Second Friend Day - Elmer Towns

Chapter 5
GETTING ANSWERS TO PRAYER
Recently a middle-aged minister met a former high school friend on the street. He
remembered thinking she was pretty but they had remained casual friends. After reminiscing
about old friends, she asked,
"Why didn't you ever ask me for a date?"
"I didn't think I was good enough," he stammered. .
They continued talking. He explained, "You dated the football heroes and fellows with
the fancy cars. I didn't think girls cared about me because I was going to be a preacher. "
She shook her head in amazement, "I wanted to date you because you were so nice,
because you were going to be a preacher. " She told how she walked by his house, hoping he
would come out the door. As they talked, the minister remembered the words of Scripture, "Ye
have not because ye ask not." He could have dated the girl but didn't ask. Many Christians miss
the good things God has for them because they don't ask.
"But I ask and they are never answered,” you might say. Perhaps there is something
blocking your prayers, like trash in the fuel line. So you sputter along without full power. New
automobiles have a bright red light to warn of a low fuel supply. Perhaps a sin pointed out in this
chapter will flash in your mind. Do something about it so you can get answers to your prayers.
1. Your prayers are not answered if you don't obey God. God is our Heavenly
Father, and He loves His children. We go to Him just like a child asks things of an earthly father.
A little boy went to see his dad at the hardware store and each time asked for a nickel to buy a
cold drink from the machine in the supply room. When dad was angry, he didn't get the nickel.
The little boy was careful to stay on dad's good side when he wanted a cold drink. “And
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things
that are pleasing in his sight" (I Jn. 3:22). Note that we get whatsoever when we keep His
commandments and please God.
A teenage son asked to borrow his father's car for a date. He felt the family car was more
luxurious than his.
"No!" was the answer. The father replied, "The other day I asked you to wash it and
sweep out the sand, but you didn't have time." Within 30 minutes the boy was back to tell his
father the car was clean and to ask to borrow it. The Christian who does not obey God cannot
pray to his heavenly Father and get the answers he seeks.
2. Your prayers are not answered if you tolerate known sin. The Bible teaches that
our sin stuffs cotton in God's ears; in other words, sin makes it impossible for Him to hear us. "If
I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps. 66:18). Iniquity is sin, doing the