You have heard of the prayer of faith but I believe there is a mirror image of this prayer that is based on flesh — the prayer of unbelief. Such prayer is totally unacceptable to God; in fact, Scripture says it is sinful in his eyes.
Moses, a godly, praying man who had followed God’s calling at every step came to a crisis in his life. The Israelites were being chased by Pharaoh and there was absolutely no hope of escape except to go through the Red Sea. Moses knew in his heart that this crisis was ordained of God and yet, the panicked cries of hundreds of thousands of people were ringing in his ears, so he went to an isolated hillside and loudly poured out his heart in prayer. God did not take kindly to his all-night crying because it was evidence of a root of unbelief in his heart.
I doubt that you ever heard the Lord tell you, “Quit crying and get up off your knees.” But the Lord rebuked Moses, “Why do you cry to Me?” (Exodus 14:15). The literal Hebrew meaning of this verse is, “Why are you shrieking at me?”
Why would God say this to Moses? Because when God called Moses to deliver Israel, he promised to give him a voice that people would listen to (see Exodus 3:18). However, Moses responded with unbelief, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’” (4:1).
Think how foolish Moses’ unbelief was. By God’s power, he had already performed incredible wonders and he later experienced face-to-face intimacy with God. But here at the Red Sea, he hesitated in unbelief and God commanded, “Take spiritual authority over this crisis and move forward in faith. Hours from now, you’ll be dancing with joy.”
As we face our own crises, we may convince ourselves that prayer is the most important thing we can do. But a time comes when God calls us to act, to obey his Word in faith, lest our prayers be offered in unbelief.