(Biblical Reference) Prayers are not answered by God because you are not praying to God but a god.

[John 6:29]

I find that a lot of people question why their prayers are not answered by God. Please note, if you wish to respond, provide biblical support, as my conclusions are based logically on the Bible. Not on anything else. If you disagree, I'm fine with that, but do not disagree by mere logic without support of the Bible because this thread is going to be based on the Bible. Thus it is mainly for Christians and "seekers." This is not a thread to debate about the validity and evidence of prayer.

Well, first and foremost, my belief is not that God is persuaded by our prayers, but that He designed our prayers to answer them. In other words, He is the Author of the prayer and the Author of the answer to the prayer. Why do I believe this? Because I believe every good and godly thing (such as prayer) to be from the Holy Spirit, or Christ (See Philippians 2:13), living in us (believers). I do not believe this to mean that we can outwardly live moral lives, we can, but it is not the outside that defiles a person. It is the inside, and I do believe in the core of every person we are all self-centered -- which does not bind the law, and thus is sin.

Now, I find people praying for belief. That is, because mankind cannot believe without Divine enablement of the Spirit, they will pray to God for belief. But their prayers aren't to God. They are prayers to an unknown god. This is also why prayers go unanswered.

If you do not believe, your prayers are not known to God, as in the sense of a believers prayer being known to God. Obviously God knows you are praying because He is omniscient, but knowledge in the Bible is based on a meaningful relationship between to people. For example, I know Ryan Reynolds, or rather, I know about him, but I do not know him as I know my friend Jordan. It is not an intimate knowledge of Ryan Reynolds, just a general knowledge, and so it is with God and His knowledge. He knows all people, but KNOWS in an intimate way (given the Bride/Husband example in the Bible) His people.

In Romans 10 (KJV) we find this:

11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

In order to pray to God, it presupposes that you believe in His Son. If you do not believe in His Son, you are not calling to the God of the Bible, but rather, an unknown God. So your prayers are unknown to God until you believe.

I'm sorry I took long to get to my point, but I hope that seekers and others will find help in this. You must believe before you pray or God does not hear your prayer in an intimate way and thus will not answer it in an intimate way.

If you are a seeker I highly recommend reading this book:

God's Way of Peace: A Book for the Anxious by Horatius Bonar