WHY DOES A GOOD AND CARING GOD NOT ANSWER ALL OF OUR PRAYERS IN THE WAY THAT WE WANT? WHY DOES HE NOT INTERFERE IN THR PHYSICAL WORLD ON OUR BEHALF?

If God answered all of our prayers exactly as we want them answered he would violate the major precepts involving “free will.” God’s initial reason for creating mankind was as a gift to Jesus, as a companion for God, created in his own image. The New Testament often refers to believers as the bride of Christ. 2 Cor 5:1-5 tell us that the very reason we were created was so that we could have a nature like that of the resurrected Jesus, a glorified body, so that we might be able to live in heaven with God forever. Man initially messed this up, but thanks to Jesus we get another chance. God designed a selection algorithm to determine who would deserve to get back into heaven one day as the bride and companion of Christ, This selection algorithm involved giving man free will to choose to either (1) love Christ to the extent that we would devote our lives on earth to him or (2) love the world and the things of the world to the exclusion of Christ. Possibly up to 10% or so of the people who have lived on earth have chosen Jesus and will get back into heaven in glorified bodies one day in the future. If God answered every prayer exactly as Christians want then we would find that Christians would always recover from illness, they would regularly receive miraculous miracles in the physical world, they would never be killed in accidents, they would live well past the age that everyone else lives to, etc. If this happened everyone in the world with a conscious mind would become a believer in Jesus. However they would become a believer for the wrong reason. The reason would involve selfish desires, which in itself is sinful. God would in essence violate man’s free will to either choose or reject him.

God is Spirit and his answers to our prayers are generally in spirit and to our spirit, our subconscious. It seems that God seldom interferes with the natural, physical world. There are still occasionally miraculous physical answers to prayer, so we should continue to pray for them. However, we cannot get discouraged when they are not answered just as we want because they are just not a part of the natural order in which we currently live. We live in this order because of the curse on the world caused by Satan and man’s fall into his sin trap.

God’s angels may help us and protect us, but their action is not apparent in our world and does not interfere with free will.

HOW WILL GOD ANSWER OUR PRAYERS “IN THAT DAY”

The phrase “in that day” generally applies to the period after the rapture of the church when believers are in their glorified bodies. Many of the things that Jesus is teaching in John chapters 12-17 apply to that timeframe. Jesus makes this very clear in John 16:23, 26. John 16:23-24 says, “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, My Father will give you anything you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Luke 16:23 says “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” John 16:26-27 continues this theme, “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” Let’s try to unwind this puzzle:

At the present time, if we ask the Father in Jesus name, he will intervene with the Father on our behalf. Jesus will discuss our prayers with the Father. He is our advocate. Our prayers may or may not be answered exactly as we ask. Answers will be given in accordance with the restrictions under which we currently live. These restrictions will be removed “in that day.” The restrictions largely involve free will as we discussed above.

At the present time, if we ask in Jesus name, if we acknowledge that he is God and ask him to intervene with the Father on our behalf, we will receive something extraordinary; joy and reward one day in heaven. Any prayer that we make to God that acknowledges Jesus as our God and Savior, which we do by asking in Jesus name, will receive an answer to at least one part of that prayer; we will be guaranteed eternal life in heaven.

In that day, Jesus will no longer need to intervene with the Father on our behalf because the Father knows we love Jesus. In that day we will all be together in the reunited heaven and earth, all with and within each other. The Father will meet all of our needs, and provide anything that we ask for in Jesus’ name without Jesus needing to intervene.

SUMMARY

So, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? The simple answer as we said above is that man is still paying the consequences for freely choosing sin over obedience to God. When God kicked man out of his presence and confined him to earth he allowed Satanic influence, sickness, poisons, potentially injurious plant and animal life, evil will, the destructive forces of nature, etc. to enter the earthly realm. Nobody on earth is immune to these things. God placed things in motion and now things happen because of all of the interactions between people and the environment. God seldom openly interferes with things in the physical world, except for the occasional miracle, but he does interfere heavily with things in the spiritual realm. Believers have a huge advantage over nonbelievers because they have access to the full armor of God.

Why does a good and caring God not answer all of our prayers in the way that we want? Why does he not interfere in the physical world on our behalf? If God answered all of our prayers exactly as we want them answered he would violate the major precepts involving “free will.” If God answered every prayer exactly as Christians want then we would find that Christians would always recover from illness, they would regularly receive miraculous miracles in the physical world, they would never be killed in accidents, they would live well past the age that everyone else lives to, etc. If this happened everyone in the world with a conscious mind would become a believer in Jesus. However they would become a believer for the wrong reason. The reason would involve selfish desires, which in itself is sinful. God would in essence violate man’s free will to either choose or reject him. There is a huge sorting process at work in the world. God’s goal is to determine those who freely love Jesus and commit themselves to him. They will be the eternal bride of Christ.

God is Spirit and his answers to our prayers are generally in spirit and to our spirit, our subconscious. It seems that God seldom interferes with the natural, physical world. There are still occasionally miraculous physical answers to prayer, so we should continue to pray for them. However, we cannot get discouraged when they are not answered just as we want because they are just not a part of the natural order in which we currently live. We live in this order because of the curse on the world caused by Satan and man’s fall into his sin trap.

CONCLUSION

So, just how does God answer our prayers without violating free will. Believers regularly have their prayers answered and it is obvious to them. However it is done in such a way that it is not obvious to the rest of the world. Even miraculous answers are not obvious to the world. Daniel 12:10 says, “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.” In similar fashion, Rev 22:11 says, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” It is only those who are holy who will get back into God’s garden one day. God has made people all over the world aware of the message of Jesus, in numerous ways. His desire is that they all accept Jesus. However, he is not willing to violate their free will to make it happen. He has given the world his Word, the Bible. It is available in some form to nearly everybody today. It is a truly miraculous book that proves to those who will take the time to seriously study it that he is the only God in the universe and that Jesus is God. John 1:10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

But, what a glorious blessing is awaiting those who do accept!! Jesus ends Revelation with these words, “Yes I am coming soon.” John’s response is, “Come Lord Jesus.”