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
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….