How important is your faith to God? How He answers your prayers helps to grow your spiritual growth.

I should have known better. One devotion on ‘waiting on God’ was never going to get done in just one 400 word approach. So, Part 1 revealed the exact moment when the answer ‘begins coming… ‘the day I call for help.’ Psalm 56:9

Last week in Part 2 we acknowledged that even in the darkness of an apparent ‘non answer’ we must believe that God never stops caring and our prayers and tears are never, ever wasted in heaven’s economy. We must hang on to the faith that launched our prayers. God’s silence never indicates His inactivity.

In this post we will look at the first of two key things God is doing while we patiently or impatiently await the answer.

First, and probably most important to our Heavenly Father, is the matter of faith. Christian artist Danny Gokey states it this way: “Faith is proof of our belief in God’s goodness. Faith shows God that He matters more to us than anything else.” God often tests the tenacity and strength of our faith with the plum line of delay.

If you were God and wanted people to trust you, would you purposely prolong your response to their prayers if all it was going do it was discourage and  the two of you? Of course not. Instead of delayed response from seeing their faith crumble, You’d want the answer, when it comes, to build their faith and help them see the answer from your vantage point and your good heart.

If every prayer were answered immediately and exactly like we asked, would we really need faith? Keep this in mind when you pray: Waiting on God to answer is always a test of our faith, not God’s faithfulness, or His kindness.

 God’s response is to always help fulfill His eternal will. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14).

 Take some time this week to see if there is any indication to you that what you are asking doesn’t conflict with God’s revealed will in Scripture. He needs to be sure that what you ask isn’t at odds with His heart.

Next week we will decipher two other critical parts of God’s responses…. His purpose and His timing!