But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience...For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Rom 8:25; 2 Cor 1:20
P.U.S.H. is a popular bumper sticker slogan among believers.
Pray Until Something Happens can motivate us to a deeper level of prayer but it can also put us into bondage if we are looking at prayer as a formula to get SOMETHING in the physical realm.
God is so ready to answer prayer, but often the answer is not SOMETHING that HAPPENS.
When there is no immediate manifested "answer," it is easy to become snared in one of two traps. On one side, one can get caught up in a kind of hyper-faith, trying to force God's hand with souped up prayers or scriptural confessions.
The other mistake is to resign that God must be saying "no."
I'm not saying that God can never say no, but don't assume that because you didn't get the job, or the healing, etc. that the answer was no. Did you actually hear Him say "No"? No.
Getting things from God is not the goal. Not getting a request is not automatically a cue to "pray harder," nor is it the equivalent of a "no." People sometimes get annoyed with me because I am slow to respond when asked a question, but I am honestly considering the request, so that my yes can be yes, etc. It would be offensive to me if someone equated a slow response with a "no, " or if they kept babbling in my face.
Not that God needs time to weigh it, but remember that we are developing our relationship with Him, learning to discern His voice. The Holy Spirit so often needs to equip me with more information so that my prayers can become more precise.
Most of the time, the "answer to prayer" is direction on exactly HOW to pray.
Jesus experienced immediate manifestations (SOMETHING HAPPENED) when He prayed because He always only prayed exactly how the Father told Him to pray.
Often, my prayer is the first line in a dialogue between God and me. Jesus might respond with a question for me. Sometimes, the Father will remind me of something He has already said to me, a verse on which I've been meditating. He may gently point out an area of disobedience, or an area in which I've been slow to act. He sometimes takes me to a particular verse that I've read before but never understood the application in the current context.
God speaks so many times in pictures or parables from everyday life to draw my attention in a particular direction.
Don't let prayer become a way to manipulate things. The goal of prayer is not manifestation. It is first a door into the presence of God through our fellowship with the beautiful, wise, all-powerful, loving Person of Jesus Christ our Savior!
