When God says NO.

I have been here…. Asking, seeking, banging down doors….and feeling like I could not live without it (funny how it feels like we just can’t live without that thing) …still the answer was a loud no. wondering if there’s something am doing wrong , because when  everyone around me was getting their ‘yes’  all I seemed to be getting is a No.

Why won’t God answer my prayers? I agonized

Why won’t He say yes to my request? It’s not that much… some of you would say,all I want is a job or I just want to get married,or I just want to be promoted.”

How do you navigate through a season of No’s and still emerge on the other side of your faith?

1) God will say NO, when our requests violates His will for our lives

This is true especially in matters, relationships.  God will say no when what we are asking Him violates His intention for our lives.

 Right now in my late twenties, am so glad about the prayers that God didn’t answer when I was 18 or 22 years because they would have been out of His will for my life.

God’s will for all His children is that our lives brings Jesus honor  and glory and that we might enjoy life and have it in overflow , so anything that doesn’t honor, glorify or give us life is a NO-No .

Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for fish, will hand him a serpent?

If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children , how much more will your father who is in heaven  give  good things to those who asks Him. (Matthew 7:9 -11)

It’s God’s will to give us good things therefore He will most definitely deny us the requests that are not good for us. They may look and even feel good to us but He is all knowing, He sees the future when all we see is right here right now.

2) God will answer NO when we pray at cross-purpose with another person.

Picture this scenario.

A lady gets a prophetic word concerning her marriage. Before she meets him, God   gives her his name. She doesn’t take it seriously, because what are the odds of her meeting someone with that name. She doesn’t take it seriously. Yet in the same heartbeat, she feels like there is a call on her life to intercede for her future marriage even when she doesn’t know who he is or where he is.

A year later she meets a guy, he introduces himself by his second name. Immediately she’s taken with him, which is strange because she has always been cautious when it comes to things of the heart.  Shortly after, she leaves for a job in another town. A year later, she returns and things become a little clearer. The name from the prophecy now had a face; the guy she liked a year earlier.

It now makes perfect sense however, there’s one little problem. He is engaged to someone else!  God seemed to have forgotten to update him about His plan.

Even though the guy is asking God to bless their union, He has to say no to his request because God had already preplanned a bride for him. For God to say yes to him, He has to say no and be unfaithful to the lady who got the prophetic word.

I know this sound like a reel from an awful Mexican soap opera but ….this is my story.  

Here is Biblical example,

James and john, the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus.  “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked

They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.”

You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said, “to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those whom they have been prepared for.”(Mark 10:35-40)

God’s no sometimes is this response ….you don’t know what you are asking for ….and because I know more than you am going to say no.

3) God will answer No when our requests are premature.

Sometimes in the kingdom of God, there are specific times set for some things to happen. All we can do is to put our trust in a God who is perfect in all He does.

But these things I plan won’t happen right away slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled

If it seems slow, do not despair for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day! (Habakkuk 2:3 the msg)

 Has God given you a promise that seems to be taking a little longer than you expected? Hold on and do not despair! It will not prove false. There is an appointed time and the fulfillment will come.

4) God will answer No, when it will result in bringing Him greater glory

When Jesus received the message, He said, this sickness shall not end in death but it is to Honor God and to promote His glory that the Son of God may be glorified through it. (John 11:4)

The rest of the story ends with Jesus raising Lazarus up from the dead. . If all Jesus did was to heal him , people already knew he was a healer , but if He raised him up from the dead they will have a new revelation of God as one who  resurrects dead things.

What is dead in your life? Is it a relationship? Have you just lost a job you’ve worked in for years?  A dream you always thought you will have.

God is still in the resurrection business and when people see what He brings back to life in your life they will glorify God. You probably already know Him as a job giver, a relationship builder, a dream giver but…

 Do you know Him as the life and the resurrection?

Sometimes, He will say no to our requests to save something from dying so He can glorify Himself by bringing it back to life.

 There’s something about watching something that was dead come back to life. It will do something to your faith.







5) God will say no, because we have not been prepared to receive what we are asking for

If you have read the bible, you notice there is no one that God used to do something great that didn’t go through gruesome preparation.

It took Joseph 12 years to get to the palace, his preparation was slavery and jail (ouch!), and it took Moses 40 years to be able to live the call that was on his life. It took David around 17 years to sit on the throne of Israel.

Some of us are crying to God for some things that will take us years to be prepared.

 What am saying is that as long as an heir is a child and underage, he is no different from a slave though he owns everything their father had

But he is under guardians and trustees until he is of age. (Galatians 4:1-2) emphasis mine

Children do not access inheritance, it’s only entrusted to a mature son and daughter.

When you have done all you know to do and still the answer is no, remember:

 1) God is good and all He does revolves around this, even when I can’t see or feel it. He remains good.  I hold on to His unchangeable nature and his unchanging grace becomes my anchor through the dark.

Jesus is the same yesterday ,today and forever , even when everything around me is changing or not changing I can hold on to this fact.

2) He is the beginning and the end. When all I have of the whole picture is the keyhole view that am fixated on, He can see the whole parade play out from the very start to the end.  He has the rooftop view. Sometimes, He allows us to see a lot more than where we are, other times he gives us bit by bit and that is okay with me, coz He has all the view.

3) When He is saying no to one thing, He is saying yes to another. When I hear a no, I ask Him to help me release it, no bitterness or resentment and lead me to the yes for that moment.

Sometimes the yes is for a season of rest, a season of growth and preparation, a season of learning to trust or a season for a new thing.

Here is a funny thing, the very thing that He said no to a year ago is the same reason why am lifting my hands up in praise for right now….my perspective has changed I see differently now.

I am so thankful He didn’t give me what I was crying and pining for last year. Imagine that

I know you think and feel like you cannot live without…… a job, a ring, a promotion or whatever it is that you’ve been asking God for but with time you will laugh so hard( at yourself of course) when you see how unwise it was and how distorted your perspective was….