Some Thoughts on Prayer
I often hear people say that God answers prayers one of four ways: Yes; No; Wait; and I've got something better. That sounds nice, and contains some truth, but scripture doesn't really articulate it that way. A while back, while struggling with the fact that so many sincere prayers seem to go unanswered, I did some very deep study on what the New Testament actually promises about prayer. I did a lot of digging i nto the Greek, and found some very important nuances I had not noticed before. I did not find what I wanted to find, but I did come to a much more difficult yet more satisfying understanding that I believe might just be worth sharing. This is just a quick survey, not a full-blown study; I am just going to share some conclusions without really going into how I reached those conclusions, because I know how busy you are. To greatly oversimplify, the New Testament teaches that God answers prayer one of three ways: 1. Yes. I'll give this to you. Here