Is Prayer Answered?

#2 - “You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.” An older prayer warrior friend of mine told me once that all prayer is answered in one of the following ways: Yes, No or Not Now. I’m not sure what source these statistics came from, but they might seem correct to non-Christian onlookers. Not all people are healed, find jobs, have a baby or marry the “perfect” spouse, but that doesn’t mean their prayer wasn’t answered. What we want God to do, isn’t always what is beneficial, or in His perfect plan for us. Remember the old Garth Brook song, “Thank God for Unanswered Prayer”? Back in high school, Garth really wanted to be in a relationship with a certain girl. He wanted it bad, and ultimately, bad is what it would have been. It may have seemed that God hadn’t answered his prayer, but 

in reality he had something/someone much better in mind. I can think of countless times I wanted God to come through on items on my prayer/wish list. God isn’t to be confused with Santa , sure he wants his children to have things, but like any good parent, He knows what is important and what isn’t. Think about your own kids, if I had given them everything they wanted, my house would be over run with monkeys, kittens, pets of all kinds, games, videos, clothes, well, you get the picture. Our needs and our wants are always in conflict. What I need isn’t always what I want, and what I want isn’t necessarily what I need. Jesus taught us how to pray, beginning with acknowledging God as “hallowed”, meaning set aside as holy/sacred. When we get it in our heads who God is, we are much less likely to ask for frivolous stuff. There are those Christians who “name it and claim it”, hounding God for certain kinds of cars, expensive clothes and other extravagant wants. Oh please, no wonder prayer and Christianity gets bad press! Which brings us to what is God’s will for us. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.” Romans 8:26-27. Paul is telling us that, like children, we don’t always know what is best for us, but the Holy Spirit does. We must let him guide us to the knowledge of what God’s will is. Even as Jesus faced death, he prayed that God would change the plan, but he was open to God’s will, not his want. Thank God, that request was answered the way it was, or our salvation would not have been secured. It takes perseverance, fervency and patience combined with faith, but God will let you know. So, while the outside world sees a 99.9% failure rate, we can be 100% assured that God hears, and perfectly answers every prayer at just the right time.