Luke 1:13
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
The angel said to Zacharias, thy prayer is heard. That prayer that was heard had been prayed for many years until he finally stopped praying. I believe we can be assured that Zacharias had stopped praying for God to give him a child. My reason for saying this is because he was surprised and even doubted that he could have a child at this stage of his life. However, God heard his prayer, but God did not answer the prayer in Zacharias’ timing. God answered the prayer, but many years later after Zacharias stopped praying.
The fact it seems that God has not answered your prayer does not mean that He has not answered it. In fact, if God heard your prayer, He has answered your prayer; it is just that the answer is not for you to know at the present. This is one of the difficult things about prayer. We pray so that we can get an immediate answer, but God answers in His timing so that it will benefit eternity’s timeline. God promises to hear and answer our prayers, and He does; it is just that the answer has not been revealed to us. There are four reasons God’s answer to your prayer is not an immediate answer.
First, God’s answer is not an immediate answer because it is not in His timing. God has perfect timing, and His timing to answer your prayer will be the perfect timing. Our problem is that sometimes our timeline for God to answer our prayer is different from His, but God’s timeline is always the best timeline. God looks at your prayer through eternity’s viewpoint and answers according to that viewpoint. Therefore, you must trust that He knows the best time to show you the answer.
Second, God’s answer is not an immediate answer because He needs to prepare you. There are times when you are not ready for the answer because God has to do a work in your heart to prepare you for it. If we got what we wanted every time we prayed, it would ruin us because we are often not ready for the answer. God needs to prepare us by purging sin from our lives, and He needs to prepare us spiritually to be able to handle the answer He will give.
Third, God’s answer is not an immediate answer because He wants to see your heart. God sees your heart for Him by what you do when He chooses not to give an immediate answer to your prayer. Many have given up on God and shown an impure heart because they only wanted God on their conditions. God wants you to want Him no matter what happens in your life. Job is a classic example of this. You must determine that if God chooses not to show you the answer to your prayer immediately that you will still do right until He shows the answer.
Fourth, God’s answer is not an immediate answer because He wants to build your faith. Your faith is built in the waiting period for the answer to your prayer. Faith could not be built if we did not have to wait. God knows that He is building your faith in Him, and the greater your faith is, the more He can use you. Sometimes God waits to show His answer to your prayer so He can build a greater faith in you.
Until God answers your prayer, keep on praying and trusting God timing and providence in your life. God timing is always right; do right until the timing of the answer is made known to you.
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