"Sometimes when I pray, it doesn't seem like God is listening or doing anything. Why doesn't God answer all of my prayers?"

When I was 9 years old, my hero was a movie cowboy named "Hopalong Cassidy." I wanted to be a cowboy just like Hopalong when I grew up, and I begged my father to help make that possible. Then, when I was in high school, I started preparing for college. Wouldn't it have been weird if my dad had said, "College?!? What are you talking about? When you were 9, you said you wanted to be a cowboy! I spent all of our family's money to buy a ranch and a 100 cows. They're all waiting for you down in Texas!" I would have answered, "Dad, why did you do that? I was just a little kid when I said those things! You didn't really take me seriously, did you?" The good news is that my dad didn't give me what I thought I wanted when I was 9 years old. Why? Because he knew he could give me what I really wanted — and needed — when I got older.

I'm convinced God sometimes acts the same way my dad did. Sometimes it might seem like God isn't answering our prayers, but he's really just refusing to give us what we think we want so he can later give us what we really need. We have to remember that, in God's eyes, we're all pretty immature. We're all 9-year-olds who want to be cowboys. And God's too wise and loving to grant every prayer request from people who aren't spiritually "grown-up" enough to know what's really best for them.

A key to understanding what our prayers should be like comes from John 14:13-14, page 1293, where Jesus says we should pray "in his name." In Bible times, a person's name was an expression of what that person was all about. Often, a person's name also said what they did for a living. For instance, Mary Baker made donuts, Phil Carpenter built doghouses, Charles Farmer milked cows. You get the point.

So when Jesus says to pray in his name, he doesn't just mean we should mention the word "Jesus" here and there. He means that our prayers should fit in with what Jesus was all about — salvation, love and justice. In prayer, we should try to think like Jesus and to feel his emotions, to want the things he wants. That's what the apostle Paul meant when he said, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).

We can't expect our prayers to be answered if they aren't in harmony with what God wants to do in us and through us. On the other hand, we shouldn't be afraid to pray prayers that are less than perfect.

Romans 8:26-27 (page 1361) says that none of us really knows how to pray perfectly. But this passage also says that even when our prayers aren't perfect, the Holy Spirit steps in for us before God. So when I finish praying, the Holy Spirit turns to the heavenly Father and says something like, "I know Tony's prayer was a little selfish. Maybe it even seemed a little immature to you. What Tony should have said was … " Then the Holy Spirit prays the prayer I should have prayed! I can't think of anything more comforting than that.

— Tony Campolo, sociology professor at Eastern College. Tony is a dynamic speaker and the author of several books for teens.

Teen Devotional Bible, between pages 884 and 885.
Copyright © Zondervan. Used by permission.

• 260 Daily Devotions written by teens ages 12-15 sharing what God has done in their lives.
• 52 Weekend Devotions to summarize or emphasize a key point in the previous week's devotions and written by respected adult youth leaders such as Dawson McAlister, Tony Campolo, and many more.
• 22 Full-Color Tip-Ins — either "Extreme Faith" or "Backstage Pass" — that answer the toughest questions about faith and life or about family, friends, or the future.
• 75 "Xtras" offer interesting, sometimes wacky trivia about the Bible and its characters.
• Book Introductions which include a brief overview of each Bible book, a "Cast of Characters," a "What's Up with That" feature that offers a closer look at a certain part of each book, and "Snapshots" that bullet-point key events.

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