Why God Will Not Answer Prayers

Recognizing the Hidden Demon

Outline

1. God answers prayer (Mark 11:24; Jer. 33:3; 1 John 5:14)

2. Sin hinders prayer (Isa. 59:2; Ps. 66:18)

3. God forgives sin (1 John 1:9)

4. God will not forgive the unforgiving (Mark 11:24; Matt. 6:14–15)

5. Unforgiven sin means death! (Rom. 6:23)

6. Unforgiveness will lead to judgment (Matt. 18:35; James 2:13)

7. Forgiveness is an individual choice (Deut. 30:19; Col. 3:13)

1. God Answers Prayer

There are many scriptures I could've used to talk about God answering prayers but we're going to focus on basically one today.

Mark 11:24 NKJV

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

From Genesis to Revelation, it is a proven fact that God gladly answers prayers, and it is especially for those of us who have been born again,

Because we can ask in Jesus' name, and we are told that whatever we ask for in prayer, we can receive from God.

James 5:16 NKJV

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Notice that there is confession and prayer. Notice also, praying for one another means healing for the one praying.

Then notice, the prayers of the righteous accomplish much.

Many of us believe and are praying, expecting answers to our prayers.

Prayer is a great blessing that God has given to us.

By prayer, we can boldly enter the throne room of God, and we can come into the presence of the Almighty God or the universe. There is nothing that prayer can't do.

How awesome it is to be given the privilege to ask for anything and to know, by the certainty of the word of God, that we can get it!

But yet, we’ve all experienced times of unanswered prayers. There are times when it seems God is not answering us

We pray and we pray, but it does not seem we are getting any results.

Have you ever asked: What’s wrong?

• Why doesn’t God answer me?

• Where is my breakthrough? Didn’t he promise to answer?

• Where is God?

• God don’t you hear me? Why won’t you respond to me?

• God I need your help! I am calling on you!

The word of God says He would answer prayer. and the Bible doesn’t lie.

If God said he would answer prayer, then God will answer prayer.

So if God promised to answer prayer, why does He sometimes not?

Listen up!

The problem is not with Him. It's with us!
I will repeat this!

If God doesn't answer prayer,

The problem is not with him.

It is with us!

The Bible Says God will answer prayer, but the Bible also says He will not answer all prayers.

There are some that he will not answer!

Now, I am going to tell you something, and you need to listen to it very carefully.

There may be one very simple reason why you can't get most of your prayers answered quickly.

This brings me to my 2nd point...

2. Sin Hinders Prayer

Let’s look at what the Word of God says as to why prayers are not heard.

Psalm 66:18 NKJV

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

• To regard means to respect, harbor, or hold on to.

• Iniquity is a deviation from what is right or just. It is wrong doing. A distortion of moral principles. evil, sin, Immorality, Wickedness

• God is not obligated to listen to you if sin is accepted in your heart.

• We must let go of all sin and keep no pet ones. We have to be sanctified and conduct ourselves separately from the world to be able to approach the throne room of a 3x’s Holy God.

• Think, what if the high priest had entered into the presence of God and had not consecrated himself? The same is true today; if we have sin on us, God won't even allow us in his presence.

• Trying to go before God as a sinful person will mean death!

• God is so holy that even our prayers can't come into his presence if our hearts are not right!

Look and see sin hinders prayer elsewhere

Isaiah 59:1–2 NKJV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

• Sin builds a wall between us and God.

• Jesus tore the curtain of separation in the temple by paying the price of death because of our sin.

• When we are free of sin, we can go in the presence of a most holy God!

• But if we have sin, God will not accept us. In fact, we will die in the presence of a most holy God

Micah 3:4 NKJV

4 Then they will cry to the Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds.

• We can cry all night, but if sin is with us, God will turn away from us just as he turned away from Christ on the cross.

• You cannot live in rebellion against God and expect results in prayer. This is just an uncomfortable truth, but it is still true!

• We cannot continue in sin when Jesus has freed us from it and expect to be blessed by a holy God.

Sin will separate us from God, and then God will not answer our prayers because he won’t even be able to hear us, no matter how much we cry out!

Jeremiah 5:24–25 NKJV

24 They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you.

• Sometimes it’s not the devil blocking your blessing.

• It’s you! It’s you holding onto some sins! Remember I told you!

• We have to understand

Sin blocks our prayers from reaching God!

But I want you to know that if our prayers are not getting through, even because of sin, God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to the cross to remove our sin. so we can fellowship with him

All we have to do is ask him.

And this brings us to our 3rd point.

3. God Forgives Sin

1 John 1:9 NKJV

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

See, all we have to do is confess our sins. Notice it is not just one sin; we have a bunch of them.

We have great reason to rejoice because Jesus cleared us from our sinful nature. He paid the price so that we might have eternal life.

Although we have been born sinners, we have been born again as children of God through Christ.

All of our sins have been washed away. No matter what we do, our sins have been forgiven and the price paid.

