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HomeBible ReviewApril 2004Why Doesn’t God Answer Prayers?
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Two Ways to Answer a Prayer

Sidebar to: Why Doesn’t God Answer Prayers?

Matthew’s and Luke’s discussions of prayer start the same way but then diverge dramatically. Where Matthew promises “good things” (7:11) to those who pray, Luke pledges “a holy spirit” (11:13)—something much less tangible and thus less verifiable. Significantly, Matthew concludes with the Golden Rule, suggesting that these “good things”—the answers to prayer—come from our fellow men, not from God directly.

Matthew 7:7–12

Luke 11:9–13

7Ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and it will be opened to you.

9Ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and it will be opened to you.

8For everyone who asks receives,

and he who seeks finds,

and to him who knock

it will be opened.

10For everyone who asks receives,

and he who seeks finds,

and to him who knocks

it will be opened.

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