Do you pray believing that God hears you? Do you hesitate sometimes about His goodness and what it means or whether He really wants to be good to you?
You are not alone. I think many of us wonder sometimes if God will really give us what we ask. Small bits of doubt appearing on the forefront of our minds and before we know it, we entertain and dwell on them.
Stop and know that when you pray, God listens.
When we do not receive the answer we want, it does not mean God does not listen because He always does, but He will only give what His plan permits. He even gives us our hearts’ desires, even though it might not have been His first choice for us, but as His children, our desires matter to Him and He will bless it but not to the point where it will harm us or push us away from Him.
The Bible says that we can have confidence in God because everything we ask according to His will He hears (1 John 5:14). It does not say He gives but if you continue to read verse 15 it says, “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” It almost seems that when we pray according to His will He hears and gives. We can know that He will not withhold any good thing from us for as long as it is in line with His will.
How do you know what to pray according to His will?
His Word.
God gives us everything we need in His Word. His Word is filled with scriptures on what is His will, for example, be grateful in everything you do, pray continually, read His Word as it is the breath of life, rest in Him, be graceful, do not fall asleep at night being angry, be humble, seek God and His righteousness and everything else will be added unto you. The guidance we seek may not always come in the package we expect it to come. If we can only trust God and rest in His will, we will not be disappointed and we can have peace in the fact that He listens to us. Our prayer time will not be about only asking but it will be seen as an opportunity to speak to our Father, our best Friend, our everything.
It will no longer be about what you can take from Him, but what you can receive by resting and enjoying every minute in His presence.
God is good.
He is good all the time.
All the time He is good.
For a long time I thought a tennis career was God’s plan for my life. I did everything I knew to succeed in that. All my effort and time went into becoming the best tennis player I could be. But when God brought an end to my career I was devastated. I thought my plans were His plans, but they were not. I prayed and believed that was it, but it never was. Yes, He wanted me to enjoy tennis but never to make it the be all and end all of my life. I unknowingly even allowed it to take His first place in my life.
When I allowed Him to reveal His plan for me and not force Him into the plans I had for myself, I was amazed at the beauty I began to see in the little things around me. It was no longer about me and what I can do but everything became about God and what He does. The grace I receive when I do not deserve it. The beauty in my ashes. The peace in the midst of storms. What I thought was an end, was only the beginning to a much more fulfilled and “God-filled” life.
I realised that not even the best possible answers which I envisage to my prayers are a match to God’s answers and the blessings I can receive from that. Yes, it may be a shock at first in some instances, but they always turn out worth the surprise.
Are you still prepared to ask of God, knowing that you might not always get what you want and how you want it?
Consider it a challenge: begin to see your prayers in the first place as an opportunity to converse with God and your requests will flow as He puts them in your heart. Some may even surprise you. And then finally, rest knowing that He loves you and wants to be good to you.