How God Answers Prayer

Good afternoon, everyone. What a week that was. Some of you were more aware than others of all the detailed work that went into it. You heard it during the announcements, but I can’t help but comment to what an exciting week it was to take the studio from dusting to production in the course of seven days. And even a little faster than that, there’s website changes, studio updates, equipment changes, postings, marketing, so many things went into play. And then, of course, right at the very last minute, we had an export issue, so we had to re-export the file again, and then we got it all up by about ten o’clock last night. So again, I emailed last night thanking all the teams here that made it happen so very, very quickly.

I’m going to shift gears, and recently, we heard a sermon about prayer and what it is, kind of gotten to some of the nuts and bolts of it in a general sense, but I’m going to tackle this from a different direction today, and I’ll start with, as often I like to do, with a question. Have you ever prayed and felt like you’re not sure what God’s answer is? So that’s different from going and praying, going through the motions, getting on your knees, asking for the things that you need. This is about the answer. Have you ever been in situations... I don’t need to see a show of hands because everyone would raise their hand. Have you ever been in a situation where you were not sure what God’s answer was or if He even answered at all?

We know it’s one of the tools of growth is Bible study, meditation, prayer. We have to pray to God. That’s us speaking to the creator of the universe, but when He responds back to us, do we recognize what He’s doing? Do we recognize it? Do we understand it, or do we even know the different ways in which He can do so? Because there are multiple different ways God can respond to our prayers. So what we’re going to dig into today, we’re going to explore some of these multiple ways God can answer prayer and you and my role in how we receive those answers.

That becomes the key element in all of this throughout the entire message, how you and I receive God’s answer often flavors whether or not we recognize His answer because what we want may not necessarily be what we need. So you never have heard... I hope you haven’t, that you prayed and then you heard, “I will answer your prayer.” Because God apparently sounds like He’s from the Lord of the Rings.

But I’ve never heard God actually, and we shouldn’t hear God audibly give us an answer to our prayers. So we have to figure out what the answer is, though, because that changes everything in our direction of what we do, how we live our lives. How we respond to that is based on being able to understand His answer, being able to interpret, recognize. And that starts with looking at the multiple ways He could answer.

Let’s go back to the book of Genesis in Genesis chapter forty-one. Genesis chapter forty-one, we’ll start in verse thirty-eight. Verse thirty-eight reads, “And Pharaoh said unto his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this, a man whom the spirit of God is?’” Someone who has God’s spirit. “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘Forasmuch as God has showed you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are.’” Talking to Joseph is Pharaoh, one of the powerful, almost like a human god. Verse forty, “You shall be over my house, and according to your word, you shall be over my people rule, the only throne will be greater is Pharaoh.” But that’s not how it started. Did it? That’s the end game.

That’s years and years later after prayer, after prayer, after prayer, Joseph asked over and over again for God to intervene, but God didn’t. Ultimately, He did. So for the first kind of answer that we can get from God, this is probably one of the more difficult ones to be able to accept. God answering, “Not yet.” I’m going to write these down. I’ll greatly simplify them; we’ll go into detail. But when God answers, “Not yet or wait.” Pharaoh waited and waited and waited, and then ultimately was answered.

Flip over to verse or Chapter fifty, same Genesis Chapter fifty, a few chapters over. As the book closes, start in verse nineteen, full verses here, verse nineteen of Genesis Chapter fifty, “And Joseph said unto them,” all of his brothers, “Fear not, for am I in the place of God?” Verse twenty, “But as for you, you thought evil against me...” and you can imagine what some of his prayers were like, especially early on, “...but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

God’s plan all along with Joseph was to make him wait and wait and wait and wait until He answered. You can think of the verse where God says, he’s long-suffering, but answer speedily. We could spend the rest of the afternoon showing when God makes people wait. You can think of David to become king, dealing with Saul year after year after year, trying to continue to do the right thing. “God, intervene, intervene.” God said, “Not yet.”

Israel in the wilderness, forty years, “God intervene, intervene,” and He kept saying, “Not yet.” Not yet is a hard one because it means He will answer you. However, it can very easily be confused with He’s not answering at all. Abraham and Sarah, it’s another one you could think about. So it’s important that we understand what not yet really means. It means in the simplest terms, and we’ll look at some verses to back this up, in the simplest terms, it means God has not closed the door, but He also hasn’t opened it.

When you walk through life, when we’re trying to seek God’s will in a matter, we will often try to look for open doors. We do it in the work all the time. Is that an open door that God is providing to us? Or God, if it’s not an open door... I remember before I was married, I said, “God, you’re going to have to hit me over the head, show me, give me an open door, or slam it shut so I don’t make the wrong decision.” And we all have probably prayed similar throughout our lives.

But a not yet is the door wasn’t closed, but it also doesn’t seem to be opening any more widely. How that manifests itself in your life? That depends on what the prayer is, and what the need is, what the trial may be, or the desire. Not all prayers of these types would be because of a trial, but you may have desires or interests, or once, but God simply saying not yet, but He does it for a reason. And that’s the key throughout all of this message.

We’re going to look at some of the reasons why God says what He says. And when you analyze the reasons or keep them front of mind for when you’re going through a situation where God says not yet, and some of the other answers we’ll look at later, those reasons will help you determine what God’s answer is or currently is in this case. So, if He says not yet, you have to remember, if God delays something, if our creator delays something, it doesn’t mean He’s denied it. A delay is not a denial.

Sometimes that becomes difficult because you have to wait, and you have to show patience. Go to Habakkuk two. We’ve read this so many times recently, but it applies today in a different context. Habakkuk chapter two. We’ll start in verse one. Habakkuk two, verse one. Not yet just means that He hasn’t answered yet, but He hasn’t rejected the request. The door didn’t slam shut. I’ve heard stories of people telling me about, they’ve been looking for a car, they’ve been looking for a car, and they went to this dealership and the person gave them a price. Oh, it’s not right. God closed the door and then suddenly the car was sold out from underneath them. What? Okay, that wasn’t, but you go to another one and another, and you keep going, but God, I’m trying to find the car.

