Last night I was teaching from 1 John 5:14-15 and shared the following about how God answers our prayers. Since it seemed helpful I thought I’d post it this morning. I first saw this Bill Hybels book Too Busy Not to Pray and have used it for years. It helped me understand the nature of God’s response to my requests and had a positive impact on my personal prayer life.
1. Sometimes God says “NO” to our requests because the request is wrong (2 Corinthians 12:8).
2. Sometimes God says “SLOW” to our requests because the timing is wrong (John 11:1-6; Isaiah 30:18).
3. Sometimes God says “GROW” to our requests because we need to mature or are in the wrong spiritual condition (James 4:2-3).
4. When the request is right, the timing is right, and we are “right,” God then says “GO”, or yes to our requests.