This is a question that puzzles a lot of Christians, especialy those who take verses from the Bible literally. So does that mean we can no longer believe the Bible? No it doesn't mean that, but first we must remember not to read scriptures which seems to say "we can ask for anything and get it" by themselves but rather in the context of the chapter in which they appear (take a text out of context and all you are left with is a con). So let's first look at some of those scriptures which seem to promise us anything we ask for in prayer and see what they REALLY say.
John 14: 13 - "And I will do whatever you ask I my name"
Start reading from verse 8 and you will see that Jesus is talking to his disciples about the fact that Jesus could perform miracles because He performs them by the Authority of His father. In verse 12 He then goes on to say that anyone can not only do the things that He does (that is, his mircales and good works of verse 11) if they are in Him but even greater things, all they need to do is ask the Father in His Name as a representation of Him to do similar task to Him, on the basis that they will end up glorifying and extolling the Father. So this promise of "And I will do whatever you ask I my name" refers to miracles done in Jesus' name which are performed with the aim of glorifying God.
John 15: 16 - "Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give it to you"
The whole chapter is focused on how Jesus is like a vine on which we as Christians are the branches. We bear fruit as a result of being connected to Him to the point of being part of, or an extension of Him, drawing on him. We become like Him by doing as He does, which is achieved by His words remaining in us. This proves that we are true followers of Him (verse 8). When we are in that state, then and only then are we in a position to "ask what we will, and it shall be done for you" (verse 7). That may sound a bit like an open cheque where we fill in any amount that we want to, but remember that when we are living as close to Him as the chapter describes, we will be living in perfect harmony and unity with God, saying and doing everything He would have us do. Our perspective on life will be totally changed and what our heart desires and what we ask for will be totally in accord with what God wants to give to us and deems is best for us anyway.
So why do some prayers appear to go unanswered? There's no simple explanation, but here are a few reasons why we tend to feel our prayers have just been mere empty words.
1. We don't like taking "no" for an answer: Sometimes we ask God for things, and in His wisdom He says No, usually because what we are asking will not in the long run be for our good, or because He has something better for us that we don't know about yet. In such cases, it's not that He's not answered our prayers, it's that the answer He gave us wasn't a "yes".
2. Our prayers are short circuited by our attitude: On first reading, the latter part of James 4: 2 seems to say we don't receive from God simply because we don't ask for things. But read the verse in the context of the preceding verses, and what the writer is saying is, when you see something other people have, you become jealous and greedy, driven by ungodly desires. Your desire goes unfulfilled, causing you to become full of hatred for others who have what you don't have. You end up with no satisfaction, contentment or happiness when all you needed to have done in the first place was ask God for what you need to bring you satisfaction, contentment or happiness. Alternatively, you do ask God, but ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives (verse 3). Our intention is to get what we desire (not what we need) and use what we get to fulfil the pleasures of our sinful nature (on things that do not glorify God but rather pamper to our natural, self motivated desire for pleasure and self-gratification). Clearly this verse is saying that if we ask for things that are designed to satisfy our human desires which take us away from God and serving Him, we are not going to receive them.
3. We don't ask "in faith": Asking for things of God "in faith" in accordance with Matthew 21: 21 is a cause of immense problems for many Christians because they don't really understand what "in faith" means. I know many Christians who have taken this scripture at face value and asked in faith for things but got nothing. As a result they have reached one of ther following conclusions:
1. They didn't have enough faith.
2. The Bible can't be trusted.
3. The Bible can be trusted but this verse can't be taken literally.
4. God doesn't really care about me because I'm not good enough.
Either way, the Christian is left devastated with a either a feeling of personal failure (it's my fault that my prayer wasn't answered because I didn't have enough faith) or disillusioned with God (He broke His word) when in reality, neither they nor God are to blame, they just weren't asking "in faith". So what does asking in faith mean?
Let's first look at the question of whether or not we have enough faith. Romans 12: 3 is a verse in the Bible which talks about each of us having received a measure of faith, and many people take this to mean some have a greater amount than others and use the verse to support the notion that we should "exercise" our faith to make it bigger, because the bigger our faith the more we can achieve in Christ and the more effective our prayers will be. Not so! The scripture here is refering to the "measure" as a calculated amount, in the same way that a dose of medicine is a 'measure" or measured amount. using this example we can see that the measure is an adequate dose as it has ben calculated exactly for the purpose of it being of maximum effect. In other words, what the scripture is really saying is that some people need a greater "measure" or "dose" to bring us all to the same state of salvation and healing in Him and it is for this reason that a certain amount that may be "adequate" for one person might not be an adequate amount for another. It has nothing to do with the amount we have being adequate or not. The amount we have is always adequate, because God has measured it exactly so it would be adequate.