And then sometimes we forget the little answers within the big prayers are God guiding us because He’s not quite there yet. And this one’s the hard one because you are always second-guessing, “Is God saying no?” That’s why it’s important to see these examples in our life to know exactly what God’s trying to do. If we know what He’s trying to do, then we can very easily see what His answer is.

Habakkuk two, verse one, “I will stand upon my watch and set upon me a tower and I will watch to see what He will say unto me and I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me and said, write a vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that reads it for the vision...” or you could say, in this case for the prayer, “...is yet for an appointed time that the end of shall speak and not lie. Although it tarry...” Well, brethren, if we think in the context of the Kingdom of God, prophecy and all the...we read this verse normally, it sometimes felt like it tarries, doesn’t it?

Sometimes prayer can feel like it tarries, and you think, “Oh God, are you going to answer me?” I’ll tell you, wait for it because it will surely come. God has a plan that He delivers in the time that He chooses to deliver it. We could talk about the arrival of the Kingdom of God or our answered prayer. None of us would want that prayer answered before the time God would want to do it. We want His will to be able to determine that.

But we have to remember, delays are not denials because He may be doing something else with us that we don’t understand. Go to Romans chapter eight. The New Testament, Romans chapter eight. Wouldn’t it be easy if every prayer, assuming that it lines with God’s law, was a simple yes? Just get down in your knees, have a little magic teleporter or generator or whatever it is, and anything that you desired or thought of, you just got on your knees and prayed for. “God, I need a new watch.” Oh, look, the new watch. That’s the sound the teleporter will make.

I didn’t realize I was doing voices today. But that’s not how it happens, is it? It never happens as smooth or as easy as that. Romans chapter eight, verse twenty-two. We’ll start in verse twenty-two of Romans eight, “For we know the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption or sonship to wit, the redemption of the body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we do not see...” because hope comes into this, “...then do we with patience wait for it.”

The simple thing, if God hasn’t answered you yet, He may be building in you, patience. If we’re someone that is particularly weak in patience, something we struggle with, you, I, whoever it is, that can slow down how fast God will answer prayer. It’s like an addiction of any sort if you think of it in those terms. If someone’s trying to stop smoking, they try to stretch the distances out further and further and further so they get rid of the problem.

If our problem is impatience, then God may stretch out answering prayer longer and longer until the point where He says, “No, they’re not having that problem anymore. I can answer them more quickly.” So if we’re someone who struggles with patience and we’re not immediately getting answered in prayer, then we need to work on our patience. You’ll see anything besides a quick yes, God has a plan for it and a purpose for doing it. His answers always have a purpose. And I can say right now, this early in the message, God always answers prayer, always. He never doesn’t answer if we could put it that way. But again, it’s up to us to know how He’s answering it. But if we’re patient, we become more effective, we become more like Him. Eventually, if it’s answered after a long period of patience, what happens? Your faith is built. If you prayed and struggled and worked and prayed and prayed and prayed and never gave up, and then your prayer is answered, that’s much more faith-building, that your heart and your soul went into it than if God just flipped the switch and yes, you got your prayer answered as you stood up from your knees. It builds patience and faith.

Let’s go back to Lamentations. Do something else, too. Lamentations chapter three, right after Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter three, and we’ll start in verse twenty-four. I’ll let you find it. It’s one of those little hidden books in the Old Testament we don’t go to very often. Verse twenty-four. “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him.” Things are delayed. “To the soul that seeks Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”

That word almost disappears in it, doesn’t it? The salvation of the Lord. If we’re hoping and waiting for salvation because of whatever situation is happening in our lives, whatever trial or test that we’re currently experiencing, ultimately the end game, God’s plan for you and I, is salvation. Brethren, if God is answering your prayer with not yet, He has a bigger picture in mind. If you don’t get the answer yet, God may be working on something greater than what you realize.

So many times, when we’re in situations, and we look back on them, you and I, and I’ve seen it in the work for years, is we look back and we have those moments, and I tell myself this all the time because it’s a good humbling thing, that we are pawns on a chessboard. We’re not knights or rooks or queens, none of that, no. We’re all just the pawns on the chessboard. And sometimes we get the opportunity to look back when a situation happens. It could be faith-building, it could be a miracle, it could be answered prayer. And we get to look back and see, “Oh, okay, God was moving this part there and this part here and another part there.”

I could come back to the broadcast that we just did. We’ve been doing public Bible lectures now for about a year. And that helped us get better at using cameras and lighting and editing and work and all of the aspects that we put into it, building things in the studio, being able to get our editing up, because we thought we were going to do public Bible lectures. When God said, no, you’re just pawns on the chessboard. I just needed to build some skill set here and some work here and training there, so I’m ready to slam all this together when I’m ready to do something. So, if you’re waiting for prayer, God may be planning something bigger. And keep us with patience.

Waiting also does something else. Go to James chapter one. Book of James chapter one, back to the New Testament. Again, right now, we’re looking at what happens when the answer to our prayer is not yet. Or God saying, hold it, wait. James chapter one, verse one. We’ll start in verse one of James one. “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various divers, various temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

If you’re asking for something and the result of patience is wanting nothing, that means the something you were asking for, you received. So, God’s saying, “I’m going to answer whatever you’re asking, but sometimes I’m going to make you wait for it because that will build in you and I perseverance.” If you have to get on your knees on something dear to you and you pray day after day after day, God may be saying, “No, I want you to build patience. I want you to build perseverance.”

