Answered My Prayer (1/5)

 

There are many times in my life when I felt like giving up on God because He didn't answer my prayers. I really did struggle and scuffle with how God answers my prayers. I had often times wondered why God never answers in the very ways I pray when He is Who He is; promised to never leave me nor forsake me; and will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory?

I have, for some time now, learnt that this is not unique to me. Majority of believers from time to time do fall in this predicament again and again. I wouldn't be surprised that as you read this article, you are already aligning yourself to it. Hope this will help you understand why you should never give up praying even when God seems not to answer your prayers in the way you would like Him to. Though we can claim that He will grant as the desires of our hearts, our desires must first be found in line with his will. Therefore, hold your arguments back for a moment and just read on, you will be blessed.

Whenever I go before the Lord in prayer, two things always accompany me; first to make request from the Lord by presenting before Him my petitions, and second because I have come to him, believing who He is; the promises He has made in His word, and my strong faith, that by all means, He will give me a positive answer. I am always anticipating His goodwill to meet my needs. But as I do so, never at one time do I meditate on what the Lord's answer will be. In fact in some quarters they insist that if you did so, then you doubt God. There are no two ways about it, God just has to answer me here and now and according to my request, will and desire. Unfortunately that is not always the case with the Lord; He is not a son of Adam to reason like me.

As I share with you how the Lord answers my prayers, first and foremost I want you to know that God has always answered every prayer I have ever prayed in my Christian life. "But pastor…" you may be thinking "I have a list of a thousand things that God has never answered me, and how come he has answered all your prayers?" well the problem is that you only conclude that the Lord has answered you if the answer is either according to your requests and/or if it is a "YES" answer.

Have you ever heard of a man who thanked God for not saying "YES" to all his prayers for a marriage partner? Had God said "YES", he says, "I would have been polygamy of a hundred wives today". There are a number of ways in which God answers your prayers dear friend. Just stop being stiff necked in the name of faith and know the truth about God.

Let me bring to your attention five ways in which God answers my prayers.

When God says "YES"

What a glorious experience it is when God says yes! Every believer leaps for joy! At times we even lose sight of God, and like our friends in other camps, we give credit to our faith. As if it is our believing that twisted the arm of God. The Lord answers yes simply because we have prayed according to His will. Please don't get me wrong, I do not reject the fact that God would have us exercise great faith and belief, however the ultimate truth is that you prayed according to His will. I guess the next question would be "how can I know God's will before I pray so that I can pray with direction?" well that's for later.

The Lord in the book of James (Jam 5:13- 16) gives us a very practical example of the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, who had learnt to pray according to God's will. And every time he did, God answered with an emphatic yes! In fact the answers were not simply cloudy, but specific to the request. For that reason God would have us always praying and never to loose heart (Luk 18:1- 8) until we know His answer.

Today I can recount from one request to another of the things I have prayed for and God had said "Yes!" A clear and sure sign that I prayed according to His will. It was not because I had a strong belief or faith in Him but simply because I had enquired for what His will was and asked in that accord. And that's just one of the ways in which God answers my prayers.

In case you have something upon your heart and you think God will not answer you with a yes, please seek His will first. For God is able to answer you according to the need at hand. If you don't hear from Him today don't give up, keep on praying.

Watch this space for the remaining ways in which God answers my prayers…