Have you ever wanted something so badly that you find yourself praying to God every day about it? Begging Him for that one thing, that one opportunity, that one person or even just
some direction and yet God doesn’t seem to provide a clear answer.
You’re screaming from the rooftop and your mind is going crazy thinking about every possible scenario, hoping for some sort of yes or no. The Bible gives us some insight on how we should pray in order to receive an answer.
There are three elements of prayer highlighted in John 16:24 “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
The first element to prayer is to ask God in His name. The second element
to prayer is to ask. Be specific about what you need from Him. God makes it really clear that
we can ask him for anything, but the main issues we face are:
We don’t have the faith to ask Him for what we really want. We believe our ‘ask’ is impossible and we can’t see a way for that situation to come about, so we project our doubts onto God and in most circumstances, we don’t bother asking for it at all.
Deep down we know what we are in need of, but we don’t ask because we are scared of the answer as it doesn’t align with our vision for the future.
We already have the answer we are looking for; we just can't accept it because we believe that we know better than God.
God has already answered our prayers and is working things out for us in His time, we just can’t see the blessing yet.
These issues are all about trust. How can we expect God to give us answers to our prayers if
we do not trust that His answers are in our best interest? Furthermore, how can we expect
God to answer when we don’t even believe our situation can be changed?
God cannot give us the answer because we’re not really asking. When praying, we are content to skip past the real issues in our lives because we are afraid to give up control of the outcome. If you’ve ever found yourself asking God about the same situation over and over again, deep down you probably know the answer. We struggle to accept Gods will for us in our lives, so we pray on repeat in hope that His answer has changed. This is the part where we blame God, we get angry, we cry, we scream in frustration at His lack of response. Silence doesn’t necessarily mean that our prayers are not answered, it may be that we need to revaluate our approach to prayer.
We need to remember that God is not working on our timeline; God has his own timeline and He knows what we need right now. Sometimes it’s about letting go of our pre-conceived
ideas of the future and surrendering to His will. There are times when we believe we know
what is best for us and we pray accordingly but God has a different plan for our lives. A
better one. We need to trust God’s plan for us, even if we can’t see past our present situation.
The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God’s intentions for our lives are clear, He wants us to live an abundant life. When we surrender to His will, the final element of prayer is satisfied, and we receive an answer. God has already heard and answered our prayers before we finish them, just because we cannot see the blessing straight away does not mean it is not there. We need to have patience in waiting to receive the answer.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
God will answer our prayers when we are honest and faithful in coming to Him with our problems. His answer may not be what you hoped for, but you can rest assured that it will be what you need.
Hey everyone! My name is Kymberley, I am currently studying a Bachelor of
Communications (Advertising) and I am passionate about making a difference in people’s
lives through writing. You can find me on Instagram & you can read more of my work on My Edge Mag.
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