Do you know why we don’t immediately receive answers from God? by Judy Bauman

Do you know why we don’t immediately receive answers from God? Some think that He doesn’t hear their prayers, as if those prayers stop at the ceiling. Many of us wrestle with the thought that God will answer other people’s prayers – just not ours. Often this thought comes from knowing our own unworthiness, but is that thought biblical? Actually, it is; however, it is still incorrect. The Bible tells us that none are worthy and that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. One prayer that God always answers IMMEDIATELY is the prayer for Him to save us. Through the shed blood of Jesus, the veil of the temple leading to the Holy of Holies was torn. We can come to Father to receive salvation, and God knows if we are sincere and answers it immediately. Like the prodigal son, the Father RUNS to us and embraces our turning to Him. Hallelujah!

So why doesn’t He answer all our prayers as He does the prayer for salvation? Two Scriptures came to me this morning as I was pondering this spiritual dilemma. The first was Philippians 2:12 where the apostle Paul wrote that we are each to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. When a baby is born (as we are born again when we are saved), it must learn (work out) who its parents are, how to nurse, roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, run, dress itself and so on. So it is in the kingdom of heaven. We must be nourished by the milk of Scripture, and then learn to feed ourselves the daily bread and meat of God’s Word. We must learn to spiritually sit up, then crawl, and then run the race set before us. We must learn to dress ourselves by shedding the old clothes of the sin nature and put on the love of Christ.

This leads to the second Scripture. In Romans 5:3-5, we can see the progression that is God’s desire to develop in us all. We are to “glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Hope is not wishful or fanciful thinking. No! Hope is waiting expectantly as a woman waits for her baby to be born. We can expect God to be developing perseverance as we wait for an answer to our prayers – as we hope in HIM during times of tribulation. We can expect God to develop our character in the process and trust His timing is perfect. It may be painful, but in your prayers, I encourage you to include proclaiming your trust in God’s timing.

In the Father’s love,

Judy A Bauman