Why Doesn't Prayer Work the Way I Thought It Would?

Leighann McCoy walks through two of Jesus’ parables on prayer in Luke 11 and Luke 18 to show why prayer often feels slower, harder, and stranger than we expect. This Bible-study style teaching explores persistence, trust, and learning to pray with confidence in God’s goodness rather than frustration at His timing.

• Prayer does not fail because we ask for too much, but because we often pray from a small, earthly perspective while God is working on a much larger scale.
• Leighann connects Psalm 23 to the idea that God’s answer may be far bigger than the request, resulting in a cup that “runs over” rather than merely meeting the minimum need.
• She explains the parable of the persistent neighbor in Luke 11:5–13, emphasizing that Jesus is not comparing God to a reluctant neighbor but to the opposite of one.
• “How much more?” becomes the central takeaway from Jesus’ teaching, showing God as eager to give good gifts to His children.
• Leighann shares a deeply personal testimony about praying for her daughter Michael over many years, using Zephaniah 3:17 as an anchor while waiting through heartbreak, abuse, and restoration.
• She then turns to Luke 18:1–8, where the persistent widow and unjust judge reinforce the same lesson: keep praying, and do not give up.
• Prayer is not pleading against God’s reluctance, but learning to trust His wisdom and timing.
• God is not a vending machine and is more interested in forming the person who prays than merely dispensing answers.
• The closing emphasis is on living in the “waiting room” with faith, confidence, and hope, believing that God’s promises are yes in Christ even before they visibly arrive.

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