Ask and You Will Receive

“If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). This was Jesus’ promise to his disciples. Yet sometimes it doesn’t seem like our prayers are being answered. Have you ever been praying for something for a long period of time, but still don’t have resolution? Have you been praying about something for so long that you begin to question if God is listening to you? Does it make you feel like God doesn’t care about you?

Why Won’t God Answer My Prayer?

Many times you will hear people respond to those questions with, “perhaps you don’t have enough faith” or “you don’t believe enough.” But just because you haven’t heard an answer to your prayer doesn’t mean your faith is weak.

In some cases this is true (John 15:7). You will have to examine your heart to see if you truly believe God can do what you are asking, if you are asking for the right reasons (James 4:3), and if what you are asking aligns with God’s will (1 John 5:14-15).

Those are a few reasons why your prayer might seem unanswered. However, it could also be that God has answered your prayer and you didn’t hear it. What do I mean by that?

Sometimes the answer is no, and that’s an answer we don’t want to hear.

Sometimes the Answer is No

Paul asked God to remove a thorn in his flesh, and God said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). God said no to Paul. This wasn’t because Paul didn’t have faith, but because God wanted to keep Paul from becoming conceited. God had a reason for saying “no.” Paul went on to live a life doing God’s will.

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked the Father, “Remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42 ESV), but in the end this wasn’t God’s will. Jesus submitted to the will of the Father.

Perhaps God has answered your prayer and you didn’t recognize it because the answer was no. God’s answer to every prayer isn’t always the answer we want to hear, or what we expected or hoped for, but it is always the right answer. Just like with the examples of Paul and Jesus, there is a reason why God says no.

As I wrote above, the reason and intention behind the prayer matters. When you question God for not answering your prayer, are you really asking, “Why won’t He give me what I want?”

When we realize God answered our prayer and the answer was “no,” the question becomes: How do we respond?

How Do We Respond?

Do we get angry at God and become discouraged? Do we give up? Often we begin to question God about His motive instead of looking inside at ours.

What did Paul and Jesus do when the answer was no? They both submitted to God’s will and did what God asked of them. They gave us the example we should follow. We might not understand why God said “no,” but His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) and we can rest assured in the knowledge that God is in control and there is a reason.

This doesn’t mean that we should stop praying. The Bible tells us the opposite. We are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This is a point Jesus also made in the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-7.

This parable doesn’t mean, if we beg God for something long enough, He will give in to us. But there is still one more possibility: it could also be that God hasn’t said “no.” Maybe it’s just that the timing isn’t right and God has said “not yet.” So we should keep praying and trusting in God.

God is never late and His timing is always perfect. The problem is that we are impatient. We want a speedy answer, while God gives us a timely one.

God hears all of our requests and He knows what we want before we ask Him, but He also knows what we need, even when we don’t. Many times these two things are completely different.

God doesn’t always give us the answer we want when He answers our prayers. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it’s no, and sometimes it’s not yet. How we respond to God’s answer is what matters.

If you enjoyed this content please scroll down and comment, subscribe, and share! You can also follow Cross Talk on Facebook by clicking on the link in the sidebar on the Cross Talk home page.