When God Doesn’t Answer Habakkuk 1:2-4

Countries with Most Cell Phone Subscriptions Libya Cayman Islands United Arab Emirates St. Kitts & Nevis Luxembourg

Countries with Most Cell Phone Subscriptions United Arab Emirates = 233% Cayman Islands = 181% St. Kitts & Nevis = 166% Libya = 148% Luxembourg = 147%

5 W’s of Prayer

Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zachariah Malachi Matthew (New Testament)

got prayer? God’s Listening

Habakkuk 1:1-4 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Habakkuk 1:1-4 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

Habakkuk 1:1-4 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

Habakkuk 1:2 2 How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

When he prayed he expected God to do something. Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932)

Habakkuk 1:2 2 How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Mark 11:24 “I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

A. Wrong Motive “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your own pleasures.” ~ James 4:3

B. Unconfessed Sin Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. ~ Is. 59:1-2

C. Idols of the Heart Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? ~ Ezekiel 14:3

D. Lack of Care for the Poor Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered. ~ Proverbs 21:13

E. Doubt But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ~ James 4:6-7

F. Not God’s Will If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ~ 1 John 5:14

G. God could be doing something even greater

Faith Key #2 Pray Talk with God

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. ~ Samuel Chadwick

“When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.” E.M. Bounds (1835-1913)

Let us pray in Faith