Daily Devotional
Answered Prayer - 4 Ways

May 25, 2018

God responds to our prayers in about four basic ways.

1. DIRECT: God just says “Yes.” We ask God for something and God just says, “All right, My child, you asked, and here it is.” God gives us exactly, precisely, immediately what we ask.

2. DIFFERENT: You ask one thing and God gives you something else. Romans 8:26b says, “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” If you pray for something that is not the will of God, the Holy Spirit says, “That is what he's asking, but this is what he needs.”

3. DELAYED: Isaiah 30:18 says, “And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.” With God, the timing is more important than time. Sometimes God makes you wait.

4. DENIED: Sometimes the answer is no. God says no. James 4:3 says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”