No Is Not an Answer

by Holder, Buddy

• ISBN13: 9781463425920
• ISBN10: 1463425929
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-29
• Publisher: Authorhouse

Summary

"No Is Not An Answer" is challenging and rewarding reading! In the book, pastor Holder challenges the idea that God answers prayer sometimes by saying, No!" Pastor Holder believes the suggestion that God answers prayer in three ways, "Yes, No and Wait," is incorrect, and he sets out to challenge this "mistaken" theory. He believes what he refers to as "the three-way theory" weakens our faith and confidence in receiving from God the things for which we ask. In his exhortations, pastor Holder uses over 250 Bible verses as evidence to show that, if all the Biblical conditions for answered prayer are adhered to, God will most assuredly give all His children the things for which they ask. He uses several illustrations of answered prayer from the Bible and from his own life to help support his convictions of how God answers prayer. Pastor Holder expounds the Scriptures and delivers a compelling argument for his position. His explanations are persuasive, and he handles the Scriptures in a respectful and God-honoring manner. He honors Christ, and believes Christians need to be soldiers in the fight for men's souls. In "Chapter 2: Christ," an invitation to receive Jesus is offered. "Chapter 4: The Argument," is the heart of the book. In it, pastor Holder lists and challenges eleven of the more popular "proof text" people have used to corroborate their view that God will answer prayer sometimes with the response of "No." Pastor Holder respectfully refutes this philosophy, and with detail, expounds the text to validate his beliefs. This book is offered with the hope that God will be glorified, and our prayer life will be enhanced, and our belief and confidence that God will answer our prayers in a most positive manner will be strengthened.

Excerpts

FREE PREVIEW... The Premise Before I begin my challenge to the "Yes, No and Wait" assumption, the three-way theory, of how God answers prayer, I want to state my position here. This is what I am arguing against, the idea by many in the Christian community that God answers prayer in one of three ways: "Yes, No and Wait." The point I want to make is this: In answering prayer, God does not respond with a "No" answer. I believe "No" is not an answer to prayer. To say God says "No" sometimes in direct answer to prayer is incorrect. I believe the Bible reveals that God does not reply to our prayers with that answer to anyone. In addition, we cannot equate no response from God as a "No" answer to our prayers. God's silence is just that, silence. No response from God is a definite indication that God is not receiving our prayer. "No" is not an answer, but...there may be no answer. In my argument I say, "God does not accept or hear prayers from unrepentant people living outside of His will. Neither does He give ear to prayers from those who approach Him without faith." By that, I do not suggest that God cannot hear or know that people are actually praying. God is All-knowing; He knows everything. What I propose is, God does not accept or receive the prayers of unrepentant people who pray without exercising faith in God. In other words, God gives no reply to the prayers of unrepentant and faithless persons. God Hears Us Pray God will hear us when we pray. He listens to our hearts, and He hears a million prayers, individually, all at once. Every faithful prayer of the righteous and obedient is met with God's unique answer; a close study of the Scriptures reveals that truth. And, we do not have to approach God with big intelligent words or well thought-out wisdom. God knows all languages, and He has all the wisdom. He is not impressed with ours. He understands the thoughts of the beasts and little animals in the forest. Birds sing to Him, and He understands their language. He knows where every snowflake falls. He knows every place where the sparrow's feet touches the ground. Proper words are not so important. He knows what we mean even if we use the wrong words or no words. If we didn't know a language, God could still hear the thoughts of our mind. What really count are the thoughts of our heart. What is in our heart? We can bring the thoughts of our hearts before the throne of Grace. God does not force anyone to receive Christ, nor come to Him in prayer. However, we make a huge mistake by not reaching out to God. Sincere prayer offered up to God is a vehicle used to bring forgiveness, salvation, peace, fellowship and aid; prayer can bring great help to the petitioner and those for whom the petitioner prays. The Power of Prayer None of the cannons in all the armies of the world in all the centuries have the power that prayer holds for the children of God. Sincere prayer from the righteous offered up to God bathed in unwavering faith can move mountains out of their places and throw them into the sea; the Bible declares it. Prayer to God can bring armies and nations to their knees and crumble empires or help to bring nations to power. I am amazed that any of us would walk through this life of danger, trouble, and despair with this wonderful gift placed in our hands, and spend so little time on our knees before the throne of Power, before the throne of Grace. It is the greatest help we have in our battle against sin, for obtaining aid against the struggles of life, and for the winning of the souls of men and women for Christ. We need to lose ourselves in compassionate prayer to God seeking His awesome forgiveness, His personal fellowship, His endearing love, His ever-present help, His wonderful peace, His guidance, and His great and powerful aid in evangelizing the world. As strange as it may sound, I have wondered what the generals of the Union or Confederate Armies of the Civil War would have done if someone had presented to either side the airplane or the modern firepower of today. I know this: the war would have been over much sooner and probably would have saved many more lives. Just a demonstration of that kind of firepower back then in the middle of the nineteenth century would have swayed opinion so fast it would have made their heads spin. Whichever side would have had that kind of power at their disposal, at that time in history, probably would not have had to use it. Ridiculous? Yes! Even so, we as God's children have more power available to us than any of the armies of the world added together have ever seen; yet, I am afraid, we make poor use of it. I am convinced from what I see that we are not as engaged in prayer to God as we should be. Could we even imagine the good that could be served, if all of God's children in the world united in prayer for the salvation of the souls of men and women? We have the greatest power known to man for paving our streets with love, peace, and the salvation of all, yet many of us sit and watch the world we live in go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah without as much as lifting our eyes to heaven praying for the salvation of humanity. Where is our concern, our love? Where is our compassion? Where is our determination to live according to the word of God, our determination to pray to the God that we say we love and are bound to for all eternity? Why cannot all of us, together, devote time to God each day praying for love, for forgiveness, for peace, and for fellowship with our merciful heavenly Father? Obedience The "old man," what we are naturally in the flesh without Christ, though it is dead, has a pull toward sin because it is sin. Someone has said, "We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners." It is like saying, "Dogs are not dogs because they bark, they bark because they are dogs." Sin has a power that wears on us through our natural inclination to sin. We can choose to live according to that "old man" or we can choose to live according to the "new man" that we are when we come to Christ Jesus for salvation. Like a farmer that sows seed in the ground, we too are sowing seed as we live and walk in this world. If we sow to the new man, controlled by the Spirit of God, we live. We have access to God, because we live in the light of His word where God resides. He is attentive to our prayers and He directs our steps. However, if we sow to the flesh, the "old man," we die, because the flesh is dying. Our life down here in this world will be miserable, full of grief and sorrow, if we follow the dictates of the flesh. God does not hear us when we pray because we willingly live in darkness where God does not reside. God resides in the light.