All Of Us Want Our Prayers to Work. We All Struggle With Unanswered Prayers.

Prayer is an altar for surrender. We all struggle with unanswered prayer. Read 1 Kings 18. All of us want our prayers to work. As Elijah waited for God to send down fire to burn up the sacrifice during his challenge to the prophets of Baal, so we wait for evidence of God’s power to come down upon our lives. We all struggle with unanswered prayer. Elijah must have wondered why King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, still ruled Jezreel when all those prayers were being prayed by the godly few remaining in Israel. And yet, he knew that his country’s altars were in ruins and his people needed to repent.  One reason our prayers aren’t answered is our altars lie in ruins. We’ve neglected our relationship with God and we need to repent of sin in our lives. But once we’re putting repentance to work in our spiritual disciplines, we can find ourselves even more confused if our prayers still don’t produce results.

Although we cannot always know why we don’t see results, in some cases it could be that we have not truly surrendered to God. Repentance is not complete if we do not surrender to God. And yet we cannot surrender if we have not first repaired our ruined relationship with Him. Sometimes we fervently pray, “Take my life Lord.” But the Bible says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18, NKJV). Surrender is an attitude. Our very lives are borrowed. So if we are living on borrowed time, exercising borrowed gifts, what we should be asking in our prayers is when God would like for us to do what! We should be praying, “What would You like that is Yours today, Lord?”

All we have to do is what the Lord says, even if we think we have a better idea! When we give God the things He has indicated that He wants from us, there is a certain peace that indicates that our sacrifice is acceptable to God. Talk to God about the things you have put on the altar lately. Are these the sacrifices He has asked you for?

Have we asked the Lord, “What will You have me to do or to give? Where do You want me to go? China? Bosnia? Uganda? Haiti? Syria? Across the road?” Maybe we dare not ask this for fear that God will want something very close to our hearts. If we dare to get serious about living a life of surrender, it may well mean that our favorite things get placed on the altar. But if they do, there will be such peace in our hearts that we will kick ourselves for not surrendering sooner!