unanswered prayer - Thoughts About God

Answered Prayer

Thoughts_About_God — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 08:03:05 +0000

Each of us should carry a thankful heart for every “yes” we receive from God as an answer to prayer. We can also be thankful He doesn’t say “yes” to prayers that are not in agreement with His will—prayers that are based on our wisdom and not on His; that would bring leanness to our souls; that would put us in the wrong place; that would make us ineffective; that would bring us into wrong relationships; that would cause our hearts to cool; that would keep us from His highest and rob us of His best.

I know not by what methods rare,

But this I know, God answers prayer.

I know He gives His pledged word

Which tells me prayer is always heard,

And will be answered soon or late,

Though often it is hard to wait.

I know not if the blessing sought

Will come in just the way I thought;

I leave my prayer with Him alone,

Whose will is wiser than my own,

Assured that He will grant my quest,

Or send an answer far more blest.
(-Unknown)

“And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.” 1 John 5:14 (AMP)

by Roy Lessin
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Praise God for Answered Prayer

Persistent Prayer

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The post Answered Prayer appeared first on Thoughts About God.

When Answers Aren’t Enough – There is Jesus!

Thoughts_About_God — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 08:06:53 +0000

“Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.” Psalm 9:10

“What’s the good of praying? My friends and I have prayed for years and nothing has happened. God doesn’t care. For all I know, He’s off playing golf.”

The young woman who spoke so passionately about her disappointment with God is not alone.

I understand her dilemma. One day my husband, a strong Christian leader, signed himself into a mental hospital. He had suffered a complete mental breakdown. Many people prayed for him. We were so certain that God would heal him. We clung to Bible verses that promised healing, such as:

“The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven” (James 5:15).

Healing made sense to me: we’d have a strong message of hope for the world. But my husband did not recover. Today he’s in a care home.

I admit, sometimes I’ve felt like giving up on prayer. I mean, what was the use? Things were taking their course from bad to worse just as though we had never prayed.

Yet what was the alternative? If I walked away from God, I would lose my source of greatest comfort and strength. So, I made a choice to press in deeper into the mystery of prayer.

As I’ve studied the Bible and many other books, I’ve come to the conclusion that prayer is not reciting a wish list to God. It’s not checking off answers. It’s not even cashing in promissory notes. When we are focused on answers, we become manipulative in our praying. We treat God as though He exists to serve us. And when the answers aren’t to our liking, we get in a huff with God.

There will always be a mystery regarding prayer: Why does God seem distant and silent when we need Him the most? Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent? Some people are healed; some are not. Some are delivered, some are not. What is the real purpose of prayer?

My search has led me to believe that the chief end of prayer is to develop a love relationship with God. As we get to know Him, we learn to trust Him. Instead of praying “give me answers” we learn to pray “your will be done.” In connecting with the universal purposes of God, we reach answers bigger and better than we imagined.

Father, teach me to be still and know that
you are God.

by Helen Grace Lescheid
Used by Permission

When God Answers Do We Hear?

Devotionals — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 08:06:29 +0000

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3

As the man, late for an appointment, drove around the packed office parking lot he could find not one parking space. He kept driving and increased his fuming. Suddenly he thought to pray, saying, “Lord, you know how important this meeting is and if you will find me a parking space, I will attend church every Sunday for the next year.”

Suddenly a space miraculously opened up right in front of him and he pulled right in. He thought and suddenly began to pray, “Oh God, never mind. I found a space right in front of me.”

God hears and answers prayer, sometimes, yes, sometimes no and sometimes wait.

Sometimes we get frustrated as we want immediate answers and we want what we prayed for. But God is God and not a celestial order taker.

I have asked God for a lot of things, but in retrospect, I am glad He didn’t give me what I asked for, as it would have been a disaster for me. He knows much better than I do what is best for me and what is His plan for my life. Prayer is not an exercise in asking for what we want but praising Him and asking what He wants for our lives.

Sometimes God answers our prayers in strange ways and we need to focus on. we are often unprepared for the answers we receive from God. His answers frequently do not look at first like answers. They look like problems. They look like trouble. They look like loss, disappointment, affliction, conflict, sorrow, and increased selfishness. They cause deep soul wrestling and expose sins and doubts and fears. They are not what we expect, and we often do not see how they correspond to our prayers.

The Lord of the universe isn’t under obligation to say “yes” to every prayer. That’s a good thing, considering some of the things we request. But sometimes God says “no” to our most heartfelt requests. Have you discovered this to be true in your own life? I certainly have.

When we pray we should look carefully for a response. It may be disguised even though it is right before our eyes. And when God answers our prayers we should rejoice, give thanks and give Him all the glory.

By John Grant
Used by Permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Time Zones & Faith

Thoughts_About_God — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 07:03:53 +0000

Our thought for today comes from a woman who has had more difficulties to deal with than a lot of us put together. That is why she has a right to say what she says, and why we should take notice when she says it.

“I know discouragement comes easy, but I also know things happen when God is ready for them to happen and not a second sooner. God knows why he wants things to happen in the order they have to. We just need to be ready when they come.”

This is a woman in a complex situation seeking to hold onto a childlike faith while displaying an adult-like wisdom. What she’s saying is that she has recognized there are two different time zones going on when it comes to correlating God’s will and our experience. One I’ll call My Desperate Time (MDT) and the other, God’s Own Time (GOT).

Most of us run on MDT. MDT defines our reality. It’s what we see and feel always. We are conscious of it the minute we rise up in the morning until we put our weary heads on the pillow at night. We measure pleasure and pain by it; we judge our overall state-of-being by it.

God, on the other hand, exists in another time zone entirely. In GOT, His will is always done, and nothing is ever late. GOT also takes into account the MDT of everyone, which can often get tangled up. You see there are as many MDT zones as there are people, and that means they can often be in conflict. But with God there is never any conflict. There is only one GOT and as far as He is concerned, everything is right on schedule.

This is why it is utterly silly to wonder if God has heard our prayers based on whether or not He has acted in MDT. God always hears our prayers — He has most likely already answered them — he just answered them in GOT.

Most of our issues with God are all about time zones. Think about the hapless Bible character, Job. Job was smack in the middle of MDT all the while he was suffering, and his best friends were trying to figure out why God wasn’t doing anything in MDT. Well, we know now that God rarely does; He is always in GOT and we can see that now, in Job’s case, because his life ultimately caught up with GOT. Eventually, all MDT will be GOT. In fact, that will be what heaven is all about. We will all be kicking back in God’s Own Time.

So faith is mostly all about time zones. When you pray, know that you were heard, and move ahead, believing in GOT and just maybe, MDT won’t be so desperate.

Question: What “time zone” do you see yourself usually operating in?

by John Fischer
used by permission

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