God Always Answers

 God always answers prayer, just not always the way we think He should or when...

When the idea is not right, God says, "No."

No - when the idea is not the best;

No - when the idea is absolutely wrong;

No - when though it may help you, it could create problems for someone else. 

When the time is not right, God says, "Slow."

What a catastrophe it would be if God answered prayer at the snap of your fingers;

Do you know what would happen? God would become your servant, not your master.

Suddenly God would be working for you instead of you working for God.

Remember, God's delays are not God's denials. God's timing is perfect.

Patience is what we need in prayer.

 When you are not right, God says, "Grow."

The selfish person has to grow in unselfishness

The cautious person must grow in courage

The timid person must grow in confidence

The dominating person must grow in sensitivity

The critical person must grow in tolerance

The negative person must grow in positive attitudes.

The pleasure-seeking person must grow in compassion for suffering people.

When everything is all right, God says, "Go." Then miracles happen!

...A hopeless alcoholic is set free!

...A drug addict finds release!

...A doubter becomes as a child in his belief.

...Diseased tissue responds to treatment, and healing begins.

...The door to your life suddenly swings open and there stands God saying, "Go!"

"I desire therefore that in every place men should pray, without anger or quarreling or resentment or doubt [in their minds], lifting up holy hands." (1 Timothy 2:8 AMP)  

God's Timing

"I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work. For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think." (Isaiah 55:8-9 The Message)

I heard a story which illustrates how we often confuse God's timing with ours. A country newspaper had been running a series of articles on the value of church attendance.

One day a letter to the editor was received in the newspaper office. It read, "Print this if you dare. I have been trying an experiment. I have a field of corn which I plowed on Sunday. I planted it on Sunday. I did all the cultivating on Sunday. I gathered the harvest on Sunday and hauled it to my barn on Sunday. I find that my harvest this October is just as great as any of my neighbors who went to church on Sunday. So where was God all this time?"

The editor printed the letter, but added his reply at the bottom. "Your mistake was in thinking that God always settles His accounts in October."

That's often our mistake as well - thinking God should act when and how we want Him to tact, according to our timeline instead of His. The fact that our vision is limited, finite, unable to see the end from the beginning, somehow escapes our mind. So we complain; we get frustrated and we accuse God of being indifferent to us - of not hearing us.

That's when God gently reminds us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways.

God's timing is always perfect. He will do exactly what is best for us - in His own time - according to His wonderful plans for us, because He loves us so much. Wait! Be patient! His clock may show a different time than our clock, but His is the right time every time!