Brass Heavens: Reasons for Unanswered Prayer

My pastor told me about this book. Really great book!

Summed up many of the issues on the vexing question of unanswered prayer and makes one consider more deeply the way we live out our everyday Christian life.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and it felt as though you were talking to a brick wall? How about prayed to God and it felt as though the heavens were made of brass and nothing was getting through? Why is it that I'm not receiving an answer to my prayer? Enter Paul Tautges and his book Brass Heavens: Reasons for Unanswered Prayer.In the introduction, Tautges summarizes the purpose of unanswered prayer this way: "[God] wants to test our faith that we might see for ourselves just how weak and dependent we are on him for all good things. His goal is nothing less than to heighten our spiritual sensitivities in order to draw us into more intimate fellowship and faithful obedience with him." I love this explanation, and I'm certain that most believers would agree with it. But I wasn't quite expected for the nuts and bolts of what this explanation means.My thoughts don't typically race to the idea that my sin could be responsible for God's silence. I'd much rather take comfort in the thought that it just isn't God's timing or God's will why a certain prayer remains unanswered. But Tautges challenges his readers with Scripture and gives us a troubling thought: perhaps it is my sin that is causing this silence from God.Of the six reasons Tautges gives for unanswered prayer, the first five deal specifically with our sin:1. Pet Sins2. Neglected Duties3. Religious Sins4. Inconsiderate Husbands5. Stubborn PrideI can't argue with the list. There have been times when I've seen my prayer life has suffered because of one or more of the above. Tautges says, "In any given instance of challenge or difficulty, God may or may not be interested in changing the circumstances. But he is always interested in changing us." Unanswered prayer, then, can call us back "into more intimate fellowship and faithful obedience with him," when we've given in to sin.However, Tautges isn't naïve. Sin can't account for every unanswered prayer. That's why reason number six is so important: Testing Our Faith. It could be that our prayers are not hindered by sins in our lives. Our prayers may be good and honorable. Why then would God not answer our prayers? Again, appealing to the "it's just not in God's timing right now" explanation may satisfy some, I think Tautges gets a little deeper and more to the point:"[God] wants us to trust in him even when things don't go the way we hope, or expect, or think they should. God is our loving heavenly Father who delights to come to our aid when and how it is actually best for us... There are no short-cuts to spiritual maturity. Fully developed faith can only be brought about by a long, difficult process involving trials which produce perseverance, and perseverance has an eternal reward."Unanswered prayer will challenge our faith and cause us to grow more mature, to be more like Christ. And that will prove more precious to us than we can imagine.I received this book from Cruciform Press for the purposes of review.

Prayer can be one of the most faith-challenging aspects of being a follower of Jesus. I don't know of anyone who hasn't experienced the discouraging feeling that their prayers have gone unheard by God. I've had times where I've prayed for what feels like relentless prayers, and God just doesn't seem to answer.BRASS HEAVENS by Paul Tautges is a short book from Cruciform Press that tackles this issue. Tautges acknowledges that there are times when it feels like we are praying to "brass heavens" and God doesn't seem to hear us or respond. In the book, Tautges seeks to paint a picture of God as one who hears, but give us some very real, very biblical reasons why our prayers may go unanswered.He covers six reasons why God may not answer: pet sins in our lives, unresolved conflict that produces broken relationships, religious sins, husbands failing to honor their wives, stubborn pride, and God sometimes testing our faith. Obviously, our own behaviors can affect God's willingness to answer our prayers and sometimes we must change. Other times we simply have to trust that God is trying to grow something in us through the testing of our faith.BRASS HEAVENS isn't an easy book to read because you'll be confronted with the ways you may hijack God's work in your life. However, it is a much-needed message for believers that God hears and wants to answer our prayers.Review copy provided by Cruciform Press

