Unanswered Prayer: 5 Obstacles to Overcome

Introduction

You pray, and nothing happens. You kneel, you lift your hands, you keep asking, and yet heaven stays silent. Why? Has God forgotten you? Does he prefer other people? Is your prayer not fervent enough?

In a message titled Why Doesn't God Answer Your Prayers?, Stéphane Burgos looks at Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:36-39) to identify five principles that God honors in prayer. Elijah's prayer was answered immediately, and powerfully. Fire fell from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water in the trench. Why? Because that prayer met five conditions God looks for.

God doesn't answer because you cry or because you suffer. He doesn't answer because you recite beautiful sentences or spend long hours on your knees. God answers according to his principles. If your life and your prayer life meet these principles, God will answer you, just as he answered Elijah, because he shows no partiality.

Message outline

1. A prayer built on the covenant

Elijah begins his prayer by saying: "Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel." He recalls the covenant made with his fathers. He doesn't come before God as Elijah the prophet, but as an heir of the covenant.

You too need to base your prayer on that covenant, not on your own righteousness. Because if you build it on your own merit, you will never be answered. None of us is worthy before God. The prophet Isaiah says it plainly: "All our righteousness is like a polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6).

And you have an even better covenant than Elijah did. Elijah had the covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You have the blood of Jesus. When you pray, start by presenting the blood of Jesus. Present the Son to the Father. Present the cross, the sacrifice, the empty tomb, the resurrection. Don't come before God as a stranger. You are a child of God, an heir to the blood of Jesus.

That's why you pray in the name of Jesus. Not because it's a magic formula, but because Jesus himself said: "If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it" (John 14:14). When Peter healed the lame man at the temple, he said: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" (Acts 3:6). That's a prayer that presents Jesus, one that reveals faith in his power.

2. A humble prayer

In his prayer, Elijah steps back behind the covenant. He doesn't point to his past miracles: the multiplied flour and oil, the child raised from the dead. He comes before God as a servant, as a child, not as a proud man.

Why does this humility matter so much? Because God doesn't answer you on the basis of your merit. God answers Jesus, who lives in you. If Jesus lives in you, your prayers are answered. But if your heart swells with pride before God, if you pray with arrogance, how could you expect to be answered?

The Word says it clearly: "A man's pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor" (Proverbs 29:23). Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:10-14). The Pharisee stood and prayed, listing his fasts and his tithes, comparing himself to others. The tax collector stood at a distance, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" It was the tax collector who went home justified.

Someone can offer a beautiful prayer in perfect language, and God will not answer it. Another may struggle to put words together, yet God will answer, because his heart is humble. Elijah's strength was neither in his intelligence nor in his social standing. It was in the sincerity and humility of his heart.

3. A prayer that knows God

Elijah knew the God he was calling on. He wasn't praying at random. By invoking "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel," he knew exactly who he was speaking to. Read his story starting in 1 Kings 17: he shared his daily life with God, and he had experienced God's power in dozens of difficult situations.

To be answered, you must know God. God knows you, yes. But do you truly know him? Many seek God's hand, his blessing, his power, but they don't know his face. Now, God is powerful, that's true, but he is also holy. And because he is holy, he answers the one who lives a life of sanctification.

Many pray with unbelief. They pray for a blind person without really believing God can restore their sight. They pray for a paralyzed person without really believing they can walk. They pray for someone dead without really believing they can rise again. And because they pray with those thoughts lurking in the background, they limit God, they pray to a limited God.

So ask yourself: do you know God? Do you have intimacy with him? Is he your friend, your confidant? Or is he like a spare tire in the garage that you only reach for when you've had a flat? The psalm says it: "Delight yourself also in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). Before you ask, spend time with him. Pray to thank him, to worship him.

4. A prayer with pure motives

Elijah's motive was pure: "that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again" (1 Kings 18:37). He wanted God to be glorified, and the people to repent and worship him.

What about your own motives? "Lord, give me a car, a house, that position in that company, so everyone can see how great and important I am. Lord, equip me with this gift of healing, of miracles, so I can do great things." When you pray with your mouth, God reads your heart. Even if what you say is technically true, God knows the truth that's in your heart.

