If Prayers Aren’t Answered, They Don’t Matter Much

If Prayers Aren’t Answered, They Don’t Matter Much

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16

We love to get what we want right now, and as fast as the world and technology move, we often get it. Frozen cuisine we can microwave in moments, instant messaging, overnight mail delivery.

“Well, if my prayers aren’t answered at least fairly soon, then they don’t matter much, do they?” women have asked me. “Are they just bouncing off the ceiling and not reaching God at all?”

George Müller, who founded orphanages in England in the 1800s, may have wondered about that very question while he prayed every day for many years that his five closest friends would come to know God. After five long years of faithful, earnest prayer, George saw his first friend commit his life to Christ. But Müller went on for five more years without seeing answers. Finally, after ten years Friend Number Two surrendered his life to God. After twenty-five more years of prayer, two more of the men came to faith. But to Müller’s great chagrin, at the end of his life, one last dear friend hadn’t yet turned to God. Müller died wanting to see his lifelong friend in heaven. Did all those prayers he prayed for more than fifty years make a difference? It didn’t seem so. But at George Müller’s funeral, that fifth man surrendered to Christ.

The earnest prayer of a righteous man or woman (that is, one who has right standing with God the Father through Jesus Christ) does have great power and wonderful results, even if we have to wait for the answer or see it from heaven.

—CHERI

I thank you, God, for your intention that no one should perish but that all would come to have eternal life. Help me to continue faithfully in prayer and to wait expectantly and with hope for your answers.

The great point is never to give up until the answer comes. The great fault of the children of God is that they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it. Oh, how good, kind, gracious, and generous is the One with whom we have to do!

—GEORGE MÜLLER (1805–1898), EVANGELIST AND COORDINATOR OF ORPHANAGES IN ENGLAND