So again, come back to what we said about patience. If stick-to-it-iveness, another way you could say perseverance, is something that we struggle with, we pick things up and we put them down pretty easily and move on to the other thing. If we see a delay in our prayers, God may be saying, “I’m going to use this to build perseverance, patience in you.” God’s way is simple. Living Christianity is not so simple because we are under the authority of a being that we cannot see, we cannot hear, we really cannot feel in the sense of the human feelings. But we have to have that being direct, guide, and push us in the direction through His Holy Spirit, the way He would want us to do.

That’s not easy to do. And it often requires us to reflect and look at ourselves to see where we’re deficient. And therefore God can say, “Ah, that’s why God is doing this with me. That’s the reason.” And then we have to come back to, “Oh, that’s right, God’s timing is always perfect. God’s timing is always perfect.” He knows the time, the place, when we should succeed, and when or how we should succeed, or how to answer prayer.

I look back at my life and think about when I was called. If I would have been called six or eight months before that, or potentially six or eight months after that window, I may never have received that calling. If I wouldn’t have experienced and gone through things in my life, I may not have answered that calling. So, could I? “Oh, if I would have been called ten years sooner, then I would have had experience in the Worldwide Church of God and be able to have some context. God, why didn’t you call me sooner?

Because God has a perfect plan for each and every one of us and probably knew as a... I guess sooner would have been... that would have been like sixteen if it would have been ten years sooner. But I probably wouldn’t have responded. I was more entrenched in certain things. My life kept me busy. I was doing things, I was busy, it was successful. All those aspects of what life is, I wasn’t ready to answer.

So I can see the reasons why. But also humanly, we could be impatient just like with prayer. Prayer also ends up feeling more personal. Because if you look back at your calling, that’s in the past. Whatever you’re praying for or I’m praying for, it’s in the now. Because it’s a need, it’s a want, it’s a trial, it’s a test. Whatever puts us on our knees to fervently pray to God is in the now. But we have to remember, God’s plan is always to His timing. So sometimes a not yet is an acceptable way to have prayer answered.

And when it is, what’s our responsibility? Because no matter what the answer is, you and I have a responsibility. We have to do and have an attitude in a way that allows us to receive that answer. We have to work hard on things that we can work on when we find we’re not being answered. Find ways to grow spiritually. If God’s saying wait, examine yourself. I should examine myself to say, “Where are my deficiencies, God? What am I falling short? What are you trying to tell me?” When someone’s anointed, we say, “God, let this person learn the lessons they need to learn so you can heal them. It’s the same with prayer. “God, help me see the deficiencies in my character so you can answer my prayer.”

We have to ask that. If we’re not being answered, we have to ask God to show us why. When it’s quiet and you don’t get that answer, think back to the times... let us keep this in the right attitude. Think back to the times when you did. Because all of us have times when we have answered prayer in our lives. Sometimes it’s dramatic, and I don’t know if you do this, and I write... I tend to create journals, and I don’t journal like that sense, but I like to write facts and details and such down so I can remember details. And I started years ago and it turned into a one-note and various other ways I document of answered prayer in my life or miracles, or things that just were miracles in the work.

So I could look back at times. And if I’m feeling my faith is down or I’m feeling discouraged or I’m going through something particularly difficult, I can go back to that and read the things that God did in my life, the miracles that I saw, the prayers that were answered in my life. And you know what? That builds you back and you say, “Okay. God always answers my prayers. I just have to wait.” And let’s go back to Lamentations again.

We could jump back just one or two verses from where we were. And it fits this really well because God’s always faithful. He’s always faithful. If we reflect on those past instances, we’ll see it. Lamentations chapter three. We’ll start this time in verse twenty-two. Same chapter, just a couple of verses back from what we just read. Verse twenty-two. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we were not consumed, because of His compassion fails not.” Think about Christ with all the thousands that were hungry. Verse twenty-three. “They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”

God will be faithful. But He may be saying, “You know what? I want you to build trust in me. I want you to build patience, perseverance. I want you to focus on your own spiritual growth because there’s something in you or I that is inhibiting His ability to answer in the moment.” And He wants to build that in you. And when you’ve had prayer answered or you’ve had to wait, your job is also is not the one currently in the situation. But if you hear of someone, they’ve been praying about something, they need something, they’re seeking guidance, and you’ve gone through waiting, you’ve gone through life and you’ve had to have prayers where they went on and on and on for a long period of time. Encourage that person with your experiences as well.

That’s why we’re all a team in this. For us to be able to work together and build each other up, sometimes you are going to have instances where someone across from you says, “I’ve been praying about this, that, or the other thing for so long and God just doesn’t seem to be answering me.” And that’s where you’ve now heard this. So now you’re responsible and so am I. When they say that, “No, God may just not have answered you yet. Let me tell you a story of when that happened to me.” And then not only do you become closer to that person, but you’ve encouraged them and may be the thing that pushes them over to the top to have more faith and say, “You’re right. God does.” And it may allow Him to answer more speedily.

So sometimes the answer to prayer is ‘not yet’. That’s a hard one. That’s a hard one to figure out. But this one is a hard one to take because what do we do when God’s answer is no? All right. So, I’ll keep this simple. There’s no, “no” you’re going to hear, but that door got slammed shut. That job opportunity disappeared. That car was sold out underneath you. That trial or test or whatever it is, isn’t going away. “God, take this away from me.” No. “God, I want this job. Show me.” No. Whatever circumstance it is, sometimes God just says no.

Go to Second Corinthians chapter twelve. Second Corinthians chapter twelve. It’s a good example. Doesn’t matter how righteous you are, sometimes God’s going to say no. Second Corinthians chapter twelve, and we’ll start in verse six. Verse six reads, “For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears me... hears of me,” excuse me.

Verse seven, “And lest I should be exalted above all measures through the abundance of the revelations…” of what Paul saw when he got to see himself, a future God being. So, God gave him something very special here. “...There was given to me a thorn in the flesh.” We speculate it’s an eye issue. “The messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, three times, that it would depart from me.”