Now all we've got to do is practice righteousness, as it says in

1 John 3:7 NKJV

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

This means not doing things like we used to. The Bible tells us in

Ephesians 4:22–24 NKJV

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

And then, as we practice righteousness, doing as God commands, even when we make mistakes, we can ask for forgiveness, and our sins will be forgiven.

1 John 3:10–11 NKJV

10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

God is willing to forgive our sins because we are practicing righteousness and acting like his children. When we do not practice righteousness or love our brother, as the Bible says, we are not of God.

This brings us to the 4th point...

4. God will not forgive the unforgiving

We must not continue in sin if we want our prayers heard.

The Bible makes it clear we can't do like we used to do.

Reading the Scripture in Ephesians again says

Ephesians 4:22–24 NKJV

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

This clearly means we cannot continue to do things we know are wrong and expect to get answers to our prayers.

(The sin of unforgiveness revealed)

Although most of us may not be able to think of any major sins we have readily, there is one extremely dangerous sin,

One dangerous sin, many, ...many, I say MANY people, fail to take into consideration because it is one hidden in our hearts.

Most of us ignore this common sin. Yet Jesus has clearly stated it is a reason he will not answer our prayer.

This sin is so easily embraced that many Christians forget about it.

They hold onto it in their heart, not realizing it is a deadly sin with eternal consequences.

It is a sin that comes from the pit of hell and the devil himself. This sin opens the door for all types of demonic spirits to come into our lives.

Most people just accept it as a part of life.

It is a widespread sin, but it is eternally deadly.

Let's go back and read the whole context of what he is saying in Mark 11:24 and there it is! Plain as day!!

Mark 11:24 NKJV

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Mark 11:25–26 NKJV

25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Notice the connecting word, “and”.

This is the continuation of his statement about getting things from prayer! “AND Whenever you stand praying" this means, whenever you take the time to pray,

WHENEVER you are praying to receive what you want from God, you must also, at the same time, forgive those who have done wrong against you.

Answered Prayer Requires A Forgiving Spirit! To not forgive is sin!

If you want all of your prayers answered, you are going to have to learn to forgive others because unforgiveness is sin! If you hold on to sin, you will not get your prayers answered!

Mark 11:26 NKJV

26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Key point!
If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your sin against Him!

Let's think about this!

When we don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive us!

If God doesn’t forgive us, then that sin of unforgiveness and all sins we do will remain unforgiven!

Unforgiveness is a terrible sin!

Sin never gets better! The longer you remain in the sin, especially the sin of unforgiveness, the greater the stronghold Satan has on you..

Continued unforgiveness will ultimately cause God to turn you over to a reprobate mind.

You will increasingly become blind to righteousness until you come to a point of no return.

Demonic Spirits

Satan will use the sin of unforgiveness that you welcome as his authority to enslave you with additional spirits.

Spirits that will cause you to complain, to grumble, to talk about the person you hold a grudge against. You will develop a negative attitude because of the additional spirits that will haunt you.

Those judgmental spirits you let live with you will then turn you against others who don't deserve the demonic attacks that will come forth from you.

Ungodly Spirits will encamp all around you. They will come because you harbor in comfort the demonic spirit of unforgiveness.

You will attract additional spirits that will affect your mind and your body.

Your thinking will turn away from the word of God, and you will seek out others who have similar spirits.

You will become more and more corrupt in your thinking, according to the deceitful lust of your many demons, who will strive more against you

I could go on and on, but I invite you to remember what happened to King Saul.

Study him. He had great potential.

He took offense at David, nurtured that negative spirit against him, and it brought Saul down to destruction!

Sin will do the same for you as it has done for everyone who refuses to forgive and love as God said.

Saying that unforgiveness is a terrible sin is because it can only be forgiven by us forgiving those who have mistreated us.

If we don't forgive them, then our sin is not forgiven.

And if our sin is not forgiven, our prayers will not be answered but more than that,

that brings us to our 5th point which is

5. Unforgiven Sin Means Death!

What is unforgiven sin? This is a sin or sins that God does not forgive us for.

If we are not forgiven for the sins that we have committed, we will experience the judgment and the wrath of Almighty God.

A holy God just cannot tolerate any sin!

See what the Scripture says.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here, the Scripture tells us that sin will bring death to us. If we want to be saved, then what must we do?

1 John 1:9 NKJV

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We can be forgiven of our sins

Therefore, we ought to be willing to confess and deny and try to eliminate sin in our life because practicing it means death.

But there is a problem. There one sin we cannot be forgiven of… the sin of unforgiveness!

Mark 11:26 NKJV

26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

It is clear that if I do not forgive my brother or sister for offending me, Father God in heaven will not forgive me for my transgressions against his word. If he does not forgive me, then I am not saved!

We cannot be forgiven of our sins unless we forgive others of their sins!

The only way for me to have eternal life is that I be forgiven of my sins, but I can't be forgiven of my sins unless I forgive others of their sins.

The only way he will forgive me is that I must forgive others!

If I don't forgive others, then God will not forgive me

If I God does not forgive me, then I remain in sin and

If I remain in sin, the wages of sin is death!

If I die with unforgiveness in my heart towards others, I die with my sin

Then after death comes my 6th point!

