We sometimes complain about why our prayers are not answered or delayed. We complain because of our shortcomings.
Our weaknesses
We complain because we do not in truth know or appreciate or acknowledge who God is. Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say I am? This is found in Matthew 16:15; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20. Jesus sought to address the problem from its root which is knowledge. Outside the point of knowledge, we are able to rightly relate with God. We sometimes offend God in prayer by our language, conduct and thoughts. We offend God because in truth we do not know who God is.
We do not understand God because we do not abide in him and him in us to enable us to get what we want upon asking, John 15:7. Only associating with God is not enough to move God’s hands in our favour. We do not show a relationship that ought to exist between God our father and us as his servants. We rather command him to accede to our dictates, Matthew 6:9. We must approach God rightly and in reverence befitting of us.
We have no confidence that God is superior and the creator of all things. We fail to accept that we are his unworthy servants who deserve nothing hence God accepts us based on his infinite compassion, love, mercy and grace. We think God has changed but God does not, we rather do, Job 23:13; Malachi 3:6. God remains true and pure. He honours his words of promise, Psalms 50:15.
We do not ask in humility but in pretenses based on our situation or challenges. God does not answer a heart of iniquity, Psalms 66:18. We do not qualify for God’s attention save by his favour and the testimony of our conscience, 2 Corinthians 1:12. It is not as of our right or works but God’s grace. God owes no one. We rather owe him gratitude for his mercy and daily sustenance.
God is a silent listener
God is a silent listener to all prayers. However, because he has given us our free will, he sometimes watches us until it is necessary to intervene. This is because some of our challenges are self-inflicted based on our bad choices. As a silent listener, God is a firsthand witness to how we exercise our choices, Deuteronomy 30:15. If we live right, we have no cause to worry even if responses to our prayers seem delayed. God knows our strengths and weaknesses right from the womb, Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 44:2.
Because God is omniscient, he hears and sees all we say and do at the same time at every moment of our lives. This means nothing can be hidden from him. All our secrets and dark lives are made bare before him no matter how hard we may try to conceal them, Isaiah 29:15. God as a good father considers our lives upon every petition we present before him either by ourselves or others. He will surely not give to us what will consume or destroy us in the end.
God’s silence to prayer
God’s silence to our prayers simply means we should wait awhile or we have asked wrongly or it is not yet a need or he has already answered in the spirit awaiting manifestation physically. God will always supply us only our needs not wants, at the right time, Philippians 4:19. God acts differently from us because his ways are not our ways or his thoughts our thoughts, Isaiah 55:8.
We need to accept this fact if we must be at peace with God and to successfully tap into his divine promise. God’s apparent silence to prayer is therefore an answer in another form. A closer walk with God will make us know the meaning of his silence and by that we can appreciate God’s spiritual character with wisdom and in truth, John 4:24. We have to work on our character rather than blaming God for breach of promise.
Effectual prayer
We must first know our spiritual identity as a chosen people so we can live by its tenets, 1 Peter 2:9. We need to know God’s will or what he wants us to do at any time, Matthew 12:49. We must be in total submission to God as Jesus Christ did, Matthew 6:10. Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God, Philippians 2:6. It is God who has called or chosen us not the reverse so we owe him a duty of obedience in humility, Isaiah 42:6; 54:6.
Prayers are answered if we approach God in spirit and in truth, John 4:24. We must satisfy the precondition of reconciling with our offenders prior to prayer or sacrifice, Matthew 5:8 and 24. We must approach God with a sincere, grateful and cheerful heart, Proverbs 15:13. We must be thankful to God always irrespective of our circumstances, Ephesians 5:20.
We must not be anxious about anything but in prayer and supplication make your request known to God, Philippians 4:6. We must not dictate to God but submit to his plan just as Jesus did when he said in prayer to God, “not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matthew 26:39. We must learn to trust God always in faith with patience and leave God to decide on the way forward in all circumstances, Psalms 37:5.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, please keep us alert in spirit through effective prayer of faith always. Heal our complaints and unbelief now that we know your apparent silence is always for our good. Thank you for answered prayer. Amen!!