So in prayer, he said it over and over again, three times. “And He said unto me...” He never said to Paul, “Paul, my grace is sufficient for you.” Paul never heard those words, but Paul was as certain as the Bible is true that God answered his prayer with a no. Continues, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will glory in my infirmities. That the power of Christ may rest upon me.” God said no. And you can imagine Paul just searched the scriptures finding a way to be able to determine, “God, how will you answer this, remove this thorn in my flesh. It’s inhibiting me to do the work that you’ve given me to do.”

All logic, human logic, would say God would remove that problem, wouldn’t it? Paul is this great servant. He’s going around traveling. If he had issues with his eyes or whatever, that thorn in the flesh was, that inhibited his ability to do the work. So, of course, God would answer him, but God said no because sometimes that’s what God says to us, brethren. Sometimes He just says no. But the verse says a lot in itself.

Going back, let’s read verse nine again. “My grace is sufficient unto you for my strength...” God’s strength, “...is made perfect in weakness.” God saw in Paul the potential to become lifted up because of what he saw. But He said, “No, I’m going to give you a weakness. I’m not going to answer this prayer, you need this.” I’m not changing the situation because God’s strength is made perfect in human weakness. “Most gladly, therefore...” Paul says, “...I would rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” It caused Paul to more deeply rely on God.

Sometimes God says no because He wants us to more deeply rely on Him. Other times God says no because of the circumstances. Think about David wanting to build the temple. He had blood on his hand, so God said, “No, your son will build it.” But that’s a man who really wanted to build it. He came up with the idea. God put it in his mind, he got all the parts and pieces together, and God said, “No, you can’t build it.” Can you imagine how discouraged he was at the time? We can only read what we read in the Bible.

Sometimes we only get the cliff notes version, if you will, of what happened. How many times have we been in a situation where we were corrected or a parent said, no, we don’t immediately say, “Yes, I’m learning and growing.” No, sometimes there’s a little sulking, isn’t there? A little disappointment. You can imagine David felt that at the time but ultimately, he saw a greater purpose in what it was because no means God sees something you don’t see. If the answer is no, it’s not rejection of us, it’s an expression of God’s wisdom because we can’t see what He sees. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Let’s look at that exactly in Isaiah fifty-five. You can turn there. Isaiah chapter fifty-five. I quoted it but it’s good to read it. Verse six of Isaiah fifty-five, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him when He is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon you, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

God forgives us. Very easy for Him to do so, but sometimes we get the answer we don’t want because, verse eight, “For my thoughts, God’s, are not your thoughts.” We are just pawns on that chessboard and sometimes as much as we will it to be not so, we will always be pawns on the chessboard. “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says the Lord. “For as heaven is higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.” That’s a fair distance. I don’t care if we’re talking about earth and the first heaven or the second heaven or the third heaven.

Just getting out into the universe, how much higher are God’s thoughts than ours? Even us human beings who are living and walking this way of life, who have God’s spirit. Even we are that far down below God in our thoughts and our ways. We’re trying to be more like Him, of course, but again, He’s seeing it back at a degree we’re not. He’s the one that steps back from the chessboard. He’s watching the whole game play out and sees where it’s going and how it is best solved and won. God sees the bigger picture in our lives, and sometimes getting a no changes where we’re focused, redirects us.

Because sometimes a “no” also protects us. A “no” can protect you. So many times a door gets closed, and if you’ve experienced, if you’ve lived this way of life for any time, you understand that God will sometimes slam that door shut, that prayer shut, “God, thank you for this job. I have this wonderful job. Can you open this door for me? I got a job interview. I’m going tomorrow. God, give me everything I need to make it more successful because I really want this job.” And you get to the job interview or you flub it or they call and cancel. You think, “Why would God do that? He knows I need work. He knows I need to tithe. Why would He say no to a great opportunity?”

Little would we know, or that person we’re talking about, that that could have been an issue with the Sabbath. There may have been something else with the job that would have collapsed our ability to obey God. Or we’re going to go back to that car dealership and buy the car. “I have that Mustang that I really want to get. It’s canary yellow, and it’s got a big engine.” That’s the volume of my car knowledge right there.

And I go to the dealership, and he turns it on and revs the engine. Boom, and he’s going, “Oh, wow, this is the car I want.” Meanwhile, the bottoms rusted out, I have no concept, and the person says... it doesn’t personally have to be me, I’ve never wanted a Mustang in my life, just for reference sake. My cars are very smaller, and if they could be electric, that would be fun, but I digress. But something happens with the deal. Something happens with the financing. You’re not able to get that vehicle or God opens a door and you take it to some place, “Oh no, this car is a lemon, you’re never going to be able to drive it, you’ll have it for a week and it’s gone.” God said no. He closed it. He closed that door.

Brethren, sometimes “no’s” are hard to take. They’re not like the later and you’re holding out hope. No is a decision. And we have to be able to look at God, or speak to God, and pray to God, and study in His word, and accept when we get a no. Because when we do, there’s something else going on we’re not seeing. Let’s go to James chapter four again. James chapter four and verse one. We’ll start in verse one of James four. “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? You lust, and have not. You kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not.” You ask not. You don’t pray about it. You don’t ask God.

But sometimes, “you do ask and receive not…” Get a no for an answer, “…because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.” How does this fit with a no? Brethren, sometimes a no tells us our thinking is not in line with God’s will. You can say it another way, a no opens the door for spiritual growth. Because if we need to grow in a particular area, it’s because we are not like Christ in that particular area, or at least not enough. We’re deficient in whatever, love, hope, all the... you go through the fruits of the Spirit. Something in that we’re deficient, and God’s giving us a no, not because it necessarily is something that would be bad for us, but because, He says, “This is a chance for you to grow. You’re not quite aligned with my will, with my purpose.”

A no causes us to examine our desires and our motives. When we may say, “You know what, I’m having that, as the verse says, that I may consume it upon my own lust.” I’m lusting after that, so God, I was asking for it, not because of a need or even a want. It’s because I was lusting after it. You said no. I examined myself and realized there were parts of my character that needed to change. No can be an invitation to grow spiritually.

