Have you ever had something that you pray for consistently, but you feel as if your prayer is never answered or that God is ignoring you? Of course! We all have. We become weary of praying and waiting, we and begin to question the purpose and power of prayer. There is a reason for some of those "unanswered prayers".
I believe that God places His will in our hands. For example, it's God's will for everyone to be "saved", but God gives us a choice as to whether or not we choose Him.. It's kinda like the movie "The Matrix" (red pill or blue pill"). You can CHOOSE the path that God has for you or you can CHOOSE not to follow His path. Overall, God is a God of choice. He allows us to choose our fate.
How does he allow us to choose our fate, and why would he do that if He has everything planned out? And since he has everything planned out, what's the point of praying and asking for things?
1). The prayers of the righteous prevaileth MUCH.
This means that the prayers of those who are Righteous, who choose to honor and serve God with their whole hearts, have a looottt more weight than those who are unrighteous. That being said, it's like a mother having an obedient child and a bad child. The obedient child probably gets more, and appears to be the favorite child. Is it because the mothet loves him more? No. It's because the obedience of the child softens the mother's heart to WANT to give to the child. Same thing with God. Those who are Righteous and obedient have greater favor with God than disobedient servants.
As far as God seeing our heart, it's works like this; Sometimes we want a BMW but get stuck with a Honda. We pray and pray for that BMW and STILL get stuck with that Honda. Why is that?? Well, first God analyzes WHY we want the BMW. Is it to be flashy and boastful? Is it to feel successful? Also, He examines our hearts to see if we are ready for that BMW. Will you idolize the BMW? Will you allow yourself to get in greater debt with the BMW? Will you remain humble? Will you continue to serve God and help others? These are factors that God considers before just giving us what we ask for. Kind of like a mother. You asked her for a lot growing up. Some things she said "no" to, and though we didn't understand as children, ultimately we had to understand that mothers tend to know most times what's best for their children. Same thing with God.
So, if u ever question why prayers arent getting answered, examine your heart. Does your heart dwell with the things of God? Or your own selfish desires? If your heart is lined up with the word of God and in the will of God, you shouldn't have a problem. Does that mean u get everthing you pray for? Heecckk NO. But it does mean that if you don't get what you pray for, you will TRUST God's reasoning. Once we submit our lives to God, we ask for His will to be done. Because God gives us choice, we have to ALLOW God to be God if we CHOOSE to serve, trust, and rely on Him. Having faith in God and His will means that sometimes we may not understand WHY God doesn't do this/that or answer this/that prayer. But even if we don't understand, we know that in the end, God knows best, and He loves us so much that sometimes he just can't give us everything that we ask for because we don't always know what's best for ourselves. Even if we THINK we do, ultimately, God knows best, and He will give us the best IF we CHOOSE to allow Him too.
The best place for us to start, is to throughly, openly, and consistently examine our hearts. Ask God to give you His heart. Whatever breaks His heart, I want it to break my heart. Whatever brings Him joy, I want it to bring my joy as well. When me heart's not right, I don't want to be at peace. I want to be so convicted that I cannot even function until my heart is where it needs to be. It's THAT serious!
Thank you for taking the time to allow me to share my thoughts on this matter!
~Aleshia
