Do our prayers change the will of God? That is the question guiding this series. In this post, we will explore a necessary starting point: what do we mean by the will of God?

We’ve answered the question, What is prayer? We discovered that prayer is a conversation with God. We also addressed the question, Who is this God we are having a conversation with? A brief and incomplete answer is, he is infinite, all-powerful, all-loving, and a God who loves mercy AND justice.

Now that we have defined prayer as a conversation with God, and we know a little bit more about the nature and character of God, we can explore the next question – What do we mean by the will of God?

That is a question that many Bible students and theologians have studied and debated for years, but the Bible is clear about some things.

It is God’s will that his followers abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). It is God’s will that we rejoice always, live in a continual attitude and mental posture of prayer, and that we give thanks to God no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Notice that the bible doesn’t say be thankful FOR every circumstance, but IN every circumstance. It is God’s will that, by doing good we put to silence ignorant and foolish people (1 Peter 2:15). It is also the will of God that everyone who looks to Jesus and believes in him should have eternal life (John 6:40). God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But sometimes we forget to think about some of the verses that we have devoted to memory.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “… may your Kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven …” (Matthew 6:9-13) Why would Jesus ask us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth, unless there was a possibility of it NOT happening? Maybe this prayer is designed to help us focus on “doing God’s will” when we have an opportunity to do something else.

We know that God’s Kingdom has not yet fully come. And we know that God’s perfect will is not always done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Just because God wants something to happen, doesn’t mean that it always happens. Humans exert their will on earth too.

It is God’s will that his followers abstain from sexual immorality, but sometimes his followers have other ideas.

It is God’s will that we rejoice always, and that we give thanks in every circumstance we find ourselves in, but I do not always rejoice, and I am not always thankful.

It is God’s will that in doing good we silence ignorant and foolish people, but we do not always do good.

It is God’s will that everyone who looks to Jesus, puts their faith in him, but not everyone believes.

It is God’s will that everyone should come to repentance, but not everyone does.

Does that mean that God is incapable of accomplishing his perfect will? Of course not. God allows us to exercise our will. He allows others to exercise their will. And frequently, our will and the will of others works in opposition to the will of God.

Our experience reveals that God’s perfect will is not always accomplished. He frequently allows our choices to accomplish something that is not his perfect will.

So far, we have considered cases in which people do not do what God desires. Now we need to turn the question around: does a conversation with an all-loving, all-powerful God mean that he will do what we desire? The Bible gives us several examples in which prayers are not answered the way the person praying wants them to be answered.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul prayed at least three times for his “thorn in the flesh” to leave him. God said, “No.”

Moses pleaded with God in Deuteronomy 3:23-27 to let him enter the Promised Land. God said, “No.”

In 2 Samuel 12:15-23 we read the story of King David fasting and praying for the life of his infant son. God said, “No.”

Perhaps the ultimate example is when Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, asking God if there was any other way to avoid the cross and still accomplish God’s will. In Matthew 26:39-44 and following we see that God’s answer, even to his own Son, was, “No.”

These examples include people central to the biblical story: Paul, the writer of much of the New Testament; Moses, the writer of the first five books of the Old Testament; King David, whose throne was established forever; and God’s own Son, who prayed, “Let this cup pass by.” God did not grant the request described in any of these cases. Their prominence makes the pattern especially striking: even these prayers were not answered in the way the person praying desired.

Are there biblical examples of God changing what He intended to do?

In Exodus 32:9-14, God intended to kill all the Israelites and begin again with a new nation through Moses. Moses prayed, and God did not carry out that intended action. God changed his mind: the outcome after Moses’ prayer differed from what God had said he intended to do.

In 2 Kings 20:1-6, Isaiah pronounced God’s judgment on King Hezekiah – “You are about to die. You will not get well.” Isaiah then left. But King Hezekiah wept bitterly and prayed for his life. Then God stopped Isaiah and told him to go back and tell the King that God changed his mind, and Hezekiah would live for fifteen more years.

In Jonah chapter 3 God told Jonah to pronounce judgment on the city of Nineveh, “At the end of forty days Nineveh will be overthrown!” The whole town repented and cried out to God, and God changed his mind.

We began this series by defining prayer as a conversation with God and considering his nature: infinite, all-powerful, all-loving, and a God who loves mercy and justice. Today we have explored his perfect will and seen that life on earth does not always reflect what he desires. We have also considered two contrasting kinds of biblical examples: requests God did not grant and situations in which he changed what he had said he intended to do. These examples keep us from reducing prayer to a simple formula: Every request is not always granted, but sometimes prayer makes a difference.

They also leave us with more to explore about our original question, “Do our prayers change the will of God?” In the next post, we will turn to a related concern: does God care, and why are some prayers answered positively while others seem to go unanswered?

What questions do you have about church, Christianity, discipleship, God, or theology? Whether you are new to following Christ or grew up in church, you may have heard “churchy” words and phrases that no one explained. You may also have heard explanations that do not satisfy you or seem at odds with real life. Ask me your questions; maybe I can help. I’ll try to explain what the Bible says about them. There are no stupid questions, only questions that haven’t been asked. Leave your question below or email me at info@curtferrell.com.