When God doesn't answer the prayer the way you wanted.

[Born_Again]

"Behold the Power of Prayer" If your faith is anything like mine, you pray multiple times through out the day. You pray for the biggest things all the way down to the smallest of things. But what do you do when the prayer is answered a completely different way than how you had hoped? I try to look at it this way, Gods' will is Gods' will. He will take care of you. He provide you with everything He feels you need.

Okay, so what about those prayers you pray for daily? That one thing that is huge!! Paramount!! Most likely in this situation you are enduring some kind of suffering. These situations are painful but look at what you have been doing during that time.... You have kept faith. If anything, your faith has grown stronger. Through all the tribulation you have still kept praying. You haven't given up on God. Is it possible that is exactly what God was doing by not ending the suffering? He caused your faith to grow stronger!! And what does He eventually do? He brings resolution in one way or another. And once the suffering has ended, the first thing you do is thank God for being there and taking care of you!!!! A classic example is that old poem "Footprints" Author unknown.

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
‘You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?’
The Lord replied,
‘The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.’

It's all about faith!! Faith, that He will do wonders in your life if you will only give glory to him in everything you do. You may not always get the answer you were look for but whatever the answer was, it was the right one. My friends, when hard times get harder, don't interfere. Listen to the Lord. Let Him handle it. You are His child, and as our Father, he will never let you fall. He will always do what's best for us. Praise be to God, almighty!!!

 

[Enquirer]

I would like to respond to your post like this;

1) If you pray contrary to the Word ... you get nothing.

2) If you pray believing you receive ... you always get it.

3) If you pray for something that is not God's best will for your life ... be careful you might just get it.


I can almost hear the wheels turning in some peoples minds on point 3, anyhow, point 1 is fairly straight forward and most Christians understand it.
As far as point 2 is concerned, If you pray believing you receive, you always get a result ... Jesus said that all things are possible for those who believe.
Now that's the word of God and if God says it's so then it is.
On to point 3, according to Romans 12:2 God has a good, an acceptable and a perfect will.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God.

A lot of Christians are running around stating that unless it is God's perfect will He is NOT going to answer your prayer, I disagree.
I'm declaring that God would still answer prayer even if it is not His perfect will as long as He finds it still acceptable.
Take Israel for instance, they wanted a king to rule over them just like the nations around them.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk
in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge
us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not
rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 1 Samuel 8:4 - 7

So it is evident that it was NOT God's perfect will for Israel to have a king, and I'm sure we can agree with this, yet God still allows this to take place.
The question is why did God allow this ?
Because it still fell within the sphere of His acceptable will.
And we can see how He wove this into his ultimate plan in Christ being declared the King of Kings.

Now we today may pray for something that God might not find fits into his perfect plan for our lives yet, if we pray it long enough or hard enough
we might just end up with it in our lap.

 

[Born_Again]

Wow. I like that response. It can give everyone the one drop of hope...