Have you ever prayed heartfelt, desperate prayers, only to see them not be answered?
Were you disappointed?
How did you reconcile that in your mind?
Did you just assume it wasn’t God’s will, whatever it was you were asking?

My Facebook friend Lauren Duarte wrote a quick mini-teaching on this very topic.  She has given me permission to post it here:

If you want to ensure that your prayers over your family and friends are ANSWERED for healing, safety, etc… the very first thing you should do is make sure you yourself are doing what you need to be doing so that the Father can hear your prayers.

In my former walk as what I would consider a “mature Christian” (I no longer believe this to be the case looking back), I always wondered why He never answered my prayers when I asked for healing for others or for anything I ever petitioned Him for… it’s because I wasn’t being heard. And IF He DID hear me, I wasn’t living in such a manner that He would have desired to answer me, because I did everything in opposition to His will.

Check out these verses from scripture and see if your walk lines up with them. If they don’t, you know pretty definitively why He doesn’t answer your prayers:

Proverbs 28:9
“He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.” 

Psalm 66:18
“If I had cherished sin [disobedience to the law] in my heart, the Lord would not have listened…”

Proverbs 1:28-29
“Then they will call on me and I shall not answer them, and they will come early to my presence and they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and they did not choose the worship of the LORD.”

John 9:31
“We know that God does not listen to sinners [those who disobey the law]. He listens to the godly person who does his will” [obeys his law].

Let’s define sin for that verse above (using scripture, of course):
“Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law. ” 1 John 3:4

John 14:21
“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” 

1 John 5:3
“In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,” 

Now, what happens if we DO obey his commands?

James 5:16
“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. ” 

Proverbs 15:29
“The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” 

And once He can hear us, He tells us that He WILL answer us:

John 14:13-14
“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” 

John 15:7
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” 

Matthew 18:19
“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” 

1 John 5:14
“And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 

And now that I do these things, I SEE the results. I SEE people being healed. I SEE my requests being answered. I SEE the fruit of my walk being laid down right in front of my eyes.
And it is SUCH A BLESSING.