His way, not ours
It’s so frustrating when you are locked out. I had often felt the same way when it seemed like my prayers were not being answered. I felt like I was locked out of heaven.
When I was younger, I remember praying for a certain boy to date or to have help winning a basketball game or tennis match. If what I was praying for didn’t come to fruition, it just solidified the unworthiness belief I often heard in church. So I would try and pray harder, thinking if I were good enough, better, my prayers would be answered. What I didn’t understand at the time was that my perception of how God answered prayers was way off. Looking back, I spent a whole lot of time and effort trying to strive and manifest my prayers into my reality.
I observe a lot of people making the same assumptions as I did. Wasting away the years and stressfully striving instead of being in peaceful faith. Think about it… when God closes a door, most of us view it as something more we must do to get it to open. So we beat on it, ram it, kick and scream, trying to open the damn door! When we are exhausted, we sit in front of it, hoping it will miraculously open. Often we sit there for years praying, obsessing, crying, and begging God to open the door. In our stubborn immaturity, God sometimes responds to us like He did Jonah. He lets us have our way, and we end up drowning in the belly of our own whale.
If we could wrap our logical mind around this fact-God never says no, we would save ourselves a lot of frustration, pain, and wasted time. God answers prayers in 1 of 3 ways:
- Yes,
- Not yet
- I have a better idea
Many times God allows us to have the desires of our heart quickly. At other times His answer is delayed. Sometimes for our prayers to be answered, some arranging on the natural plane has to occur. Maybe you or the person you desire to be in a relationship with have some issues to work out before the relationship could succeed. Maybe the job He wants to put you in is not open yet. Maybe the child you have been praying for is waiting to enter the world at the Divinely blessed time. God’s timing is always perfect so that you can relax! Often God says I have a better idea. His plans are greater than ours. He sees the whole staircase when we can only see the next step. As we sit outside the door He has closed, we fail to lift our eyes and notice the door He has opened. We may often notice the open door but fail to get up and walk through it because it doesn’t look like the door we have imagined in our minds. We sit stuck in front of the closed-door because we are so stubbornly set in our own way, closed-minded to the way God is trying to answer our prayers. More than not, we get in God’s way instead of relying on His word. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26
God hears your prayers, and he will always give you the desires of your heart if you ask, believe, and be open to receive. He may say yes right away, arrange to bring it to fruition, or supercharge your request beyond your wildest dreams. When one door closes, another always opens. Will you walk through it
