian at times if he was interfering with my prayers, but looked at it as hindering the prayers themselves. His hindering starts even before I say my first, “Dear Lord” and doesn’t stop. And I remember being told to “not think about Satan at all because that gives him more power” which was not wise teaching. I would say that wiser teaching on that would be, “know your enemy!”

“Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary, stalks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 (CJB)

As I meditated on this thought, oodles of things came to mind. One scripture that popped right away was James 4:7 (CJB) “Therefore, submit to God. Moreover, take a stand against the Adversary, and he will flee from you.” And as my husband added, “That doesn’t mean he won’t come back again in a different way.” That point is illustrated for us in scripture (Luke 4:1-13) where Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and tried different approaches against Him, so why should we think that because our intentions are good that he would leave us alone? He knew scripture and tried to use it against Christ and he knows that our effectiveness, fruitfulness, and peace within are dependent upon the time we spend in prayer. Of course he wants to prevent Christians from praying.

Something interesting also is that when Paul wrote Ephesians, and taught about putting on the full armor of God, he ended the paragraph with verse 18, talking about prayer.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (CJB)
10 Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength!
11 Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary.
12 For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
13 So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing.
14 Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate,
15 and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom.
16 Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.
17 And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God;
18 as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God's people.

Stay tuned – more to come!

 

[phil36]

I don't think there is such a thing as unanswered prayer. Just because we may not get an answer straight away does not mean it is unanswered.. the fact that we don't get what we want doesn't mean unanswered either.

sometimes our prayers are answered and we don't even realise it, sometimes we ask selfishly and God denies it!

 

[just-us-2]

I don't think there is such a thing as unanswered prayer. Just because we may not get an answer straight away does not mean it is unanswered.. the fact that we don't get what we want doesn't mean unanswered either.

sometimes our prayers are answered and we don't even realise it, sometimes we ask selfishly and God denies it!

Isaih 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear .
1 Peter 3:7, “ You husbands, likewise, conduct your married lives with understanding. Although your wife may be weaker physically, you should respect her as a fellow-heir of the gift of Life. If you don't, your prayers will be blocked,”

Psalm 66:18 Had I cherished evilthoughts, Adonai would not have listened.

1 John 5:15 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us.

Proverbs 21:13 Whoever stops up his ears at the cry of the poor will himself cry, but not be answered.

Unheard in my estimation unheard=unanswered, not "no" because to say "no" would necessitate hearing the request.

 

[phil36]

Isaih 59:2 But your iniquities have separatedbetween you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear .
1 Peter 3:7, “ You husbands, likewise, conduct your married lives with understanding. Although your wife may be weaker physically, you should respect her as a fellow-heir of the gift of Life. If you don't, your prayers will be blocked,”

Psalm 66:18Had I cherished evilthoughts, Adonai would not have listened.

1 John 5:15 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us.

Proverbs 21:13 Whoever stops up his ears at the cry of the poor will himself cry, but not be answered.

Unheard in my estimation unheard=unanswered, not "no" because to say "no" would necessitate hearing the request.

I understand what you are saying... but for the Christian..you wouldn't actually be praying in Jesus' name. It would be in your own name until you repented.. in other words from your own selfishness.. so your prayer would still be answered..God won't grant it.

 

[just-us-2]

I understand what you are saying... but for the Christian..you wouldn't actually be praying in Jesus' name. It would be in your own name until you repented.. in other words from your own selfishness.. so your prayer would still be answered..God won't grant it.

As I said, "unheard" is "unanswered" because an answer has to have something to reply to. As for the rest of your comment, it is obvious you haven't read my earlier posts on this thread so I won't pursue a discussion I have already freely and liberally stated my opinion on. Someone else may have comments though.

 

[phil36]

Yeah I know what you are saying.

But I don't think Jesus is in the business of ignoring his children..

 

[just-us-2]

Yeah I know what you are saying.

But I don't think Jesus is in the business of ignoring his children..

His Word says what it says, but it constantly gets twisted by people who don't like what it says and want too make it more palatable.

 

[just-us-2]

Paul said in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know how to pray, and to that I can say, AMEN! I thank God from the bottom of my heart that I don’t have to be perfect or pray beautiful sounding prayers to be heard!
Romans 8:26-28 (CJB)
26 Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don't know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groanings too deep for words;
27 and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God's people accord with God's will.
28 Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose;

Have you ever had those times in your life when you tried to pray and your mind kept bopping all over the place to every other thing - except focusing on speaking meaningfully to our heavenly Father? Not that I really want to, but, I’ll admit to that. My only consolation is that even some of the greatest men of God have experienced the same thing through the centuries.

Human nature with its iniquity is hard enough to deal with, without the Adversary pushing us down the slippery slope called “scatterbrained.” I did read a small book several months ago that I downloaded to my kindle for free from Amazon.com that addressed this problem along with others that hinder our prayer life. It is called, “Confessions of a Prayer Slacker” and it is entertaining as well as helpful.

Another thing that happens a lot is that we feel like God is being silent – simply not listening or refusing to answer our prayers at all – when we have a big, important burden we are praying about. I did some research on this because I’m not exactly bubbling over with answers to this dilemma. One cause of silence from God is unconfessed sin as discussed way back at the beginning of this thread (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2)

Other reasons I found were that He is teaching us to trust Him (2 Corinthians 5:7; Psalm 138:8), to mature us, and that He wants us to persevere in prayer like Hannah, mother of Samuel did. Another reason was that a delay would bring God greater glory, such as in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. He delayed His arrival in Bethany until after Lazarus had died rather than going there immediately and healing him so he wouldn’t die. The purpose became clear after the fact – bringing a dead man back to life – now that’s headline material! Plenty of glory for the Father in that!