Many prayers go unanswered because, deep in the secret of the heart, they are prayers of covetousness, envy, competition, personal ambition. James is unequivocal: "You ask, and don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures" (James 4:3).

Prayer isn't about satisfying your own desires; it's about seeking to satisfy God's desires for your life. Look for the needs that align with what God wants for you, and he will meet them if they match his will.

5. A prayer aimed at repentance

Elijah prayed with repentance as the goal: "that this people may know... and that you have turned their heart back again" (1 Kings 18:37). Many go unanswered because they seek outward blessings (material, physical, financial), when they should first seek inward, spiritual blessings, ones that bear fruit and return glory to God.

You can ask God for a car, but first, think it through: how will that car change something that will honor God, that will glorify him? If it only serves your own interest, why would God answer you?

In Elijah's story, God sends physical fire. But the real miracle wasn't physical. The real miracle is that an entire people who had turned away from God fell on their faces crying out, "Yahweh, he is God!" The fire wasn't the point of the prayer. The fire was the means by which God brought hearts back to himself.

So when you pray for someone who is sick, pray also for the repentance their healing will bring about. When you pray for deliverance, pray for the souls who will meet Jesus because of it. Too often, you're drawn to the spectacular, the visible. But the true miracle is hearts turning back to God.

Key takeaways

• God has no favorites. He shows no partiality. If your life and your prayer meet his principles, he will answer you as he answered Elijah.
• The covenant before merit. Never build your prayer on your own righteousness. Build it on the blood of Jesus, the only covenant that gives you access to the Father.
• Humility opens heaven. God doesn't answer your merit; he answers Jesus, who lives in you. A heart that humbles itself gains honor.
• Know God before you expect anything from him. Don't turn God into your spare tire. Spend time with him, worship him, thank him, before you ask him for anything.
• Check your motives. God reads your heart. A prayer with a selfish aim, born of covetousness or personal ambition, will not rise.
• Pray for repentance, not only for the miracle. The true goal of prayer is never the visible fire; it's the heart returning to God.

Personal application

1. When you pray today, what are you leaning on without even realizing it: your own merit ("I fasted, I gave, I've been faithful") or the blood of Jesus?
2. Look back at a recent unanswered prayer: was the deeper motive God's glory, or your comfort, your reputation, your desire?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much is God your friend, your confidant? What concrete step can you take this week to spend time with him without asking for anything?
4. The next time you pray for a material need (a job, money, a car, a house), first write one sentence: "If God grants me this, here is how it will glorify him."
5. Who are you regularly praying for regarding healing, deliverance, or change? Now add to that prayer the repentance you hope will come out of that miracle.

Scriptures cited

• 1 Kings 18:36-39 · Elijah's prayer on Mount Carmel
• Isaiah 64:6 · "All our righteousness is like a polluted garment"
• John 14:14 · "If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it"
• Acts 3:6 · "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!"
• Proverbs 29:23 · The lowly of spirit gains honor
• Luke 18:10-14 · The Pharisee and the tax collector
• Psalm 37:4 · "Delight yourself also in Yahweh"
• James 4:3 · "You ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures"

FAQ

Does God have favorites he answers more than others?

No. The Word says clearly that God shows no partiality. If your prayer isn't being answered, it's not because God loves you less than someone else. It's that your life or your prayer doesn't yet meet his principles. Fix what needs fixing, and you will get the same results as any other child of God.

Do you have to cry, weep, or spend hours on your knees to be answered?

No. God doesn't answer because you cry or because you suffer. He doesn't answer based on the length or the dramatic form of your prayers. He loves simplicity, spontaneity, and the humility of a sincere heart. A short sentence from the tax collector was enough; the Pharisee's long list produced nothing.

Why do some seemingly right prayers go unanswered?

Because God looks at the heart. A prayer can look right on the surface while hiding an impure motive: covetousness, envy, personal ambition, a desire to be seen. James 4:3 says it: "You ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures." Check your motives before you check your wording.