Doubting God: When Your Prayers Go Unanswered
Selected Scripture
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
This series, Doubting God, looks at the many questions that we all have about God and His ways. This week we looked at the difference between being “spiritual” and having a living relationship with Jesus because we are born again and growing….
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflection:
Personal Experience:
Compare the difference between how you prayed as a child and how you pray now. That is the same, what is different? How have you grown in your prayer life over the years? How has your response to unanswered prayer (when God says “No” or “Wait”) changed over time?
Group Discussion:
The purpose of Prayer
Some say that if we name what we want God to do and claim it (by believing strongly enough that He will do it), our prayers will be answered with a “Yes”. If God says “No” its because we lacked sufficient faith… so we must try harder to convince ourselves. How would you respond to someone who prays this way?
Scott said that the purpose of prayer is not to get God to do our will but to know Him so our will is aligned with His. Read the following passages and discuss how God’s will and our will are at work. (Matt 6:9-15, Luke 18:1-8, Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 37:3-7)
Sometimes God says “No”…
Let’s start with this: If God said No, do we need to know why? Talk about that.
In Luke 18:1-8, we read about persistent prayer. Read Matt 7:7-8, 1 Thes 5:16-18, Romans 12:12, Col 4:2. What in these verses help us with the choice to persist in prayer?
There is a difference between struggling with sin and baptizing it into our persona— “I’m just an angry person”, “I love my wife, but I’m having an affair and I don’t have a conscience about it”… Under those conditions where we are consciously and stubbornly saying “NO” to God’s will in our lives, why and how does this affect our prayers? (Is 59:1-2, Ps 66:16-20, Prov 28:9, Micah 3:4)
Living things heal, and relationships between people who are born of the Spirit (John 3:16-18, Romans 8:1-4) can heal… or they can remain broken, bitter and toxic. Why and how do broken relationships affect our prayer life and God’s responses to those prayers? (Prov 21:13, 1 Peter 3:7, Matt 5:23-24, James 5:16).
Do we still desire a relationship with a God Who has a will of His Own concerning our lives? Read the following and discuss (James 4:3, 2 Cor 12:7-9, Matt 26:39). Is this the God you are ready to surrender to; if so, why?
Application:
At the heart of the Gospel is a “No” to an absolutely just and righteous prayer (Matt 26:39). Are there areas of our lives that need to be thus surrendered to God (desires, broken relationships, a seared conscience, willful sin, unforgiveness…)?
Prayer:
Spend some time praying together thanking God for His amazing grace in our lives and surrendering our will and our drives to Him for His purposes and His glory.
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