hi. i'm struggling because God isn't answering my prayers.

This idea came up in my daily devotional, Jesus Calling. July 2nd reads: “Pray about everything; then leave the outcomes up to Me.” So then I began to ask myself questions,

“Are you putting full trust in God?”

“Are you giving situations completely to God?”

“Why not?”

A verse that I feel closely relates to this topic is John 15:7, “but if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” So you may be thinking, “well yeah Paige, but here I am with my prayers left unanswered.” But I challenge you to find the motivation behind your prayers. Are you praying for selfish concerns? I will catch myself praying for the healing of one dear to me, in order for them to remain in my own life. I think that my own dependency on that person is more important than God’s plan - which sounds ridiculous when I spell it out like that, but how far from the truth is it? In the previously mentioned verse, it says “if you remain in me and my words remain in you[…].” Let’s take a close look at that. What does the author mean by that? If we are rooting our prayers and thoughts in the fruits of the world, His words will not be remaining in us. The words of God may be in our brain, but are they what our thoughts and prayers are rooted in? Are we asking for things that will further the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of me?

Earlier in John 15, Jesus is talking about how one “cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” If we entrust all that we do to the Lord, we will bear fruit. When we “produce much fruit, [we are his] true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” God wants us to succeed, and we have to trust that. So if we pray for things with the proper motivation - to further the Kingdom of God - God will provide.

Are we asking for things that will further the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of me?