God desires to answer your prayer. He yearns for it as much as you do.
How can I be sure? Because answered prayer glorifies Him, the very thing that He desires. When prayer is answered, praise automatically springs to life in our hearts.
Think of an example in your life. When was a time that a supernatural answer came in a way that you could not have orchestrated on your own? The expression in your soul was not obligatory gratitude, but pure rejoicing in what He accomplished. Thanksgiving bubbled up from the fountain of your heart as a natural overflow.
Of course, God’s Word repeatedly encourages us to praise and thank Him. Why, then, would we assume that He is reluctant to do the very thing that actualizes praise and thanksgiving within us? God loves to answer prayer.
So, what is the difficulty? Why must we feel so frustrated with so many unanswered prayers? In my case, one of the problems is because I give up too quickly. I get discouraged and stop asking. My doubt plays directly into the hand of the enemy.
The real enemy of prayer is the adversary, who works steadily against all of God’s purposes on earth (1 Peter 5:8). This same enemy tried to thwart Jesus’ answers to prayer and desires to do so with us as well (Luke 4:1-13). Jesus knows this and encourages us to “keep praying until the answer comes” (Luke 18:1 TLB).
Honestly, facing a supernatural enemy raises my anxiety. I visualize myself standing alone, besieged by an entire battalion of enemy soldiers. My only weapon is a single-loaded pellet gun, and I don’t know how to shoot!
Yet, the Father reveals that our weapons are “divinely powerful” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Commentator H.M. Spence says that “divinely powerful” translates to mean “powerful in His estimate.” God has entrusted us with a secret weapon that is dangerously destructive to a divine degree. Even God considers this powerful.
A far cry from the plastic BB gun of my imagination, our Chief Commander has given us power like a ballistic nuclear missile produced specifically in His Divine factory. God describes this warhead as dynatos, the Greek word from which our word dynamite is derived. As the most advanced stealth bombers with pinpoint target-ability and direct guidance systems, our warfare weapon of prayer is not to be handled carelessly.
God gives every one of His children this explosive power, even the youngest babe in Christ. Our Wise Sergeant begins our basic training with the fundamentals of prayer. As we progress, He instructs us to utilize His more sophisticated techniques. Our coaching in prayer is lifelong.
Although we hold such exceptional potential in our hearts, our Chief Commander is also a God of mercy and love. He knows every heart, desiring that none perish, but that all join His royal family (2 Peter 3:9). He is a God Who seeks to build up rather than tear down (2 Corinthians 13:10).
And He grants this power to children who often just want to blow something up.
So, we remain in training.
Although His explosive power works forcefully within us, we must maintain a student’s attitude, ever on our knees, with His patient Voice whispering from behind as He guides the accuracy of our prayers (Colossians 1:29; Isaiah 30:21). God desires to answer prayer with efficiency, so there will be as little destruction and as much praise as possible.