PRAYERS NOT ANSWERED 8: APOSTLE PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Prayers Not Answered
Matthew 7:11
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
a) This verse tells us that God is ready to answer our prayers and supply our needs. So why are all our prayers not answered? Why does it seem that God sometimes does not hear us? What is going on when it seems like our prayers are not getting any higher than the ceiling?
1. Prayers Not AnsweredMatthew 7:11
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
a) This verse tells us that God is ready to answer our prayers and supply our needs. So why are all our prayers not answered? Why does it seem that God sometimes does not hear us? What is going on when it seems like our prayers are not getting any higher than the ceiling?
2. Apostle Paul's Thorn In The Flesh
a) Even the biblical saints were not immune from the occasional unanswered prayer. The apostle Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 12, that he had some sort of problem that was given him to keep him from becoming conceited.
b) Apparently, this ‘thorn in the flesh’ was something that Paul greatly wished to be rid of. He writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
c) "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). Paul’s attitude is the attitude we should strive to exhibit. An attitude that says that, even if it seems that God is not answering our prayers, we can be content knowing that He will not let us down.
d) Whether our prayers are answered to our satisfaction or not, we can always rest in the fact that God is in control.
e) Christians must keep in mind this promise from God, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). We must trust God to know what is best for us and the situations for which we pray. We can take comfort in knowing that He loves us enough to have sent His Son to die on a cross for our sins.
The End ...
a) Even the biblical saints were not immune from the occasional unanswered prayer. The apostle Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 12, that he had some sort of problem that was given him to keep him from becoming conceited.
b) Apparently, this ‘thorn in the flesh’ was something that Paul greatly wished to be rid of. He writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
c) "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). Paul’s attitude is the attitude we should strive to exhibit. An attitude that says that, even if it seems that God is not answering our prayers, we can be content knowing that He will not let us down.
d) Whether our prayers are answered to our satisfaction or not, we can always rest in the fact that God is in control.
e) Christians must keep in mind this promise from God, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). We must trust God to know what is best for us and the situations for which we pray. We can take comfort in knowing that He loves us enough to have sent His Son to die on a cross for our sins.
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