Nos are tough but don’t take it personally because God even said no to His son. So anytime we feel a little bit beaten up over the fact that God said no to a prayer, go to Matthew twenty-six. He’s got a history of saying no on folks who deserve a no way less than we do. Matthew chapter twenty-six. Twenty-six and verse thirty-seven. Matthew twenty-six and verse thirty-seven. “And He took with Him, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.” The moment of Christ’s sacrifice, He was going to be put on the cross, He was going to be beaten, all of that was right in front of Him.

“Then He said unto them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, tarry you here, and watch with me.” So just keep an eye out while I’m going to go do something. “And He went up a little further and fell on His face.” This is Christ. “Fell on His face and prayed, saying, O, my Father, if it’d be possible...” He’s asking, He’s pleading on His face, “...let this cup pass from me.” Christ said, “Can I please not have to go through with this?” Sometimes we gloss over the human components of Jesus Christ when He lived this life as a human being. Can you imagine knowing in advance that you were going to be beaten, tortured, hung up on a cross, die, and you knew the sequence when it was going to play out?

You were a being who lived outside of space and time. In theory, He could have actually seen what was going to happen before He even experienced it. How would that have felt? So He pleaded with God. “I don’t want to do this. If I don’t have to do this, can I not do it?” “Nevertheless...” the verse continues, “...not as I will, but as you will,” which is ultimately what we want and what Christ was seeking. And God said, “No, you need to do this.” That’s the hardest no that’s ever been no’ed in the entire universe. None of the no’s we’ve ever gotten were like that. And Christ took it. Just like when we get a no from God, we have to take it. We have to see the why and understand and learn the lessons from a no.

Do you know what it does? The first things it does when we get a no. It redefines our trust in God. That can be in a positive way or in a negative way. If we take it and say, no, God, it’s He’s wise. He has a purpose. He’s guiding my life. He said no for a reason. It’s very different than saying God said no, He doesn’t care. Two very different paths we can walk down when we get a no. So a no is a test when God does so. It challenges us to trust Him because, again, He’s not standing over our shoulder. We’re not able to talk to Him on the phone or be able to send an email or whatever the case may be to communicate.

If we get a no from the bank for a loan, you can pick up the phone and call the banker and say, “Why did you give me no? My credit’s good. I have all these. Why did you give me no? I expect an answer.” Can’t do that with God. Get the same answer. We just have to accept it. But then look for the reason why because we can learn lessons from it. Let’s go to Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs chapter three. Let’s spend a little more time on the no section because that’s a hard one.

Proverbs chapter three and verse four. Verse four of Proverbs three. “So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of man.” Verse five. “Trust in the Lord with your whole heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him.” And then what? “And He shall direct your paths.” even when God, you’re saying, “No, I want to go right, I want to go right.” God, if we let Him, says, He can say, “No, you need to go left.” We can be praying, “God, I want to go right.” We could fast about going right. We, we can do everything we can because we want to go right and God says, “No, you need to go left.”

We have to be able to say, “Okay, God, I don’t understand why in this particular instance. I’ll examine myself and see if I can figure it out, but okay, because I trust in you. You have a purpose in my life and ultimately you want to see me in the family of God.”

Another thing we can learn. Sometimes a no helps us reframe our desires. In the Old Testament, let’s go over to Psalms. Psalm thirty-seven. Sometimes a no helps us reframe our desires. What do I mean by reframe them? Oh, again, our request, our prayer, our desire may not be something that’s against God’s way. We’re not crazy. If you get on your knees and say, “God, it’s been a rough day. That person at work was really difficult. Tomorrow, would it be okay if I murder them?”

We’re not going to be asking that to God or any other direct sin. We’re not asking God, but sometimes what our will is, not doesn’t fight God. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn’t fight against what God’s doing. It just may not be straight in the same path as what he would like in our lives.

So when we get a no, it may stop us and think, “You know what? Am I living my way according to what God wants? Is my request in alignment with His will?” You’re in Psalm thirty-seven. We’ll start at verse three. “Trust in the Lord and do good. So shall you dwell in the land and verily or truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Delight in the Lord, trust in the Lord. And then finally, “Commit your way unto the Lord. Trust in Him...” Again trust. “...and He shall bring it to pass.”

I love these statements in the Bible that aren’t hard to understand or blurry. When it just says, if we do these things, commit, delight, trust, trust twice, He shall bring it to pass.

So if we got a no, we’re missing one of those requirements, aren’t we? Otherwise, He says He’s going to make it happen. So when that happens, we have to look in our lives, look at our relationship with our creator, come back and think, “What am I missing? Where am I not in alignment with the will of God?”

And when you do and you commit and trust and obey and realign our will with His, God promises He’ll make it come to pass. Another lesson we can learn about a no? No is a tough one to receive because no one likes to hear no. The problem with the world today is kids grow up not hearing no or teenagers don’t hear no and then they go to work, and guess what employers say? No. Mr. Employer, I would like to have my salary tripled. No. And ring, ring, ring. You’re whose parent? Why are you calling me? Because kids are so broken and fragile today, and not our kids, that they don’t hear no and aren’t able to handle the world around them.

So God starts us really early and says, “I’m going to teach you about no because it helps you grow.” And again, another lesson of no, it teaches us humility. If we’re walking through thinking, “I got this Christianity thing sorted out, I’m going through life, I’m doing well, God’s answering my prayers. You know what? I’m pretty good at this.” And then we get a no and we think, “Oh, maybe I’m doing something different.”

But it also not only adds humility to us, humbles us, it also tests whether we’re going to submit to God. Because you know what you can do? Disobey God. We don’t live in the kingdom of God. We don’t have beings on our left and our right hand forcing us to go to the direction that we should go or being able to counsel us immediately. God gives us rope because we are training to be leaders. He wants us to be able to make righteous decisions. So God allows with a no to see if we’ll submit to His decision.

