Remember who is boss

Almost routinely I hear people complain that God does not answer prayer.
Indeed I have written about it many times and you are probably sick of it, but I feel led to address it again. The Bible teaches that God does answer prayer, yet He does so in His own time frame and the answer that He provides is His answer, not necessarily ours.

Consider how it works in a company. Those who report to upper management constantly petition for what they desire. The petitions are each carefully considered and eventually a decision is rendered. Sometimes the petition is accepted as is and the request is immediately granted. Sometimes it’s not accepted until a few modifications are made. Sometimes the request is flat out rejected, because it obviously is not in the best interest of all concerned.

Anyone who is a parent operates in exactly the same manner. Every request made by their children is not Carte blanche accepted on the child’s timetable. Some of them are, but not all of them. Parents know that everything for which their children ask is not always in their best interest, even though the child adamantly believes that they know best.

I believe that our heavenly Father operates in just such a manner. He grants some requests exactly as asked; others He grants in a modified form, not giving us exactly what we asked, but close enough; and others He flat out rejects because He knows that it is not in our best interest or in accordance with His plan for our lives, or the lives of those around us.

Another thing He does is answer prayer in His own time frame, not our time frame. God does not report to us, we report to Him. A prayer is not an order; it is a request. We are not in a position to demand that almighty God jump when we whistle. We should humbly, but persistently petition God to hear our prayer and give us full consideration.

This should be done within the spirit of cheerful acceptance of His answer. We should also be patient, His answer might be, “Yes”, “Not now, I’ll help you out with this, but it will take at least a year”, or “NO!”

Some folks will spend themselves into a mountain of debt during a period of years using every credit card under the sun, and expect God to get them out of the mess in a day’s time with no effort. Maybe He will let you hit the lottery and give you instant gratification, but don’t count on it. If he were to bail you out with some painless solution, you probably won’t learn anything and in a short period of time be right back where you started.

God knows what we need before we ask. Pray that He will fulfill our petitions and answer our prayers, but remember who we petition has our best interests in His heart. Hallowed is His name.
__________________________

Matt.6:9
In this manner, therefore,
pray;
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
and do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil
one.
For yours is the kingdom and
the power and the glory
forever, Amen.