Two Prayers That God Can Not Answer : By James Lantz

       There are several things that God can not do, for instance, God can not lie and God can not give man a harvest differing from what he has sown. If God said that the sky is green then the sky would turn green. If God would give life to those who sow to the flesh then He would be unjust and God is not unjust.  Num. 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?  Galatians 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  Psalms 89:34  My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. 

God can not answer the prayer of asking Him to do what He has already done!

       Do not pray, Dear God, please save my son or please save my neighbor. God has already sacrificed His Son Jesus on behalf of every person who has sinned which includes everybody. In fact, in the mind of God, salvation was provided before He made the earth for His man Adam.  Eph. 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love   1 Peter 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.   1 Tim. 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  Jesus accepted His Father’s plan that He who had never sinned would be the sacrifice to redeem those who sinned and God counted it as done! Faith calls those things which be not as though they were! This is why Isaiah could write that Jesus bore our diseases and carried our pains in the past tense.  Isa. 53:4 CJB  In fact, it was our diseases he bore, our pains from which he suffered; yet we regarded him as punished, stricken and afflicted by God.  Even though God counted those who would receive His Son Jesus as holy and without blame before the foundation of the world Jesus still had to put action to His faith. Father God and the angels were excited to announce Jesus birth to the shepherds! Jesus entered the earth legally through being born of a woman.  Mt. 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.  Jesus being the sinless spotless Son of God fulfilled His Father’s will through His death on the cross and being raised from the dead. Jesus was raised from the dead through the working of God’s mighty power revealing the exceeding greatness of his power available to all who believe.  Ephesians 1:22&23  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.  We are commanded to walk by faith in our covenant with God. The righteous shall live by faith! We must not say in our heart, who shall ascend into heaven to bring Christ down to save us, or who will bring Christ up from the dead to save us.  Rom. 10:6&7  .  .  .  Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)   God has already made His move and sent Jesus down to the earth and gave Him up to be sacrificed for our sins. God has already raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in heavenly places at His right hand. Our prayer is not to be the prayer of asking God to send us salvation but rather a prayer of faith to receive His  salvation! Repentance is the starting place with God.  Mt. 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  We are to come to God with a repentant heart, renouncing sin, and confess that Jesus is our Lord and Master!  Romans 10:6,8-10  But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise .  .  .  The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  You can pray these words in a prayer to God or you can just say them, but either way, you must release faith from your heart and words from your mouth. All of God’s gifts are received by faith in like manner as we received the gift of eternal life! 

       When praying for the lost, intercede for them and bind the strong man (satan) in Jesus name.  Ask God to send laborers to share the glorious news of the gospel in which God is not holding their sins against them.  Mt. 9:38  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.   2 Cor. 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

God can not answer the prayer of asking Him to do what He has told us to do!

       If God were to do your part then He would have to admit that His plan was not perfect and now He is submitting to your plan. This would be a mix up between who the Father is and who the son is. This does not work in the home and at work and it surely will not work with God. Sadly, many parents today are running their homes by what the children want rather than what God said. The same can be said for husbands who know what God said but have yielded their headship to their wife who has a different plan than God. Husbands are not necessarily smarter than their wives but they are anointed by God to be the head of the home. Jesus is the head of the wife spiritually, not the husband. Jesus said that we are to pray to the Father, who is the Lord of the harvest, and that He would send forth laborers into His harvest. Notice that those who receive Jesus are called His harvest. That’s right, God the Father sowed His only begotten Son into the earth and He will reap many sons and daughters. Jesus did the hard part for us in the giving of His life for us but now it is only right that we give our lives to Him in helping bring in the harvest.  2 Cor. 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.  We are the body of Christ in the earth and we get our orders from Jesus, the head of the church. We can’t save, heal or deliver anyone in and of ourselves but we are not alone, we are in Christ Jesus. We are His hands and His feet in the earth and co-laborers for the harvest.  Eph. 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  The good works that we are to do is preach the gospel through our words, actions, service, prayers, and finances. The great commission is to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel! If we are not the preacher that goes then we are the ones who do the sending.  Rom. 10:15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 

       Jesus came and defeated satan and stripped him of his power!  1 John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  Revelation 1:18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.  God is pleased when His children enforce satan’s defeat through faith in the name of Jesus. Do not pray and ask God to resist the devil for you because He has delegated that authority to His people on the earth.  Mark 16:17  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;   Nowhere in the new testament are believers ever instructed to pray and ask God to resist the devil for us but we do see where Paul had prayed three times asking God to remove the evil spirit who was buffeting him. God had exalted Paul through the abundance of revelations of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and Paul was seeing many come to salvation in place after place.  2 Cor. 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.  Satan assigned an evil spirit to follow Paul and effect peoples minds with envy, hatred, and murder to try to stop people from transferring out of his kingdom into the glorious kingdom of light. ( see Acts 13:44&45 and 14:1-7 )  Many have tried to say that God said no to Paul’s request for God to stop the evil spirit from harassing him but God said my grace is sufficient for you. What God showed Paul was that Jesus had already defeated the devil and that His grace had given Paul, and you and I, authority to resist the devil and that he would flee from us. You can readily see how Paul learned this lesson well and was victorious over the evil one.   2 Tim. 3:11  Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.  God confirms through four new testament witnesses that we are the ones who have been authorized and empowered to resist the devil and cast him out. Jesus delegated all power to the church! ( Mt. 28:18-20  Mark 16:15-18 )  Paul writes, neither give place to the devil. James, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you! Peter writes that we are to resist the devil steadfast in the faith. Authority is granted to us through our submission to the Word!