I keep using that analogy with the car. You get in that dealership, and God slams the door shut by you finding out that that car is a jalopy. It’s a lemon. It’s not going to be it. But you know what we can do? We can be stupid and say, “You know what, Mr. Dealership guy? I’d like to buy this anyway, even though God closed the door.”

So He’s testing to see whether we will humbly submit to Him. Another way we can lesson we can get from a no. A no prepares us for something greater. You can turn to Ephesians chapter three. A no prepares us for something greater, just like a child who needs to hear no as they grow up so they can handle the setbacks, they can handle the trials, they can handle whatever comes at them because life isn’t about yeses and yeses and padding.

When we get a no in prayer from God, we’re being prepared for something greater. Ephesians chapter three, I should turn there too. Ephesians chapter three, verse eighteen. We’ll start verse eighteen. “May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath jumping kind of in the context here, is the breadth, length, depth and height. And to know the love of God, which passes all knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Now, unto Him, that is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. Remember earlier we saw the ultimate picture of God is to give us salvation? There is a power in us that’s trying to change and grow and develop us. That’s God’s spirit working with our spirit to change our character. And that change, it’s because God’s building something in us. His holy, righteous character. He’s building in us the ability to rule the universe. In you and I, there is that seed of someone who can be a God being, but we can’t do that unless we’re tested, prepared, strengthened, hardened, tempered. God does that by sometimes saying no. So how should we respond to a no, just like we had to respond a certain way to wait or not yet?

Brethren, we have to do it with humility. We can’t resist. We can’t get bitter. We can’t have our minds turn to the direction we want no matter what. It’s like if you seek the counsel of the ministry because God can... we’re talking about His answer today, not how He answers you. Those are very different things. It’s as different as when we talk about how to pray than it is to talk about how we receive His answer. But even receiving His answer is not the same as how He answers you. Because God can answer you through His ministry, through the word of God as you study through your fellow brethren. He could answer you through a coworker at work or something you find on the internet. How God answers you is very different than accepting and hearing the answer.

Probably more than any other place that you will get God answering you or me that we are being tested with a no or whatever the situation may be. You could be praying about something, and then you seek the count counsel of His ministry. And you know what’s really easy to do? It’s easy for us to say no to counsel even if we seek it out. Because sometimes we’ll go into counseling situations where we’re the ones seeking counsel with the answer we already want.

I’ve done several marriage counseling, somewhat recently a marriage counseling. And in that marriage counseling or every marriage counseling I do, I start with have you both made up your decision to get married? Because if you have, I don’t let them answer because their answer would be yes. Because they need the question, otherwise, they wouldn’t be counseling about marriage. But I said, if you have, then the point of the counseling is useless because the goal of this counseling is not to stop you from getting married, but for you to go in eyes wide open to know and you may see things that you determine you don’t want to get married.

If we go to God’s ministry, we pray and ask for God to show us what to do, then we see counsel’s of the ministry. Remember, we speak or try to speak as the oracles of God. Excuse me. When we speak, we want to bring you what God says out of His word. If you or I ignore that council and let’s say that council, excuse me, if that council is a no to whatever you were praying about, it’s a lot easier for us to say, “Oh, the minister was wrong,” because none of us as Christians are going to say, “Oh, well, God was wrong.” But through His ministry, He may give you that no. But again as I’ve said, the how we get an answer is very different than getting an answer.

We have to accept it with humility. We have to seek God’s will. That’s an example of no, but why? Okay. I accept the no, God, but why? It’s an opportunity to seek and reflect on His will. And at the same time, when we get a no, figure out what we can learn from that no. Where do we have to grow spiritually? Are we not patient enough? Do we need to have more dependence on God? Is there something else in our lives that we’re missing? And ultimately, we have to trust God in our attitude when we get that no. It’s a hard one. The irony is it doesn’t happen that often. God’s way of life, long you’ve lived it, you often don’t get noes to prayer.

You often get “Yes, but,” because, again, remember, God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. So when we get the answer, it’s very rarely a full-out no. Again, if you get up, if you go home tonight, you think, “Okay. I know it. God, can I have permission to lie tomorrow or murder or take Your name in vain?” Let’s just stick with the Ten Commandments, that’s a hard no. But often, we don’t get hard no’s. It’s usually the wait for it or I’ll answer your prayer in a way you don’t expect.

Those are the moments when you have to write them down and think, “Oh, He answered me and I got this, this, and that, and the other thing that I didn’t even think about because that navigated to here, but oh, yes, that’s right I’m a pawn on the chessboard.” So be ready for an answer. Second one is no. This is almost a harder one because this one will make you doubt. What about when God’s answer is silence? What about when God’s answer is silence? Again, we don’t hear an audible voice from God, but you can almost picture, you say, “God, can you help me get this job?”

And if you’re in a conversation, you’ve been in these conversations and people are awkward or they get pie-eyed or whatever the situation may be, but imagine two people talking back and forth and they’re saying, “Oh, the weather’s really great and you’re doing well. Did you get that new job?” and the person looks at you.

Like this is only three or four seconds. If we could just sit here. It gets more uncomfortable as the time goes on. It’s more uncomfortable for me than you. But that’s not how a conversation... you never stand in silence. But what if God’s answer to you is silence? You’re immediately going to think. You’re going to think God’s ignoring you or God’s not involved in my life or why won’t God answer me? You’re not alone. Go back to the book of Psalms, Psalm thirteen. Sometimes, the Bible’s best counseling tool when we’re in our difficult situation is to find someone in the Bible going through or had gone through a similar situation.

