When God Says No.

Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

One of the most difficult things we are faced with is when someone tells us "no." It can be sudden answer like when we expect the answer to be "yes" or it can be a subtle "no" because we realize that we can't get what we want all the time. However, to hear "no" from God brings some people down and unfortunately costs them their relationship with God simply because they are ignorant. Life still goes on after a negative response.

Really, God, isn't saying "no" to hurt you. He denies even our most heartfelt and sincere prayer requests. However, he loves you and he's going to deliver circumstances to you according to his will. Remember we are all created in his image and he can't always see as he would.

Sometimes God denies our request if we're not putting him first in our lives. If he said "yes" to all your prayers you would never regain your perspective on God. You could also say it's somewhat of a test by God at times because God wants to see where we turn when there's no where else to go in our sea of troubles. A couple more points that can hinder our prayers from getting answered is when we're selfish and only focusing on ourselves instead of what can be done to glorify God. If you have a confession to make, that would be a huge load off your shoulders. If you have anything cluttering your heart and mind then you're also blocking the Lord (who you can't thus hear his response clearly).

I realize that there are some situations that just don't make sense. You may be praying earnestly but God takes something away from you. He doesn't say "no" to harm you. He says no so that you understand the reality. Death, for example, happens to even the most Godly of people. It's a fact of life in this broken world.

So God does answer all prayers: sometimes it's yes, no, or wait as we've learned over the past few days. All in all, we have to have faith that God will make us stronger as a result of our trials.

That's definitely a lot to wrap your mind around today!