BIBLE STUDY COURSE

Lesson - 12 – Expecting God to Answer

Have you ever been to the doctor and been told that there may be something serious wrong with you? That is a very disturbing feeling as you listen to the doctor order one test after another. You go to the hospital and complete all of the tests, but then you wait…and wait…and wait for the results. After several days of hearing nothing you begin to wonder if they forgot about you, or if the test results were lost. All of the time your mind is thinking the worst is about to happen. Finally, the doctor’s office calls to schedule an appointment with the doctor to go over the test results with you. Now your mind is really churning out the negative thoughts. Why didn’t they just give you the results over the phone? What is so critical that you need to have the doctor explain it to you? Are you going to need surgery? Are you going to die? 

As you sit in the room waiting for the doctor to arrive your blood pressure rises in anticipation of what terrible thing that he is going to tell you which will change your life forever. You are expecting an answer from him, but in a way, you really don’t want to know. When he finally arrives, he tells you that it is a very minor thing and that a prescription will fix it. What a relief!! It was good news! 

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: (15) And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 

Just as you expected an answer from the doctor, you should also expect an answer to your prayer requests from God. There are two reasons why you do not receive an answer from God. First, you really don’t think He will answer you, and second, you are not asking “in His will.” The word “confidence” in the verse above means “assurance.” People often think that God is “too busy” with other things to be personally interested in their prayers, and that He wouldn’t take the time to hear their small problems. After all, He is running the entire universe. The doctor is also a very busy man, but you have no reason not to expect him to come into the room where you are, sit with you, and carefully explain his diagnosis and cure. Why wouldn’t you fully expect God to show you even more concern than the doctor since God loves you unconditionally? 

Asking “in God’s will” is where most of us go wrong. We can be a very self-centered as well as selfish people. We want things to happen, and we want them to happen “right now!” God has a plan for you that involves some things that are common to all people, and He has a plan that involves things that are specific to you. He knows you better than you know yourself since He created you, so who better than Him to have the best plan for you? Too often our prayer requests to God involve “our plan” and not His. When I was a very young child my dad told me that I discovered that I could play with the knobs on the stove. I probably thought it was a very good plan, but my dad certainly had a better plan, and he quickly enforced his plan over mine. 

God will never force Himself or His plan upon you against your will, but He will do everything He can to show you that His plan is ultimately the best for you. So, if you are supposed to ask God “in His will,” how do you know what His will actually is? God has written His will down in a book, which is the Bible, so there is absolutely no doubt as to what He wants from you and me. The problem is that we think we know what the plan for our life is, and we don’t seek God’s plan. 

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

Too often we try to persuade God that our way is the best. In doing so, you are asking “amiss,” which has the meaning of missing the target. Right now, you are going through a very difficult time, and I think it would be safe to assume that the greatest majority of people have prayed that God would get them out of it. While there is nothing wrong with that, it may not be what God’s best is for you. He has allowed you to come into the situation for a reason, which is His plan. Did God create the circumstances which brought you here? Absolutely not. Choices that are made are usually the reason, but God can and will use those choices and circumstances to try to get your attention. God has provided many resources for you to be able to learn what His plan is for you, and how He wants to answer your prayer. He does not want you to leave this time the same as when you came into it. He wants you to establish a close relationship with Him in your life now, so when you are finished with this time of trouble, your life will honor Him. 

Looking back at our illustration of you and the doctor, what if he determined that you needed surgery? Arrangements are made at the hospital, and when you arrive you are expecting the surgeon to be there also to correct the problem. But several hours after you arrive you are told that the surgeon didn’t show up that day, and that you were to go home. Has anything changed with what brought you into the hospital? No. You are going home exactly the same way you came in, and possibly even worse. What good did it do? None! It was a waste of time, and you must come back again. But if the surgeon did arrive, and he did perform the needed surgery, when you were released, you would be “fixed,” and there would be no need to come back. You would be able to function as God designed you to function in life. 

As you pray expect that God does hear you, because He does, and instead of asking Him for what you want, ask Him to show you His will for you. He isn’t going to suddenly write it on the wall, but He will make sure that you have what you need to know more of His plan for you. God has allowed you to come to this particular place in your life because He has made a way for you to learn how to establish a relationship with Him that will change your life forever. 

You can keep praying to God the same way, asking Him for the things you want, or you can ask Him to show you the things He wants. It is said that you can give a hungry person a fish, and he will be satisfied for a time, or you can teach him to fish, and he will never be hungry again. Seek God’s will for your life, and apply what He shows you, and you will be amazed at what will happen. Learn to gather your own nourishment from God's Word, and watch what He will do in your life. 

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.  

Too often we expect God to answer our prayer the way we think it should be answered. We have it all planned out in our minds how God will rescue us from the situation we are in. When that doesn’t happen, we get discouraged and give up. That’s when Satan comes with thoughts that God doesn’t love you, and that he doesn’t care for you because of all of the times when you have offended him. If Satan can get your focus off of God, and off of the time of prayer you have with God, then he has won a victory. Stay focused on your communication with God. 

