What if God does not answer my prayers?
There’s a pitfall most millennial Christians fall into, and it’s the pit of feeling that their prayers will not be answered. Kill that idea that God doesn’t answer your prayers or will not answer them. The right question to ask is “do I know when God has replied?” and “will I be willing to accept the answers that God gives me even though they were not the answers I expected?”
One thing to come to terms with is that God is love and is not a snub, He understands the longings and dissatisfaction that often follow after a series of prayers have been made, and there’s seemingly no answer, because of this, he makes it a point of duty from the place of love to ALWAYS provide answers to our prayers and seeking of Him.
… God is love and is not a snub.
The greater challenge now comes when we are not able to properly recognize those answers, or when the answers received don’t align with what we expected from Him. When we expect a prompt reply but He says “wait”, we begin to doubt that God can actually say “wait”. When you have prayed about that promotion and expect it, but are sacked, you begin to pray about near success syndromes as we do in this part of the world. If God responds to your prayers with answers you do not expect, then believe it’s actually what you need at that point.
The inability of most people especially young Christians to recognize God’s voice in these kinds of responses stems from the ‘get it quick’ teachings that have saturated the church over time. The plethora of teachings that have taught a grace message that is grave and sitting on a one-legged chair have put many in a place where they do not see the workings of God holistically but from a very narrow prism of their understanding of grace.
For this article, I’d like to draw reference from our dear Apostle Paul who at a time was plagued with sickness or in his own words “a thorn in the flesh”. Three times he sought God to take it away from Him, but God responded, only in a different way Paul did not expect.
Paul prayed that prayer three times like many of us have prayed about a situation. For some of us, we have started series of fastings and prayers just because we need to see a change happen. Three times he prayed, and God replied with something he never expected. God did not lift the ailment but He answered. As long as God was concerned for that prayer of Paul, He had answered him. Here’s what God told him in the twelfth chapter and ninth verse of the second book of Corinthians:
‘And he said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”’
Paul had to bring himself to the place of accepting God’s response over what he thought or expected God to reply him. Therein lay the peace and strength he expected.
For you as a person, the same thing happens. You need to bring yourself to accept what God’s answers are for you and not what you think He should say. When next you come to the place of prayer, come with a heart to accept what He will say. He might respond with what you expect or not, either way, he will provide you with answers that you truly need.
Until next time, stay rapturable.😊😊