Answered Prayer

Yesterday I talked a lot about having faith in your prayers. We do need to have faith in our prayers even when they are not answered the way we want them to be, or if they aren't answered at all. Sometimes our prayers are not going to be answered because God has something else planned. I know people who pray to be with a person they have feelings for, I admit I've done it in the past, but that certain person is not always the person we are meant to be with so hence, prayers are unanswered. The best prayer in finding love is to pray to meet the one God has in store for us; and have faith God will lead us to that person.

I think prayers are answered when we pray for things that go with God's plan, as well as show that we don't have our own selfish desires as the mainstay for why we are praying. Simply because we are praying for something doesn't mean that it will happen. The Bible does say: ask and ye shall receive, but it also says: seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven. When we first seek out God and living for Him and serving him is when we know how to pray effective prayers. We don't want our prayers to be selfish and demanding.

When prayers are answered we need to praise God, but we also need to praise him for the unanswered ones because it goes with him plan, and later in life something better will come than what we wanted. Garth Brooks had it right when he sang "I thank God for unanswered prayers." I thank God for all the unanswered prayers of a selfish youth, I understand now why many of them were unanswered while others were answered. I thank God also for all the unanswered prayers that lead me to being the woman that I am today. It isn't just the answered prayers that build our faith, but the unanswered ones.