Why doesn’t God answer my prayer in the way that I think He should? It all makes perfectly good sense to me, but it seems like God has a different idea. Why is that?

Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. (9)  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  

God’s thoughts, and God’s ways are not our thoughts and our ways. They are much greater because God knows the entire story. God knows what His plan is for you in the future. We only see the present and the past, but God sees it all as one plan. Earlier in this lesson I mentioned that I liked to turn the knobs on the stove when I was a little child, and that my dad had a different plan for me? I saw it as fun, but dad saw it as danger. When he was a child, a neighbor kid also played with the stove and pulled a pan of boiling water down upon himself, scarring himself badly for the rest of his life. My dad’s plan was to keep me from that possibility. 

When you go to God with something that you think you need or desire, God hears your prayer, but He sees if your request fits into His plan for you down the road. If it will keep you from enjoying the blessings He has for you, His answer will be “no.” It isn’t because of any type of punishment upon you, but it is so His plan can be fulfilled to the maximum in your life. Things that don’t fit are not given. 

I now have a large number of years that I can look back on in my life, and I can see where God has directed me to be able to be in the position I am in today as a Chaplain to jail and prison inmates. The road took some very interesting turns, and at the time I certainly didn’t understand what God was doing. My schooling was as a machinist working in a machine shop making things. I have never worked one day in a machine shop other than a brief time in the Navy. My wife and I have started and ran several businesses that had nothing to do with being a Chaplain, but that experience taught me how to organize things, how to be a leader, and how to deal with employees as well as customers; people skills. Everything that God has allowed me to do has all had a direct impact on me serving Him as a Chaplain. Had I planned it myself, and had God answered my prayer in the way I thought He should have, I would not be even close to what God’s plan is for me today. 

Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: 

So, if God has a plan for my life, why am I going through all of this? Everything that you experience in life can be used by God in His plan for you if you will allow Him to use it. When you go through difficult times, and you have no idea why, ask God to show you what it is He is doing, and give you the peace to trust Him with all things. Thomas Edison said that he never had a failure, he just knows a hundred ways that it doesn’t work. That is the attitude you need to have in the situation you are in today, or will be in tomorrow. There are no failures in life; only lessons to be learned how not to do something. As you learn those lessons, and apply them to your life, you will begin to see more of God’s plan unfolding in your life. 

God uses everything in your life, including the choices you make, to draw you closer to Him. As you begin to realize that certain choices you make move you farther away from God and His plan, you will begin to make different choices. Let God guide you in all things. You will have trials and troubles in this lifetime, but those are the times that God builds your faith in Him. Don’t allow those opportunities pass you by without learning what it is that God wants you to learn. He is preparing you for the future, and He is the only One who knows what that is. 

So, pray expecting an answer, but expect the answer to be God’s answer, not yours. 

Lesson - 12 – Expecting God to Answer

1. 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to H___ W___, he heareth us: (15) And if we know that he H______ us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we H_______ the petitions that we desired of him.

2. God has a plan for you that involves some things that are C________ to all people, and He has a plan that involves things that are S___________ to you.

3. Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is P__________: the word of the LORD is tried:

4. When God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we T_______ He should, we get D_________________ and give up.

5. God has W_________ His will down in a book, which is the Bible, so there is absolutely no doubt as to what He W________ from you and me.

6. People often think that God is “T___ B____” with other things to be personally interested in their prayers, and that He wouldn’t take the time to hear their S______ P___________.

7. James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask A______, that ye may consume it upon your L_______. 

8. As you pray expect that God does H______ you, because He does, and instead of asking Him for what Y____ want, ask Him to show you H____ W______ for you.

9. If Satan can get your F________ off of God, and off of the time of P_______ you have with God, then he has won a V_________.

10. You should E_________ an answer to your prayer requests from God.

11. Isaiah 55:8-9 For my T_________ are not your thoughts, neither are your W____ my ways, saith the LORD. (9)  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways H_________ than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

12. God will never F______ Himself or His plan upon you against your W_____, but He will do everything He can to show you that His plan is ultimately the B_____ for you.

13. When you go to God with something that you think you need or desire, God H______ your prayer, but He sees if your request F____ into His plan for you down the road.

14. Too often our prayer requests to God involve “O___ P_____” and not H___.

15. C________ that are made are usually the reason for the situation you may be in, but God can and will use those choices and circumstances to try to get your A_____________.

16. Learn to gather your own nourishment from G_____ W_____, and watch what He will do in your life.

17. God’s thoughts and ways are much G________ than ours because God knows the E_______ story.

18. God doesn’t say no because of any type of P___________ upon you, but it is so His plan can be fulfilled to the M__________ in your life.

19. Pray expecting an A_________, but expect the answer to be G______ answer, not yours.

20. Asking “in G_______ W_______” is where most of us go wrong.