When most people pray they hope God’s response will be yes. Sometimes God agrees to our petition and His assistance is immediate. But most times, at least in my experience, that is not the case. There have been many times in my past life where I believed I needed to hammer God persistently, until He answered my prayer or I got tired of asking. There were times I would change the manor or words of my prayer hoping to strike the right tone or magical expression, to which God would acquiesce. I am embarrassed there were a few times I tried to negotiate with Him by promising a quid-pro-quo, “if you do this for me, I will do that for You”. Looking back, I am embarrassed how I asked for some things and even disgusted with myself for a few of them. But I am confident God looked at me as a loving father would to a young child, shaking His head with a loving smile. I have come to learn when God shakes His head, He is not actually saying no.
Three ways God responds to our prayers
I am sharing a line from the Paramount Series “1923” written by Taylor Sheridan whereby God has 3 answers to our prayer requests:
1. Yes!
2. Not yet!
3. I have other plans for you!
Yes
Yes means yes and if God agrees with our request then we can be assured it is in agreement with His will for us. There is nothing more satisfying and peaceful watching doors open for us that we thought were closed. Extraordinary opportunities delivered to us that we thought impossible. It produces an unexplained happiness knowing our desires are in agreement with His will.
It happened for me when I was diagnosed with a terminal cancer in February 2021. Truthfully, I did not ask God to heal me, but I did ask for His help to give my wife and I the strength to deal with the situation. I also asked Him to help me figure out my finances to help pay for my health insurance (Obamacare) premium of $1,600 per month. I thought since my life expectancy was limited, I should collect social security early. Fortunately, God placed the right person at the Social Security Administration to receive my call. She asked my reason for accepting lesser social security payments by collecting it early. Upon hearing my dilemma, she said I am going to place you into the Compassion Allowance Program. Thankfully, I received my full social security benefits almost immediately and the amount more than covered my health insurance until I was eligible for Medicare. People who know me would not characterize me as an emotional person. My wife thinks I am borderline autistic. But there was a very emotional thank you with tears of joy to my loving Father in heaven. If you are curious, the cancer metastasized to my backbone a couple of years ago which normally reduces life expectancy to 4-10 months. Although this type of cancer is not curable, I am still here. When friends ask how I am doing, I always respond “so far, so good” knowing nothing happens without God’s permission. My wife would say my still being here is God’s yes to her prayers!
Not Yet
Not yet is a tough one. If God doesn’t deliver an immediate yes, how do we know He is actually agreeing to our petition? Fortunately, after Jesus’ work on the cross, He sent us The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t float above us or nearby, He indwells within us.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; – 1 Corinthians 6:19
The Holy Spirit is God’s light in you. If you allow Him, He will guide you, He will counsel you and give you the discernment to know God’s will for you. Perhaps “not now” means, you are asking for something that is coming but you are not ready for it. For example, a parent would not give their car keys to a 5-year old and say “take it for a spin”. We need to learn to be patient and submit to God’s timing as guided by His Holy Spirit.
The cost of impatience can be quite severe. How many single women pray for a good man to come into their lives but become restless when God is slow to respond. How many times do women marry a man and then try to change him? Joyce and Sam had a whirlwind romance. Sam was handsome, very successful, and he showered Joyce with gifts throughout their courtship. Sam even attended church with Joyce. But Sam wasn’t a believer and Joyce would be the first to say, she always knew Sam did not honor God in his heart. But he was a wonderful guy and Joyce reasoned that God put Sam into her life for a reason. She would help him get “saved” after they married. Last I heard, Joyce and Sam’s marriage was not doing very well. I think Joyce chose Sam over loneliness and in lieu of waiting on God to answer her prayer, Joyce used “human” reasoning to rationalize marrying a non-believer.
Joyce learned the cost of not waiting on God and ignoring His Holy Spirit is like walking in the dark. Being alone is not the same as being lonely. Moving forward without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is costly and Joyce found being married to the wrong person is true loneliness.
I have other plans for you
I have other plans for you! God answers all prayers and in lieu of saying no, He says “I have something much better for you”. Fifty-five years ago my older cousin met a guy in college. Carl was a great guy and not only did he win my cousin’s heart but the hearts of the rest of the family as well. Everyone was excited when they became engaged. Long story short, Carl met someone else and broke off the engagement. My cousin was devastated. Her heart was broken and her sadness lasted a very long time. I do not know what her heartfelt prayers were at the time but everyone came to know later that God’s answer was “I have someone else in mind for you”. A few years later she met Bob and they were married 40 plus years until she recently went to live with the Lord. They enjoyed a wonderful marriage honoring God and He blessed them with 6 children and a dozen or so grandchildren.
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.” – Jeremiah 29:11
All three answers require our total trust in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Trust requires us to submit our will to His will. We thank Him for His gift of free-will by using it to submit our will to His will, with the confidence and full trust, His will is best for us! Basically, He gives us free-will and believers respond with “thanks but no thanks, we prefer to give our free-will back to You and submit to Your will”. An apple tree will not bear any other fruit other than apples. It has no choice. Although we are created to be fruitful, we are not only given a choice to be fruitful but we are given the choice of what fruit to bear. We can bear the fruit of our own design (good luck with that) or the fruit we were designed to bear.
My go-to prayer for my friends and loved ones is that they turn toward God and be filled with His Light. That they agree to live their lives in agreement with His will in their thoughts, their purpose and their actions. I firmly believe God created each of us for a specific purpose, a life He envisioned for us. However, He also gave us free- will. We have a loving God, our creator, the Supreme Being, who decided not only to give us life but the choice on what to do with it. We can live the life He intended for us or choose our own path. Unfortunately, some people never figure out that the life God purposed us for is the best life. Others like me, figure it out much later in life, and the few and very blessed realize it early on.
Turn towards God and be filled with His light and pray to Him with full trust and confidence that your prayers will be answered! -Amen
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