There’s some great people who have lived the last six thousand years. It’s a Psalm of David. Psalm thirteen, verse one. Psalm thirteen, verse one, “How long will you forget me, O Lord?” Even David sometimes worried because imagine this is a song or a prayer. “God...” He’s on his knees, you can kind of picture it in your mind. “...God, how long will You forget me? Am I even talking to You? Do You hear my prayers?” Because God says He doesn’t hear some prayers because it’s a stench in his nose. Those who do not obey Him.

So in our minds, if we don’t think God’s hearing us, you think, “Okay. Have I lost my connection to God? God, how long will you forget me? Forever?” The verse continues. That’s a man who’s scared. If God just went silent on us, what do we do? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

You can almost picture a time when he’s going against Saul, when his answer was, “Am I going to be king? Aren’t you going to make me king?” And he said, “No, wait. No, wait.” And then at a certain point of, no, wait, David may have started to think, “Is God not even answering me?” Verse three, “Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God.” God never abandoned David. Just like, brethren, God never abandons us.

That silence may indicate something that’s much, much more simple than what it may seem like. If it’s a trial, it’s a test, those are different. But when it’s a desire or a want... because often what you and I are praying about are desires and wants. We all have our tests, we all have our trials. But mostly it’s going to be desires and wants when these situations about God answering prayer.

It could be a job, it could be things that are important. It could be something that’s critical in our lives. I’m not downplaying what it is, but usually it’s not about trials or tests. Those are a different kind of prayer, and sometimes you want those answered too. But what we’re talking about is more the desires, the needs, the wants. One reason there may be silence because we have it already.

We may be asking for something we just don’t need. And God says, “You have everything you need. You don’t get more. Wherewith everything we have, we should be content.” And if it’s counsel we’re seeking, God may say, “You have all the tools you need.” You’re asking, “God, help me get out of this situation or that situation.” And it just seems like there’s silence. But are we studying our Bible, examining whatever we’re going through?

God says, I’m going to be silent on this matter because you need to go read the word of God. My silence is to drive you into the book. That’s how you’re going to get the answer for me. If we’re not studying, we can’t hear God. That’s going to be silence. That’s why prayer has to be tied so tightly with Bible study. If we just pray to God and we don’t study His word, we are going to receive an answer of silence because we’re not letting Him talk.

We’re saying we want to be the ones talking. We’re going to talk to God. We’re going to ask him, “God, I expect you to just do something divine. Poof.” No. We have to get into his word if we want to hear his words, his answer. We need to study the book. Otherwise, the answer we’ll get will be silence. And it’s not just the book, it’s counsel from the ministry. Because sometimes God lets something go on for a period of time because we kind of know what the answer is.

Or we don’t know exactly how to handle a situation, but we’ll pray about it. God, just resolve it. Can you resolve this situation? God, whatever it is, just resolve it. And He say, and you get nothing. Because either we’re not studying the Word, we’re not seeking counsel. He’s saying, “You’ve got the tools. You just have to use the tools.” If you are struggling with this or that doctrine, it’s easy when in that context you think, “Well, I don’t quite understand what the holy days are.”

Well, you’ve got the tools. Study, dig in, study the Bible, study the literature or this doctrine or that. So God may be silent if we’re not doing our part of it. It needs to be a conversation. A conversation is not one way. We’ve all been around people who are really good at talking, but particularly bad at listening. So you could stand there with a group of people and some person can talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and they may be good talkers, they could be telling stories, whatever, but then it becomes your turn or your opportunity to say something. You get two or three words in and they start talking over top of you.

Very quickly, you know what you do? Probably that look on their face too. You just stand there in silence. That’s what happens if we don’t let God speak back to us when we speak to Him through prayer. Another one, sometimes when there’s silence, God’s working in the background, He’s not ready to answer you yet. That could happen just as much too.

Go to Isaiah sixty-four, Isaiah chapter sixty-four. I think everyone has had a micromanager as a manager at some point in their lives. And I’ve had a couple of really extreme ones. They wanted check-ins on like every phase of a task and it drives you crazy. So as the one doing, he’s like, “Oh, how’s it going?” I’m 3% further than I was two minutes ago. When you’re micromanaged, you can’t get anything done. Sometimes God doesn’t answer because He’s getting things done.

Isaiah chapter sixty-four, we just don’t understand it. Verse four, Isaiah sixty-four, and verse four, “For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard...” we’re not particularly good at hearing. I don’t know if this is male men or men as in people, but let’s go with people. “...but men have not heard nor perceived by the ear. Neither have seen with the eye.” So we’re blind and deaf. “Oh, God, beside you. What he has prepared for Him that waits for Him.” Sometimes we just don’t hear God. We don’t see God because He’s doing the preparing. He’s getting that mansion ready for us to be able to have. He’s aligning the bits and pieces on that chessboard to answer our prayer. So we get silence.

So sometimes that silence is silence because, we’ve made our mistakes, but sometimes that silence is because he’s doing something and he’s really answering with not yet. That those two can blur very closely together. But silence sometimes feels like, and it’s usually related to us not doing our side of the equation. So why would He do it? Why would God allow silence? Because that’s discouraging, isn’t it? We have prayers and we’re getting nothing.

Go to Jeremiah twenty-nine, Jeremiah chapter twenty-nine, verse eleven, Jeremiah twenty-nine, eleven. “For I know the thoughts that think toward you...” Verse eleven, “...says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you an unexpected end. Then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will harken unto you and you will seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.” Sometimes brethren, we don’t get an answer, we get silence because we’re not serious in our prayer. It’s fun watching and helping a small child learn to pray because there are parts that get changed up every time. I think I’ve talked to this before, and there are parts that come out like a machine gun because they’re memorized.

As adults, we can fall into that pattern too. We can get into a pattern where there are certain things we just say, almost roped. And God says, “Okay, if you’re not going to take it seriously, neither am I.” So sometimes God doesn’t answer us, sometimes it’s silence because we need to put our whole heart into the request. It sends us back to, on our knees to pray more fervently. It’s a fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, not a half-hearted prayer of a righteous man or a prayer light or a quick prayer.

