God answers all prayers. There is not a prayer that goes unheard or unanswered.

• When the request is wrong, God’s answer to our prayers is “No.”
• When the timing is wrong, God’s answer to our prayers is, “Wait.”
• When we are wrong, when we are asking with wrong motives, when we are asking from the position of immaturity, God says “Grow up.”

These are all perfectly legitimate answers to requests.

When our request is right, when the timing is right, and when we are right with our motives, God answers with a resounding “Yes! Go for it!”

We started this week with the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane. Let God know what is on your heart. Let God know your longings and desires. Be honest. There is nothing God doesn’t already know, so there is no point trying to fool Him. Let Him know your heart.

AND always end your prayers with, “But not what I will, but what you will.”

The purpose of prayer isn’t to trick or get God to do what we want. The purpose of prayer is God. Read that last sentence again. The purpose of prayer is simply God.

The purpose of prayer is to get to know God’s heart better.

The purpose is to get closer to God and His will.

And since our God is God, and since He knows all things, and since He wants what is best for us, always end your prayers with, “But not what I will, but what you will.”

God always answers prayers. There is not a prayer that goes unheard or unanswered.

A teenage boy heard his pastor preaching about prayer. The pastor told the congregation they ought to believe that God is in the business of answering prayers. And because God is in the business of answering prayers, they ought to visualize what God’s answered prayers would look like.

A few days later, the mom of the teenage boy found a bikini hanging on the boy’s door. Confused by the presence of a bikini on the boy’s door, his mom asked him what that was all about.

The boy responded by saying that he was putting into practice what the preacher had said about prayer – He was praying and visualizing God answering his prayer – “God, please fill this bikini!”

God answers all prayers. There is not a prayer that goes unheard or unanswered.

When the request is wrong, God’s answer to our prayers is “No.”

When the timing is wrong, God’s answer to our prayers is, “Wait.”

When we are wrong, when we are asking with wrong motives, when we are asking from the position of immaturity, God says “Grow up.”

God may certainly want to provide this boy with a God-honoring woman when he grows up. But what that boy will need when he is a man is much more than a body to fill a bikini, but a woman who will help him to grow and mature in his faith and a woman who will encourage him to become the man God created him to be.

When we are wrong, when we are asking with the wrong motives, when we are asking from a position of immaturity, God says, “Grow up.”

Yesterday, we saw that when our request is wrong God says “No” to our prayers.

When our request is good but the timing is wrong, God says, “Wait.”

For instance when a child asks if he/she can drive and get a car of their own, if they are not yet sixteen, the answer is “wait.” It is not a forever wait, but it is until they are able to get a license of their own.

We may pray for good things – for a God-honoring spouse, for a job that allows us to work and serve God, etc. – but when the timing is not right, God will answer our prayers with “wait.”

It is not a forever denial. It’s just not the right time.

And in the waiting time, God is preparing us to be ready to receive His blessing.

When the request is wrong, God says “No.”

When the timing is wrong, God says, “Wait.”