Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are Abbie Johnson Taylor and Lynda Lambert, who shared the idea with me.

This is the 4th part in my series on the Lord’s prayer, and today I’m going to talk about a subject I think most of us struggle with at one time or another–that of “unanswered prayers. And I’m going to propose a prayer that never fails.

The scripture reference is Matthew 9:10, part b–“Your will be done.”

I first learned about this particular prayer In Jan Karon’s Mitford series books, where an Episcopal priest named Father Tim Cavanaugh talks about it. It isn’t a long, eloquent list of requests. It’s just four simple words: “Thy will be done.”
That prayer never fails because it completely shifts our posture from control to surrender.
Think about human parenting. Our parents didn’t give us everything we wanted. Sometimes they were unable, but often it was because what we asked for simply wasn’t good for us. Parents who accede to a child’s every whim don’t produce healthy adults; they raise spoiled, entitled human beings. Giving in every time often reveals a lack of willingness to do the hard work of loving a child enough to say “no.”
God is not a permissive parent. Because He is all-knowing, He knows what is right for us, even though we can’t see the full picture. A “no” or a period of silence doesn’t mean we did something wrong.
As we look back on 9/11, that posture of surrender becomes even more critical. In the wake of immense national tragedy and unexplainable loss, transactional prayer leaves people broken and confused. But this isn’t just about massive historical events; it hits close to home for all of us.
When I was twenty years old, I lost my mother to lung cancer, even though she didn’t smoke. My family and I prayed fervently for her to be healed, but it wasn’t to be. Decades later, I still have no idea why. I don’t believe God’s perfect will was necessarily done in that situation—we live in a broken world where terrible things happen that prevent earthly outcomes from being what we (and God) would wish. But I strongly maintain that her death was not caused by my lack of faith, nor by God’s lack of love.
When we look at scripture, even Jesus prayed for things that—on the surface—appeared to go “unanswered.” During the Last Supper, He prayed deeply that His followers would be unified as one—yet a quick glance at the church today shows how far we are from that. Shortly after, in the Garden of Gethsemane, facing the cross, He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” The cup remained. The connection was perfect, the line was clear, and the answer was still a painful “no.” And it was the hardest thing Jesus’s loving Father ever had to do.
If even Jesus surrendered His own desires to the Father’s overarching purpose, what makes us think we’re entitled to get everything on our personal wish list?
I say all this because I struggle with it, too. It’s hard watching others get their visible breakthroughs while my requests seem to be profoundly ignored. But Gethsemane and our own personal heartbreaks prove that a “no” isn’t a penalty. The goal of picking up that tin can isn’t to dictate the outcome—it’s just to stay on the line, trusting in God’s love even when we don’t understand His timing or His answers.
Prayer isn’t about making demands or seeking answers. It’s about sharing our heart with our dear Father, and then trusting the results to His infinite wisdom and love.
Maybe the song “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks summarizes it best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dtopRtx0Co
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” — 1 John 5:14
Today and every day, Lord, may your will be done in my life.