Teaching | Unanswered Prayer | Prayer E04 (From the Archive)
Practicing the Way with John Mark Comer
Practicing the Way
4.9 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Why do so many of our prayers seem to go unanswered? John Mark tackles one of the most difficult tensions in the Christian life: how to square Jesus's bold promise of "ask anything in my name and I will do it" with the reality of unanswered prayer. He explores fifteen reasons our prayers might not be answered the way we expect and closes by introducing the ancient practice of lament as a way to meet God honestly in our pain.
Key Scripture Passages: John 14v12-14; John 15v7, 16; John 16v23-24; Psalm 13; Psalm 66v18; Isaiah 58
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the John Mark Homer Teachings podcast. My name is Yinka Dawson and I'm your host. |
| 0:09.8 | Each week we feature teachings by John Mark or other voices in the formation space. It's wonderful to have you with us. |
| 0:16.3 | We're in the middle of our prayer series, exploring different types of prayer and how to deepen our |
| 0:21.2 | conversation with God. |
| 0:23.3 | Today, John Mark tackles one of the most difficult tensions in the Christian life. |
| 0:27.9 | How do we square Jesus' bold promise to answer prayer? |
| 0:31.8 | With the reality, there's so many of our prayers go unanswered. |
| 0:36.1 | Drawing from Pete Greggsburg got unmoot, he walks through 15 reasons our prayers go unanswered. Drawing from Pete Greggsburg, God unmute, |
| 0:38.2 | he walks through 15 reasons our prayers might not be answered the way we expect |
| 0:42.4 | and introduces us to the ancient practice of lament |
| 0:45.2 | as a way to meet God honestly in our pain. |
| 0:48.9 | Here's John Mark. |
| 0:53.1 | Last week, I sat with a young mother in our church a few days after a miscarriage. |
| 1:02.9 | And she was just grieving. |
| 1:05.5 | And the backstory was she was at the Women's Night in Prayer. |
| 1:08.7 | And for a while, the holy spirit had been stirring up in |
| 1:12.7 | her heart faith to step out in the things of the spirit and so for the first time ever as i if i |
| 1:18.8 | understand the story right she came up to pray for somebody and had a prophetic word and there was this |
| 1:24.7 | beautiful moment and right after that she got up and went to the bathroom |
| 1:31.2 | and started to bleed, and came right back in. |
| 1:34.6 | And so we need to pray and was full of faith. |
| 1:37.1 | And she said, quote, I really believe that God was going to heal me. |
... |
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