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Unanswered Prayer

"This is the confidence that we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."¹

A friend told me about her minister whose five-year-old son told his father that he was praying for him. Excitedly his dad asked him, "And what did you ask God for?"

"Dear God," I prayed, "I don't want my dad to be a minister. Will you please make him the ice-cream man because he makes all children happy?"

We are amused by this child's prayer but I wonder sometimes if God doesn't laugh at some of my childish (not child-like), self-centered prayers. As someone else has said, God always answers prayer. Sometimes the answer is "Yes," sometimes it's "No;" sometimes it's "Wait a while;" and sometimes it's "You've got to be kidding."

Like a loving father, God knows what is best for us and answers accordingly. Of one thing we can be sure, when we come to him through Jesus Christ our Lord with a sincere heart, God always hears and answers our prayers one way or another. One of the keys for getting prayers answered the way we request them is, as the Bible says, to pray in harmony with God's will.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to know Your Word and always pray in harmony with Your will, and always trust that the answer You give is what is best for me and all others concerned. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."

1. John (1 John 5:14-15, NIV).

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