July 3, 2024

Matthew 20:20-22a

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.

²¹ And He said to her, “What do you wish?”

She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

²² But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask.

I have found through personal experience that the only reason for unanswered prayer is that the prayer request is unanswerable. And there are two reasons that a prayer cannot be answered.

The first reason that a prayer goes unanswered is that the prayer has already been answered. This is not the reason that we see the request go unanswered in the passage we are looking at. But it is a huge reason why so many people perceive that their prayer goes unanswered. Technically, this is not an unanswered prayer. Rather, it is a case where they have already received the answer, but because of ignorance of the truth, they are unaware that they already have what they are requesting.

This first reason was a big downfall for me personally. Because I didn’t understand the completed work of the cross, I would spend quite a bit of time asking for things that had already been secured for me, but that I didn’t realize that I already possessed and could just make use of them any time I wanted to.

From my standpoint, these prayers went unanswered. But how can God give us something when He has ALREADY given us the thing that we are asking for? It is no longer a matter of being given what we are asking for. Rather, it becomes an issue of knowing how to accept possession of the gift we have already received and becoming proficient at using that gift.

The Bible makes it clear that those who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior have already received the full measure of God’s love, grace, favor, faith, joy, and peace. He has given us 100% of these things because Jesus completely secured them for us at the cross. But in my past, I spent much time asking God for things like “more faith.”

Well how can God give us more of something when He has already given us ALL of something? The answer is, He can’t! He has already answered this prayer the very second we said, “Yes,” to Jesus. But the issue is that we don’t understand what we already possess. And if we don’t understand what we are already in possession of, we cannot begin to understand how to use it.

Praying for something that we already have is a common reason why Christians perceive that their prayers are unanswered. But this issue is strictly a knowledge problem and not a question of God’s will.

Christians are defeated by not knowing God’s will. But His will is clearly revealed toward us by simply reading and studying His Word. It is always His will to heal us and prosper us. But the reason that so many Christians do not see healing or prosperity is that they are unaware that God’s will is always,”Yes,” to these things and that they are already in possession of these things.

Now the second reason why a prayer is unanswerable is the reason we see in this passage. The woman who was making this request to Jesus was asking Him to do something that was unbiblical. And God will NEVER grant an unbiblical request because He will never violate His own Word.

God’s Word is an unassailable standard. The principles that He lays down cannot be violated without consequences. And there is absolutely no instance where He ever violated His own Word. Nor will there ever be such a time!!

Now Christians often pray prayers that are in violation of Scriptural principles and then wonder why God did not grant their request. The reason for this is that they are praying for something that is NOT a promise of God.

The woman who was making this request to Jesus was the mother of two of the apostles, James and John. In essence, she was asking Jesus to override their own personal desires and will and place into them a faith and relationship with Jesus that they didn’t make their own decision to acquire.

Faith doesn’t work like that! You can’t ask God to override someone’s free will so that they will serve Him. Faith must always be a freewill decision. It cannot and will never be forcefully imposed upon someone by God.

This woman didn’t know what she was asking. She was asking Jesus to place her two sons into a special relationship with Him. But they could only have this relationship by making their own choice to have this relationship. It could not be imposed or superimposed upon them.

And so the woman’s prayer went unanswered. It could not be granted because it was not something Jesus could do without violating God’s Word. Many Christians pray prayers that are based on their personal desires, but that contradict God’s principles. The prayers are not answerable because God values His Word more than He values our erroneous desires.

As an example, the other day I had a woman ask me to pray that God would take the fear and anxiety out of her. I told her that this was not a prayer that could be answered because fear and anxiety don’t come out by prayer. They only come out through knowledge of the truth.

And so instead of praying for her, I taught her what the Bible says about God’s perfect love, and how His perfect love casts out fear. The answer to her need was not prayer. It was in having a revelation of God’s love for her.

She received her answer from understanding truth. But if we had prayed for what she wanted to pray for, it would have been an unanswerable prayer and she would have gone away from that altar disappointed.

Understanding this bedrock principle of prayer will set people free from powerless praying. It really is a game changer to know that the ONLY reason for unanswered prayer is that the prayer is unanswerable.

It is NEVER an issue of God’s will.