We pray to God in the belief that God hears our prayer and answers them. It sounds straight forward but what do you do when God doesn’t answer? Who do you write to about that?
I would like to suggest there are three ways in which God answers our prayers that are like a traffic light signal; no, wait and go. Sometimes the answer to prayer is an immediate go and we give thanks to God or if our prayer is not consistent with the character and will of God then the answer might by a simple no. My experience is that I seem to be waiting, on amber, most of the time so what does this mean? Luke 11:9-10 (AMP) gives us two answers; that we are to pray persistently (keep on asking/seeking/knocking) and to pray patiently (it will be given).
Persistence is not about convincing God but about our commitment and willingness to be refined by God to align ourselves more with God’s will and character. Like silver being purified we might need the commitment to stand the heat to allow any impurities to be removed. Patience is as simple and as hard as trusting that our sovereign God, who holds the universe and eternity before him, does indeed have our prayer in the palm of His hand.
What has been your experience of prayer? Are you still waiting? Can others be joining you to pray? Do you have answers to prayer that you can share? Why? So that we might give glory back to the one we pray to