CHAPTER 2

When Does God Answer Prayer?

“God always answers our prayer. Either He changes the circumstances, or He supplies sufficient power to overcome them.” --Anonymous

This brings us to the second lesson of solving the mystery of unanswered prayer: Prayers are always answered immediately. The results of those answers may take time, but the answer is immediate.

This lesson may seem radical but as we look at the nature of God and His Word we will discover that this truth will build our confidence for answers to prayer. Without believing this truth, we will forever wonder if God is going to answer our prayers.

Let’s look at the classic faith story of Jesus and the fig tree. Mark 11: 12-14 says, “Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, (Jesus) was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.’ “And His disciples heard it.”

The important thing to notice here is that when Jesus spoke to the tree, his disciples heard it. We can only infer that it was some time in the morning since Mark starts this story with, “Now the next day...” We then pick up the rest of the story the following day in verse 20-22, “Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.’ So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God, for assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.” In other words, the moment you believe is the moment you receive.

Jesus was not only teaching the disciples about faith but also about the nature of prayer. Peter had been amazed that Jesus’ prayer had been answered so quickly, but the question before us is, when was His prayer answered? It was answered the moment Jesus prayed and spoke those words to the tree. When He had spoke those words He had complete confidence in His Father that His prayer had been answered. It was a done deal for Jesus. The dried up tree was not the answer. It was the result of the answered prayed. And that is often our mistake. Unless we see the results we don’t think our prayers have been answered.

This is why Jesus said to His disciples in verse 24, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” We’re to believe that God has answered our prayer the moment we pray, and that is the assurance that we will see the results. If we wait to believe until we see the answer, we will never see it. Jesus’ prayer was answered the day before the actual results were seen. When we don’t believe that God has answered our prayer until we see the results, our prayers will be delayed.

Waiting does not imply that our prayer has not been answered. It took time for death to work its way up the root system to produce the physical results of the prayer. Prayers often seem delayed only because of our lack of understanding of God’s ways. Jesus wanted the disciples to learn to trust God in the process, which is why Jesus said, “…and does not doubt in his heart.” We doubted while waiting for the results of our prayers for a house, which was why Jesus had to get us back into faith. Jesus did not doubt in the waiting.

Jesus said the same thing to the crowd when He raised Lazarus from the dead. In John chapter 11:42 we read, “And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that the may believe that You sent Me.’ Jesus was referring to His prayer four days earlier when He said to His disciples in verse 4, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ It was in that moment that Jesus knew His prayer was answered, four days before He saw the result when Lazarus walked out of the grave.

To say that God answers our prayers when we see the results is to misrepresent Him. His answers are immediate. Do we actually believe that God is thinking about our prayer request? Is He having a brainstorming session with the saints and angels? Is He considering His options? Of course not! God is omniscient, all knowing! Our prayers do not take Him by surprise; there is nothing that we will ever pray for that He has not already made provision for. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him amen, to the glory of God through us.” With resounding faith Paul assures us that whatever promise we are claiming, God has already said yes. And Paul also tells us that all of God’s promises come to pass through us, through people. Again, God is working out His will through His Body, not independent of us. That is why He calls us to pray.

Listen to this principle again through the Message Bible in 2 Cor.1:20-22, “Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus.( a done deal) In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge --- a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.” And how is He going to complete His destiny in us? We pray prayers according to His will, which have already been stamped with a Yes!

In reality, God answers our prayers before we even pray them, before we were even born, before the universe was even created. The writer of Hebrews gives us a glimpse into God’s eternal nature when he writes in Hebrews 4:3, “For we who have believed do enter that rest, (What rest, the rest of knowing that God has already made provision for whatever we need)...although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” This is the nature of God: this is the nature of prayer. This is the joy of trusting Him with our requests. Everything was already decided before anything began, and everything was accomplished at the Cross. It is a done deal. We can rest in the truth that God answers immediately. We’ll see this more clearly in the next chapter.

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