He also wants to get our attention since some of us tend to ignore God or allow “grocery list prayers” and/or unfocused, cursory, mostly inattentive dialog to pass for meaningful conversation with the One who loves us more than anyone else does. And that sort of leads into the last reason on my list which is that He wants us to learn to recognize His voice, which it is a little late for when a crisis crops up if we haven’t taken the time to really communicate with God all along.

 

[Least]

Paul said in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know how to pray, and to that I can say, AMEN! I thank God from the bottom of my heart that I don’t have to be perfect or pray beautiful sounding prayers to be heard!
Romans 8:26-28 (CJB)
26 Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don't know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groanings too deep for words;
27 and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God's people accord with God's will.
28 Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose;

Have you ever had those times in your life when you tried to pray and your mind kept bopping all over the place to every other thing - except focusing on speaking meaningfully to our heavenly Father? Not that I really want to, but, I’ll admit to that. My only consolation is that even some of the greatest men of God have experienced the same thing through the centuries.

Human nature with its iniquity is hard enough to deal with, without the Adversary pushing us down the slippery slope called “scatterbrained.” I did read a small book several months ago that I downloaded to my kindle for free from Amazon.com that addressed this problem along with others that hinder our prayer life. It is called, “Confessions of a Prayer Slacker” and it is entertaining as well as helpful.

Another thing that happens a lot is that we feel like God is being silent – simply not listening or refusing to answer our prayers at all – when we have a big, important burden we are praying about. I did some research on this because I’m not exactly bubbling over with answers to this dilemma. One cause of silence from God is unconfessed sin as discussed way back at the beginning of this thread (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2)

Other reasons I found were that He is teaching us to trust Him (2 Corinthians 5:7; Psalm 138:8), to mature us, and that He wants us to persevere in prayer like Hannah, mother of Samuel did. Another reason was that a delay would bring God greater glory, such as in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. He delayed His arrival in Bethany until after Lazarus had died rather than going there immediately and healing him so he wouldn’t die. The purpose became clear after the fact – bringing a dead man back to life – now that’s headline material! Plenty of glory for the Father in that!

He also wants to get our attention since some of us tend to ignore God or allow “grocery list prayers” and/or unfocused, cursory, mostly inattentive dialog to pass for meaningful conversation with the One who loves us more than anyone else does. And that sort of leads into the last reason on my list which is that He wants us to learn to recognize His voice, which it is a little late for when a crisis crops up if we haven’t taken the time to really communicate with God all along.

Hi Just-us-2,

I most definitely have those times where my attention isn't completely focused on prayer and my mind wonders to other things. I'll have to look for that book!

I agree that God wants our attention. I remember hearing that prayer is a "yearning," and when our hearts are set on something, our focus will be more set on what ever that is.

That made a lot of sense to me, and it also answered how we can, "pray without ceasing." Continuous prayer throughout the day (from the heart.)

The word "Yearn" is defined in Strong's concordance (Greek)

1971. epipotheo ep-ee-poth-eh'-o from 1909 and potheo (to yearn); to dote upon, i.e. intensely crave possession (lawfully or wrongfully):--(earnestly) desire (greatly), (greatly) long (after), lust.

our focus 4697. splagchnizomai splangkh-nid'-zom-ahee middle voice from 4698; to have the bowels yearn, i.e. (figuratively) feel sympathy, to pity:--have (be moved with) compassion.

(Another reason why we should examine our own hearts before we pray.)

and Hebrew:

3648 kamar kaw-mar' a primitive root; properly, to intertwine or contract, i.e. (by implication) to shrivel (as with heat); figuratively, to be deeply affected with passion (love or pity):--be black, be kindled, yearn.

There's that yearning in the example of Hannah when she prayed for a child, and also in Psalms, David's prayers are so heartfelt.

Vain repetitions or grocery list prayers would definitely not be heartfelt or "yearning" prayer

I remember praying one time with a grocery list type prayer, and it just hit me that I was always asking God for different things, and my heart seemed to be more focused on those things when my prayer should be stayed on God's will and obedience to HIM. It brought to mind the story Solomon when he became King, and God asked him what HE could do for him. Solomon prayed for wisdom and discernment between good and evil in judging the people. He didn't ask for wealth or a long life, and his prayer pleased the LORD. God gave him the things that he didn't ask, because Solomon's heart was in the right place.

That can even be shaky, because then, our hearts might still be focused on what we want rather than what is acceptable to God, and He knows if our prayers are sincere or not.

I'm enjoying this thread very much. There's a lot of great input here.

 

[Starcrash]

I don't think there is such a thing as unanswered prayer. Just because we may not get an answer straight away does not mean it is unanswered.. the fact that we don't get what we want doesn't mean unanswered either.

sometimes our prayers are answered and we don't even realise it, sometimes we ask selfishly and God denies it!

How would we even know? One of the key parts of "confirming evidence" is that it has a counterpart in "non-confirming evidence"... the only way to know that something is true is by looking at how it could be untrue and comparing those conditions. If God answers all prayers with "yes, no, or wait", then what would a non-answer look like? Doesn't that cover every natural outcome of a prayer, whether answered or not?

Prayers to "false gods" (such as prayers to Allah) are also justified by the alleged answers. How could you possibly know that prayers to Allah are not met with an answer if they can prove the power of their prayer using the exact same method that Christians do?