Open hands and why God says “yes” to our prayers
Do you have open hands?
All the best things happen when we open our hands.
Open hands mean:
- receiving gifts
- picking up babies
- accepting food
- handshakes
- hugs
- praise and worship
- holding hands
- artistic expression
- touching or holding someone’s face
- listening, gesturing
- exploration
Open hands are a gesture of vulnerability and acceptance. They signal “I want more” and “I trust you.” When our granddaughter wants to be picked up, she lifts her hands. When she’s meeting someone new, she reaches out to touch their face, especially if they have beards. She wants to know you and trust you.
Maybe that’s why we often raise our hands in worship: It’s a physical action that welcomes spiritual connection with the person we want to know.
I recently spent 18 in the hours driving to and from a writers event. I utilized my time on the road worshipping and praying. I had a lot to say to God and a lot of listening to do. I really, really wanted to hear from him during my time away. It was the perfect opportunity to sit with metaphorical hands open, even though they were gripping a steering wheel.
Opening our hands opens our ears, minds, and hearts. We can’t accept new information if we’re not poised to receive it.
This is the power behind prayer. We must decide to receive–prepare to receive–before we actually hear anything.
Whenever we expect and invite God’s presence, He makes himself known. I don’t know why it always surprises me that He is not the one who has wandered away from communication with me. Whenever I’m vulnerable and receptive, I see that he’s been present waiting for me with open scarred hands to prove his love.
receiving with open hands
But back to my car. I worshipped first. Then I repented. I prayed through the seven prayer patterns I outlined in my book Soulspeak: Praying Change from Unexpected Places. (You can download the short one-sheet version here.) Minutes into confessing and repenting, I realized that I had been making requests with conditions. I was trying to protect myself and maintain a little control.
I was praying with one hand closed instead of both hands open.
Prayer requires trust that God is always good; he is who he says he is and who he’s proven to be. The posture of praying with our hands open tells our brains that we want to receive–we’re ready to hear and obey. However, if we’ve got one hand open to blessing while the other hand is closed in self-protection, it’s likely that we’re afraid God might take something we’re not ready to give him.
treating God like a thief
Have you found yourself praying with closed hands? You keep asking God for the same thing, and there’s no response. No clarity. Why does this happen if God makes us promises in the Bible about wanting to answer our requests?
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11;23)
So here’s how we treat God like a thief:
- we don’t trust him (he’s a liar, a trickster, an abuser)
- we won’t confess our sins (he’s unfair, uninvolved, uncaring)
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
God does care. He is a good Father. He wants to answer our requests. He is not tricking us, abusing us, or ignoring us. He is good.
god has one response to our prayers: “yes.”
I grew up hearing these explanations for how God responds to us:
- God says “no”
- God says “wait”
- God says “yes”
Our duty was to keep praying through the no‘s and wait‘s until we got a yes. I’m not sure about this theology anymore. I agree that God doesn’t give us everything we want, but he gives us what we want when we want what he wants.
God’s always waiting to say “yes.” He’s patiently watching and encouraging us to learn and accept his will (that’s an easy yes). When he says “no,” it’s probably because we’re not asking to do his will; therefore, we don’t know his will or have his heart. God’s answers depend entirely on us. Click here to watch a recent sermon we gave on saying yes.
Look at these amazing promises:
Matthew writes, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (11:24) and “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (7:7-8).
James says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (1:6).
John writes, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (15:7).
Paul writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Isaiah writes, “Before you call I will answer you” (65:24).
Jeremiah relays God’s promises like this: “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile” (29:12-14).
Do you see the common denominator here? It’s YOU. It’s US.
God is not the glitch in the answered prayers process. We are.
He’s listening. He’s poised to respond. He’s already planned our success.
We have closed hearts and closed hands. (As a minimum, we’ve got closed fingers.) At some level, we don’t think he’s going to give us what we want. He’s not going to come through.
Our core beliefs about God’s sovereignty and will abide in our innermost selves. Let’s not reduce God to an arbitrary gift-giver who’s willing to make us wait for blessing. Our unanswered prayers come from hearts that hold back and extended hands that hide something between our fingers.
God made the Jews wait 400 years in Egypt and then 40 more years to enter the Promised Land (and the adults all died first). He made Abraham wait twenty-five years to have a baby. He made his people wait 4000 years for the Messiah. Are these wait answers?
I don’t think so. The people were not waiting on God; he was waiting on them. The people weren’t ready with open hands to receive.
God is always ready.
So the question is: Do you have fully opened hands?
That’s the only way you’ll find peace.
Respond in this community
Everyone who reads this would love to know how you hear from God. Please type your response in the Comment section so we can all benefit from your experience and grow in this area of open hands and open hearts.
You can download “7 Patterns of Soulspeak” or order the Selah Award-winning book Soulspeak: Praying Change into Unexpected Places.
