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Why are our Prayers Not Answered?

What can we do about it?



PURPOSE

The central purpose of this document is to assist the sorrowful Faithful in making that apparently elusive “connection” with God so that the Good News may finally become manifested in their lives.


FUNDAMENTAL REASONS

The fundamental reasons for the apparent Divine deafness may be found in the Book of Isaiah, among others, as well as in the Gospels.

A. Book Of Isaiah

Isaiah 1:15-18 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely, Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.

Isaiah 45:22 Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.


B. The Gospels

Matthew 17:19-20 Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: Why could not we cast him out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. For, amen I say to you, if you have as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible to you.

Mark 11:23 Amen I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he saith shall be done; it shall be done unto him.



STEPS TO A SPIRITUAL OVERHAUL

Are we open to see/acknowledge our sins which are blocking the Grace of God?

Matthew 20:33 They say to him: Lord, that our eyes be opened.

Remember, “Denial” can become a mortal sin. (1)


Are we ready to repent and ask for God's forgiveness and mercy?

Luke 15:18-24 I will arise and will go to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And rising up, he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion and running to him fell upon his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him: Father: I have sinned against heaven and before thee I am not now worthy to be called thy son.

And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe and put it on him: and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat and make merry: Because this my son was dead and is come to life again, was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.


The Key is Faith

Matthew 17:19-20 Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: Why could not we cast him out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. For, amen I say to you, if you have as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible to you.


HOW TO PRAY THEN?

Jesus teaches us Lord's Prayer

Luke 11:1-4 And it came to pass that as he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And let us not fall into temptation. (2)

Matthew 26:41 Watch ye: and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.


Faith that the event will occur somehow

Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it done unto you.

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive: and they shall come unto you.


Pray for yourself and others

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:

Mark 14:38 Watch ye: and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Luke 22:39-40 And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

Luke 22:46 And he said to them: Why sleep you? Arise: pray: lest you enter into temptation.

Luke 12:58-59 And when thou goest with thy adversary to the prince, whilst thou art in the way, endeavour to be delivered from him: lest perhaps he draw thee to be judge, and the judge deliver thee to the exacter, and the exacter cast thee into prison. I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last mite. [Figure of Purgatory]


Pray that the Will of God Be Always Done

Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 26:42 Again the second time, He went and prayed, saying: My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, Thy will be done.


But, if you do not have (enough) Faith: Do not fear!

1.
Ask God to increase your faith (we cannot do it for ourselves)

Luke 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord: Increase our faith.

2. Ask the Father in the name of Jesus

John 16:24-28 Hitherto, you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will shew you plainly of the Father. In that day, you shall ask in my name: and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again I leave the world and I go to the Father.

3. Ask others to intercede: Most specially ask for the intercession of Mary – She is our Mother, not “the Church”. (3)

John 19:27 After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own

4. Persevere in Faith

Luke 11:5-13 And he said to them: Which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves, Because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me and I have not what to set before him. And he from within should answer and say: Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh receiveth: and he that seeketh findeth: and to him that knocketh it shall be opened: And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

Luke 18:1 And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray and not to faint,

Matthew 15:25-28 But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me. Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs. But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters.

Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.

Mark 2:5 And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Matthew 9:2 And behold they brought to him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Mark 2:5 And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.

John 4:47 He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, sent to him and prayed him to come down and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.


CONCLUSION

The real secret key to the Treasures of Heaven may be found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6: 33 Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

If in everything we do and/or desire, we seek that it is for the advancement of the Kingdom of God, thus, the Glory of God, everything else that we may need —even those needs about which we are not aware of— will be granted without a doubt.

Never forget to pray for the salvation and conversion of sinners and reparation of sins and always pray seeking that God:

(a) Increase your Faith;

(b) Increase the level your Abandonment to His Will; and

(c) Grant you the confidence that He will act upon your requests.

[Condition (a) by itself is not enough, conditions (b) and (c) must also come into play for your prayers to be answered.]

Then, you will be able to enjoy the Peace He left us...

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid.



NOTES              
(1) The gravity of Denial should not be overlooked
(2) Our Father... do not lead us into temptation
(3) The Church is the People of God, Not An Institution!



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Suffering? You Do Not Have To! Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me!

Divine Mercy - God's Greatest Attribute

Spiritual Dysfunction - Their Identification, Treatment and Cure

Why Do Some of God's Chosen Ones Must Suffer? - Redemptive Suffering - Mankind's Participation in Its Own Redemption

The "Our Father Contract"

How to pray more effectively



Published on September 23, 2005 - Feast of the Conception of John The Baptizer. European Union. • Edited for clarity on October 23, 2009

The Seal of St. Michael the Archangel © Copyright 2005 - 2024 by The M+G+R Foundation. All rights reserved. However, you may freely reproduce and distribute this document as long as: (1) Appropriate credit is given as to its source; (2) No changes are made in the text without prior written consent; and (3) No charge is made for it.


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