6. Unforgiveness will lead to Judgment

The reality must be faced.

Persistent, willful unforgiveness is evidence that a person’s heart may not be truly converted or aligned with God’s grace.

Remember the story of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:35 NKJV

35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

1 John 3:14–15 NKJV

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Continued unforgiveness of others will mean sin remains on us.

If you fail to forgive your brother or sister, when you die, you will die as a sinner and will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged for the sin of unforgiveness to your brother or sister.

You will stand at the judgment seat for two reasons: The sin of 1) commission and the sin of 2) omission.

You will stand at the judgment seat because you actively violate God’s command to forgive.

You choose to withhold forgiveness over and over again and will be judged because of your continued disobedience.

This is the sin of commission.

You will stand at the judgment seat because you failed to forgive when forgiveness was required.

You would not give forgiveness to others when you knew that you should.

You would not take on God's character and his grace, and you refused to conform to the image of Christ.

This is the sin of omission.

Because you did what you should not have done and you did not do what you should have done, God will now judge you for the clear violation of his written word and blasphemy of his Holy Spirit when he told you time and time again what to do.

Because you knowingly sinned in your doing wrong and sinned in your not doing right, you will be judged by the righteous judge.

It will be God's decision, but it appears to me the judgment may be eternal damnation because your sins will not be forgiven at all. This is because you would not forgive others!

What do you think?

This brings us to my final point and conclusion

7. Forgiveness is a choice

Life is choice-driven! You live or die by the choices you make.

You have a choice to forgive your brother or sister.

Honestly, you don't have to. It's up to you. But remember this:

The more you allow the demonic spirit of unforgiveness to dwell in your heart, the more the kingdom of Satan is established within you.

The spirit of unforgiveness will draw all types of other demonic spirits that will ultimately lead you to hell.

One final point. I don’t want you to feel condemned. Some of you are actually struggling to forgive a person because of trauma or deep pain that a person has inflicted upon you. Recognize this:

There is a difference between struggling and rebelling.

There is a difference between Struggling to Forgive and Refusing to Forgive.

One seeks healing. The other clings to hate.

What do you choose?

Now, remember, you have a choice between answered prayers and unanswered ones.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Choose

Mark 11:24–26 NKJV

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

It is up to you!

Colossians 3:13

Deuteronomy 30:19

Why God Will Not Answer Your Prayers

God wants to answer prayer, but unforgiveness in the heart blocks prayer, breaks fellowship, and places you in spiritual danger—even eternal judgment. Forgiveness is not optional—it is essential to salvation. Failing to forgive could mean losing heaven.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. According to Mark 11:24, what must we do to receive what we ask for in prayer?
A. Wait patiently
B. Forgive first
C. Believe we receive it
D. Confess our sins
2. What does Psalm 66:18 teach about prayer and sin?
A. God delays answering sinful prayers
B. God ignores the prayers of righteous people
C. God will not hear if we regard sin in our hearts
D. God hears everyone equally
3. Which sin specifically blocks God from forgiving us, according to Mark 11:25–26?
A. Pride
B. Envy
C. Unforgiveness
D. Greed
4. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is:
A. Suffering
B. Silence from God
C. Death
D. Judgment
5. If we do not forgive others, what will happen according to Matthew 6:15?
A. God will delay our blessings
B. God will not forgive our sins
C. God will correct us gently
D. God will withdraw His Spirit
6. What is the spiritual danger of harboring unforgiveness long-term?
A. It creates personal stress
B. It causes you to stop attending church
C. It invites demonic strongholds and spiritual deception
D. It weakens your immune system
7. According to the teaching, unforgiveness is a:
A. Struggle, not a sin
B. Sin of ignorance
C. Sin of commission and omission
D. Temporary feeling
8. What happened to King Saul as a result of harboring offense and jealousy?
A. He repented and was restored
B. He lost his kingdom and died in disgrace
C. He went to war and won
D. He became a prophet
9. According to Deuteronomy 30:19, what does God set before us?
A. Law and mercy
B. Angels and demons
C. Life and death, blessing and cursing
D. Wealth and poverty

10. What is the only way to have our sins forgiven, based on the teaching?
A. Recite daily prayers
B. Serve others faithfully
C. Forgive others from the heart
D. Attend church regularly

Personal Reflection Questions

Use these in a study group, altar call, or devotional journal setting.

1. Is there someone I have not truly forgiven—even in my thoughts or emotions?

2. Have I ever connected my unanswered prayers to unforgiveness in my heart?

3. Do I believe God will forgive me while I still withhold forgiveness from others?

4. Am I harboring bitterness or resentment that I’ve justified instead of repented of?

5. What spiritual doors have I opened by holding on to unforgiveness?

6. Have I normalized a hard heart toward someone God commands me to love?

7. Do I realize unforgiveness is not just sin—but a soul-killing, hell-leading sin?

8. Have I confused emotional pain with my right to stay angry?

9. Do I trust God's justice enough to release those who hurt me into His hands?

10. Will I choose life and freedom today by forgiving completely and moving forward?