Is God Still God?

Is God still God when “He doesn’t answer our prayers”?

The short answer – yes!

But, since when do I use short answers?

When we pray, particularly when we pray for someone else, or over a situation involving someone else, they continue to have the freedom to choose; as do we.

They can choose to rebel against God, as can we. (Assuming what we were praying over them was included in the will of God.)

When we’re praying for someone else, the best way we can pray is for God to get a hold of their heart, for Him to reveal Himself to them in an undeniable way. But, instead, we often pray for them to make a choice in a matter that’s pleasing to us.

When they don’t comply, God gets the blame and often, we stop praying for them; we “give up on them”. Ouch!

We lose sight of our part in their heart softening toward God; they’re salvation or they’re deliverance, or whatever God is doing in their lives.

They’re left hanging and we become angry and bitter with the God of our salvation, the God Who loves us eternally, more than our human hearts can imagine. We’ll miss out on so many blessings while we’re stewing in our bitterness.

When we pray, our faith doesn’t disappear when things don’t go our way; that’s when faith is really tested.

God already knows your faith is plenty strong enough to hold on. Do you? Ah, yes, that’s who you’re proving it to. Each test of faith we rise above is showing us just how strong that mustard seed of faith, planted in our heart, really is.

Turn around. Run to Jesus. Right now.

It may involve tears.

It’ll definitely involve forgiveness, both giving and receiving.

Now is not the time to give up on prayer. Now is the time to seek God’s face all the more passionately. We’ve still got a lot of living to do, a lot of mountains to climb, a lot of joy to be expressed!

You’re in my heart, you’re in my prayers.

But, more importantly, God has not turned His back on you. Run to Him. Now.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)