We have to pray without ceasing. We’re praying in all aspects of our lives when there’s a need. Sometimes the prayers are quick, but they should be meaningful and deep and care and concern that we put in the fact that when you and I get on our knees, think of it this way, when you and I get on our knees, we are coming before the God of the universe. How nervous do you get if you get in front of someone of authority? People come into my office. It’s funny sometimes. They’ll come into my office and the first thing I’ll say to them is, “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.” Because there’s always a look on their face like, “Am I in trouble?” I know because I’ve been there before. Oh, I’m in trouble. No, no, you’re not in trouble. But you and I all react that way with people above us. But sometimes when it comes to prayer, we get to go before the God of the universe. And are we sometimes a bit flippant with what our prayers are? With what our requests are?

Are we digging deep with all our heart when we come before God? And asking for things in the deep core of our being so He knows we want them? God’s not one to say try again. But that’s in effect what He’s doing, but He’s doing it with silence. No, you could do better than that. Sometimes you get a funny attitude, we’ll get in the house, or something is said, like, “Nope, try that again.” That’s what God’s saying when we come before Him and we don’t put our whole heart into what we’re asking. Another thing He may do with silence, Deuteronomy chapter eight.

He may be testing our faith and commitment. Flipping there. So once you flip there, Deuteronomy chapter eight, we’ll start in verse one. But God may be silent because he’s testing our faith and commitment. It’s harder to commit when you don’t get an answer, isn’t it? Verse one. “All the commandments which I commanded you this day you shall observe to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers. And you shall remember all the way the Lord your God led you these forty years, this is after these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or no.”

God made them go on and on and on. They prayed. You can imagine they did. Can we go into the promised land? And he said, not yet. But ultimately, he wanted to see would they keep going. Was there silence that they felt from God? Verse three. “He humbled you and suffered you to hunger, fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know. He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live.” God sometimes doesn’t respond, doesn’t answer us yet, because he wants to see if we’ll just keep going.

Take a whole side left turn here and talk about perseverance in a different way, to endure, just keep going. Brethren, we’ve been tested that way. Will we just keep going? God, show us when you’re going to return. Show us when Christ is going to return. Sometimes we don’t know. Because God says, no, I want just to see if you’re going to keep going. So how do we respond to silence? How do we respond to silence? The easiest one is to make sure we’re using the tools that God gives us to be able to find an answer. You’re not going to get that phone call from God. We have to use what He’s provided us.

He says, “I’ve got this book. All of these words are my words. These are my thoughts. These are my ways. This is how you can learn this way of life. I’ve given you ministry who take these words and apply them in the modern day to be able to apply the principles in our lives. Because there’s nothing in the book about how to buy a car or there’s nothing in the book about what’s the best job to have in twenty twenty-four. But you can get counsel. It doesn’t have to be from ministry. It could be from fellow brethren. We have to act on the tools that we have.

If we get silence, we have to trust God’s plan. We have to trust that He may be doing things in the background again. And with all of these, you could say, we have to trust that God’s doing something bigger. And if we look in ourselves, if we examine ourselves, if we meditate on the situation, we may find there are areas that we are too far away from God to get an answer. If we draw close to God, he draws close to us. Sometimes we may not be in the right place to be able to draw close to Him.

But in this case, if we draw close to God, He draws close to us. If we’re too far away from God, then how is he going to answer us? So sometimes the answer is silence. So we’ve seen, sometimes God says, not yet, wait, sometimes God says, no, sometimes God says nothing. But brethren, most of the time, God says, yes. We serve a God who usually says yes to prayer, maybe not in the way we expect it, the way we anticipate it, not in the way we asked it even, He knows what’s going on in our minds. He knows what our needs are.

So sometimes when God answers, most of the time, when God answers, He says, yes. That should be encouraging because that means we are close to God. That means our will is aligned with the will of God. That means that the desires, the wants, the requests that we’re asking fall within the framework for God to say yes. When God answers prayer, it means you’re walking the right way of life. You’re walking the path He wants you to walk. You’re doing the things that allows God to say yes. So every single time you have answered prayer, it could be the smallest of things, where are my keys? God, can you help me find my keys? Whoa, there are my keys to I’m dying of cancer. God, please heal me.

And everything in between, when God says, yes, brethren, you, I, we all should be so greatly encouraged and we should be able to approach. Yes, this is the easy one. It would be fun if I could start with the yes, but we wouldn’t have covered all the important things about no’s and maybes and everything else. Because yes, it’s easy. Your prayer was answered. But find the yes. When you get yes, make sure you find it. Because sometimes the yes is not how you expect the yes to be. So, we may not recognize the yes at first. Now I have a tickle in my throat today. So look for it. Find the yes.

If you’re asking for something, it may not be obvious when you start. But the parts get moved around, the pawns get changed, and eventually, you get the yes. The road is usually not easy because often God will say not yet. Sometimes on your requests, He will say no, because He has a bigger picture for the yes. Sometimes He’ll be quiet because He wants you to dig into the word so He can give you the yes. But ultimately God wants to say yes to your prayers. God wants to be able to do and give you the things that you ask for.

Go to first John chapter five as we close. First John five, a couple more verses. Verse thirteen. First John five, verse thirteen. Verse thirteen reads, “These things have I written unto you, that you may believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, anything, He hears us.”

So remember, if we ask not according to His will, conversely, He doesn’t hear us. So if we ask according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have petitions that we desired of Him. God hears our prayers. We know He will answer us. Go to Philippians four as we close, last passage. Philippians chapter four. God will hear us. We’ll start in verse five of Philippians four. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Brethren, God always answers our prayers.

We have to be willing to accept those answers. We have to seek out what those answers are. We have to improve ourselves, develop ourselves so we can get the yes in the end, because we know we’re serving a being that wants us to be part of the family of God. So as we walk this path, pray without ceasing, ask God, then look for His answer.