So what about exercising our faith? The term is not referring to exercising as in body building where exercising a muscle makes it bigger, it is referring to exercising in the same manner as exercising our rights, that is take full advantage of them. By saying we should exercise our faith, we are really saying we should take full advantage of our faith.
If we all have enough faith, how do we pray effectively "in faith"?
Let's now look at what faith is. Hebrews 11: 1 says "faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being proof (basis or knowledge) of things that are of the unseen dimension (spiritual) and the conviction of their reality" (Amplified translation). The things hoped for in the context in which it was written (read the previous chapters and the rest of chapter 11) are salvation from the curse of sin and reconciliation with God and not just anything we hope for.
Let's read that verse again, taking into account those explanations "Faith operates as our personal guarantee from God of our salvation from the curse of sin and reconciliation with God, as it is the knowledge of things of the spiritual world (God and His Kingdom) and what makes them believeable and real".
So to ask of God "in faith" means literally to ask of God in the knowledge of the spiritual world, as if from His perspective of things, in full awareness not only of God's will about whatever is being asked for, but of the what the impact and consequences of what we are asking for will be on ourselves and on others around us. Thus it easy to see why God said that anything asked for "in faith" (in the knowldge of God's will and desire on the matter) will be given to us. The secret then is to find out God's will about what we desire first, and if it is in line with His will and desire, we should then ask for it as we are guaranteed to receive it. we'll look at this in more detail in our next study.
4. We expect our prayers to short circuit the laws of life: When God made the earth he established laws by which the world continues to function. Some of these laws are spiritual, others are physical. An example of a physical one is the law of gravity. Let go of something and it will fall down. It's guaranteed to happen because it's a law of life. Another law of life, which is in the Bible and pertains to the way we live our lives is "what we sow, we will also reap". All religions acknowledge it, some call it karma; others say "what goes around comes around". However we see it and describe it, there is nothing we can do to change it.
Put carrot seeds in the ground and carrots will grow from them. No amount of praying will make them produce tomatoes. The same applies to the things we sow into our lives. Sow bitterness into your life and your life will be filled with bitterness. No amount of praying will turn your seeds of bitterness into happiness and peace. When we have done something or put an action in motion, we cannot expect our prayers to stop us from reaping the consequences. That's not to say God doesn't care if we have a change of heart and regret what we have done. It means our prayer has to be for God's help to take us through the consequence of our actions and turn it around to our benefit, rather than expect Him to arrange a different consequence to that which we have set in motion by our actions. Let's have a look at a few real life examples.
A student has not been studying for an exam, but rather has been putting off doing homework or listening in class. When the time comes to sit the exam, they panic and ask God to help them. What help could they expect from God? Perhaps a dream one night where all the knowledge they chose not to study previously suddenly comes pouring into their head? No, whilst God is a God of love He is also a God of justice. It wouldn't be fair on all the other students who did study to elevate above them someone who had been careless and lax in studying. So what help would God give? He would forgive them and would help them to get from that point to where they wanted to be in spite of the low mark or even failure in that exam. But it is unlikely that He would rescue them because by doing so He would not be helping them as they would not have learnt anything from their mistake, except perhaps that you can do what you like because God will always bail you out at the last minute, and I'm sure God wouldn't want them to believe that.
Another example is a man I knew who, when he became a Christian, went to his former employer and told him that he had stolen a considerable amount of money from them. As the matter was in the hands of the police, the man was charged with theft and sentenced to a term in prison (shorter than he might otherwise have received had he not owned up to it, but a prison term nonetheless). The man did not pray to God for a suspended sentence because he knew he had committed a crime and knew he should therefore pay the penalty. But just as the consequence of his theft was imprisonment, so the consequence of his right attitude of heart in taking his punishment without complaint sowed an outcome that was positive and totally unexpected. Upon his release, his former employer approached him and offered to give him a second chance. But they did not offer him his old job back, the offered him a senior position above it. The man had in effect received double justice - once for his crime and another for his repentance. He first sowed theft and reaped a the "theft" of his freedom, but then he sowed a change of attitude (towards his employer) and reaped a change of attitude (from his employer towards him).