Prayer and God's Obligation

There seems to be a trend today, especially with the ever-popular prosperity gospel, that says that if I ask God for something, then He will have to give it to me. John 15 (verse 7 and 15) has two instances where Jesus states that if we ask for something in His name, then it will be given to us. Now, most folks tend to gloss over the preceding phrases in both instances: if you abide in me and my words abide in you. How many of us can honestly say that we do that before coming to the Father? Do you study (not just read) the Bible, hiding its words in your heart? I can honestly say that I don't do it well at all.

Why is this phrase important? Well, in studying the Word of God, we understand what God would will for our lives, and consequently, we can understand the love God has for us. This love includes how He answers prayer--saying sometimes yes and sometimes no. Yesterday, my pastor preached on John 9, where Jesus heals the man who was born blind. Was it a result of the man or the parents' sin? No, it was so that God's work would be shown through the man.

If we do not know the Scriptures and see how God has worked, then we can get the idea that all things we ask for are proper and right, and if a person is sick, dying or otherwise suffering, that they should be healed. This is not the case--it may please God to ordain that it continue for a time.

To be clear, God is not obligated to answer the way you want because He may have some situation in place to make your heart tender towards Him, relying on Him. James 1:2 states: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. If suffering is ordained by God to refine us in the progress of our sanctification, then we should rejoice that the God that justifies does not leave us in one place, but helps us to persevere to the end.