"Why won't God answer? Is He not listening?"How many of us have asked this question, whether openly or in secret? There's something so disconcerting when we pray earnestly, confidently, possibly desperately, and yet it seems to go unanswered.God is silent. Or so it seems.Why?Paul Tautges, in his new book, Brass Heavens, examines several reasons why our prayers may go unanswered. The result is a book that serves as much as a treatise on sin as it does on one of prayer.This is important for us to keep in mind as our sin does directly affect our prayer life--because Christians have a real, living, active relationship with our Father in Heaven, we can expect what we do to either strengthen or weaken that relationship.So what are the causes of unanswered prayer? Tautges identifies six reasons why we might not receive an answer to our prayers:The nurturing of pet sins. "To establish, maintain, or permit the existence in your life of any avenues by which your flesh could seek to fulfill its rebellious desires--this is the cherishing of pet sin," he writes. "By this you will guarantee the short-circuiting of your prayers. This effort to live two different lives--one in which you cherish God and another in which you cherish sin--is the very definition of being double-minded."Neglecting our responsibilities of conflict resolution and offering forgiveness. "Mishandling either area can severely damage not only our horizontal relationships with others, but also our familial relationship with the Father and consequently the effectiveness of our prayers."Religious sins. "There is an outward righteousness that is legitimately connected to the true inner righteousness of Christ imputed to us by the Father," he writes. "But there is also an apparent outward righteousness ... of independence and self-justification, a false righteousness that presumes to possess an inherent, self-contained goodness--something only God possesses in and of himself."Being an inconsiderate husband. "To live in ignorance of a wife's spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical condition, or to be uncaring about what it means to lead and love her as Christ does the church, this is disobedience to God."Stubborn pride. "Our self-sufficient pride, our persistent refusal to listen and yield to God, can close his ears to our prayers," Tautges writes. "When we willfully choose to be stubborn against God's correction, we become slaves to our own pride and our fellowship with God is interrupted."It's easy to see the connection between all of these sins--they're interpersonal and often based upon a higher view of self than we ought to have. When our sin causes our prayer to go unanswered, it's often because we do not judge ourselves with right judgment (John 7:24). We look at our appearance or we look at what others have done (legitimately or otherwise) and too often respond self-righteously.We too easily become like the Pharisee who prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men" (Luke 18:11).Is it any wonder God would find that offensive?This is a constant struggling point in my own own life. There are certain people I find myself looking down upon far too easily--sometimes because of questions about competency in professional areas and others because there's just something about them that drives me up the wall--and struggling to figure out how to deal with the conflicts at the heart of the matter. But too often, instead of taking my concerns to God in prayer, I've let that frustration fester, and waste an opportunity to grow in my faith.Why do I--and presumably many others--do that? I suspect it's because I and those like me often forget the most critical reason for unanswered prayer:It is to test our faith."God often leaves our prayers unanswered so that we might become increasingly conformed to the image of his Son. Unanswered prayer is a gift from God for our growth--in holiness and in every other good and godly way--and sometimes it has nothing to do with whether we are hanging on to any of the sins described [previously]."When God appears to not answer our prayers, it isn't necessarily because we're guilty of a particular sin--the lack of an answer isn't intended as a chastening act of discipline, but as a means of drawing us closer to Him. "Our faith is our life, and the status of our faith is the most important thing about us," Tautges writes. "The tests of faith that God sends our way are reminders to keep us focused on what is true and real and primary."Of everything Tautges says about unanswered prayer in Brass Heavens, this surely is the most critical for us to remember: prayers may go unanswered not because God is displeased us, but because He loves us enough to say "no." And this truly is a gift, whether we realize it or not.This testing of our faith is an opportunity for us to grow not only in patience, but in perseverance. God delights in our asking, and He delights in giving good gifts to His children--and His good gifts will always be those that transform us increasingly into the image of Christ.While it may be a faux pas for me to review Brass Heavens--after all, I've been published twice by Cruciform Press and also work behind the scenes with them on some of their marketing efforts--the subject is one too important to not talk about. Tautges' analysis of the reasons for unanswered prayer is sound, thoughtful and, most importantly, hopeful. Give this book your careful attention. You won't regret it.