Objection: If God Could Even Refuse to Answer Jesus’ Prayer (Matthew 26:39, 42), He Can Refuse to Answer Yours

Look at what Jesus prayed and you’ll see that this is not a case of Jesus praying for something and having God refuse to answer him.

Matthew 26:39, 42:
And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:  nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Throughout this prayer, Jesus was submitted to the will of God in the matter.  His spirit was willing, but His flesh was weak.  Jesus was not praying contrary to God’s will or getting God to change His mind about anything.  God in fact did answer the prayer, because verse 42 shows that Jesus understood what God’s answer was – there was no alternative to the sufferings He was about to endure.

This prayer of consecration is the one place in the Bible where Jesus prayed an if-it-be-Thy-will prayer.  Therefore, we should conclude that a prayer of consecration is the one time that you should ever pray an if-it-be-Thy-will prayer.  Thus, it would be proper to pray, “Lord, I’m willing to go to Africa if it’s Your will, even though I don’t want to go there,” but it would be improper to pray, “Lord, heal my body if it be Thy will,” because God has already made His will clear concerning healing.

Tradition says that God sometimes refuses to answer prayer for reasons known only to Himself.  Jesus, on the other hand, promised results when you pray in faith.  The most common reason for unanswered prayer is unbelief concerning God’s will to heal.  Thus, we should not be singing songs with stupid lines like, “Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.”  I did not make up that phrase; it’s in the hymnbooks of two denominations whose churches I used to attend a long time ago.  The one good thing about that line is that it is self-fulfilling.  God will not answer an ignorant prayer to have future prayers go unanswered, so you at least get the satisfaction (?) of praying an unanswered prayer about praying unanswered prayers!  Lyrics like that belong in the landfill, not in hymnbooks.