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For any company you can call these days, you’re going to be met with an automated greeting and menu, no matter what. That’s just how it is, take the call, process the call and send it off to the right section of the company. This often leads the customer to frustration, impatience and eventually anger; because let’s be honest, it’s not a great system. But the purpose of the system was not to have great personal time with the client but to have instant gratification for the client.
A lot of times, we as sons and daughters of the King find ourselves asking for a prayer to be answered; so we ask God for the thing we’re in need of and leave the prayer “on the table” so to speak and wait. We’ve all done it, be honest. But here’s my question for you: have those prayers been answered yet?
Many people treat God somewhat like an automated phone system, they tune in to ask God to fix their needs and as soon as they feel they’ve talked with God enough, they hang up. Let’s get something straight, God is not a genie, he’s not here to grant your wishes or give you instant gratification. *POOF!* Here’s your prayer answered. *POOF!* Your prayer is answered!
That’s not how it works. Period. You just can’t press 1 for Jesus. There’s no automated answering system in Heaven. So, I’m sure you’re wondering:
How does it work? If God won’t answer my prayers what will I do?
Here’s how it does work:
God is your Father, Redeemer, Confidant and so much more. In order for God to come and answer your prayers, you must go to Him; stretch your arms out and run to Him like you never have before. Give Him your time, setting worldly things aside and spend time in His presence. (Not sure where to start your relationship with God? Here’s some tips.) Know that God is not your spiritual pen pal, or someone you talk to once in a while. He is the One who knows you more deeply than you know your own self. He has formed you, caressed you, cared for you and loved you since the beginning of time. He knows all of your worries, doubts, fears, ailments, and shortcomings; and He loves you all the more.
1 | Go to Him in Secret
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. –Matthew 6:6 (CSB)
Shouting out to God in public, at church or at a group meeting alone is not going to build your relationship with Him. Oftentimes we go to church like “good Christians” do and check relationship with God off of our to-do list. Would you be able to build a relationship in the same way with your spouse or children? No. So why would you ever feel that it is sufficient to do so with your All Mighty God and Creator? God craves our love and attention as we crave Him, he wants our most intimate thoughts and prayers, and where better to share that beautiful time with Him than in secret?
2 | Learn to Hear His Voice
“My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.” — John 10:27 (CSB)
God is all around us, He is never not there. (I know, that’s a double negative.) Like a best friend he is by your side through the good, the bad and the ugly. He watches us learn to walk with Him, and catches us when we stumble and fall. He is there to guide us through life, but often times, we don’t hear Him…because we’re not listening. We’re listening to advice columns, friends, family, and every other source we can get our hands on. Instead, when we have a problem we should be turning to the pages of our Bible with our doors closed and our hearts open.
Spend time whether in worship, or just in quiet, listening and praying. Asking the Lord what His will for you is, instead of requesting things of Him. It could be much more surprising than you think! (It certainly was for me!)
3 | Pray Without Ceasing
“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. — 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (CSB)
When you make it a habit to talk to the Lord, you learn to live in His constant grace. When you just talk to God about the little things, it makes it so much easier to remember to go to Him for the big things. I often talk to God about the wildlife around my house; I thank Him for the birds, the ranch animals and all the little critters that live around the ranch. I talk to Him about everything and anything and it is a great space to live in because I know no matter how happy or sad or mad I am, God is always there and I can remember that.
Take time everyday to just talk to God about the little things and make a simple habit of just talking to Him through everything.
When you are able to do these things, you will start seeing God in your life more, and He will be able to lead you through life with His hand on your shoulder. He will be able to guide your prayer, lead your heart and be everything to you and more.
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Hello! I'm Amanda Elizabeth, creator of The Homemaker's Cottage. As a homemaker I have constantly felt the pull between old fashioned homemaking and the fast paced world we live in today. So I created The Homemaker's Cottage: a stress-free space between the old in the new, where there is no judgement and we can learn that homemaking can be relevant, easy and even enjoyable.
Join me on this journey to serve God, your family, and begin homemaking from where you are.
Hi Amanda! I am so thankful I serve a living God who wants to hear and answer my prayers. I am thankful he is not the One who leaves, but the One who welcomes me back when a stray. I love your blog!
Thank you! And I am grateful that God is the one who welcomes us all back as well!
The funny thing is we pray and pray and we actually always do get an answer. Sometimes the answer is no or not now. Not exactly what we all want to hear, but I know that my Father has always heard my prayers and Jesus is interceding for me.
You’re right! But a lot of people don’t see prayer that way! They see if God answers not now or later that it might as well be a never.
I agree what you said. God want a relationship with use. Thanks for the reminder. I plan to write prayers to God and offer my gratitude.
That sounds like a lovely idea Mary!
Isn’t that the truth! I find that in our need-an-answer-quick society we can get that way. And I admit that I’ve been guilty of it too. Wanting God to answer me in my time rather than His. It certainly is a matter of faith and learning to wait on Him. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I find myself awfully impatient at times, but then I remember His plan! Thanks for visiting!
I like how you broke this down. I do believe that we’re in a society where everything is very fast paced and we all want our needs filled ASAP. I love Kristen Luca’s view that our prayers are always answered.
Breaking things down seems to help a lot (for myself at least!) and slowing life down is extremely important too!
I was taught to seek him daily but more importantly, don’t pray selfish prayers. Most of my prayers are for others and thanking him for keeping me and being with me.
Those are great prayers! My favorite prayers to pray are the ones I pray for my husband!
These are valid points and serve as a reminder of what true faith is. Sometimes it is hard to wait and even harder to know if you are truly hearing His voice. Thank you for the information.
Patience is a virtue! Thanks for visiting!!
I am not fond of posting about God and prayers on the social media, I don’t think that is the way things should be. Prayers are between you and Him alone. I have nothing against people posting their faith online, sometimes other people need it too, sort of a reminder that there is still that ONE powerful being above all.
I find myself posting a lot of encouragement (not so much prayer online) because people know that they can come to me in times of trouble for prayers and support. I like being that helping hand in my community. I think social media can also be great to start prayer chains with!
What a wonderfully encouraging and convicting post! I appreciate the reminder. Prayer is a special and powerful connection we have with our Lord. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts.
Thank you for coming to visit!! Please feel free to stop by again!
Well said. I was taught that “no” is also an answer, as well as “later”. Not everything is answered on our timetable.
That’s right! God is the God of all creation! He knows what He’s doing! 🙂
You have very good thoughts. I’m thankful for your amazing insight at such a young age. God bless you may He do great things through you! Trudie
Thank you Trudie! Such kind words!
I find that when I am in the most need, that I am nearly always in private with my deepest prayer requests. “Please Lord help my kitty survive this surgery” or “Please Lord help my Uncle stop suffering”.
I have also heard it said that some of our greatest gifts are unanswered prayer (the ones where the answer was or is no). I can attest that while heartbroken when a deep relationship ended, I many years later realized that my life only traveled the better road that it did because I was not traveling it with the wrong partner.
That is so true! God knows exactly what we need when we need it! Even when our lips cannot form the prayers!
It’s good to keep reminding myself that God isn’t a rabbit’s foot (sorry for the comparison) or a vending machine. He doesn’t tell us that He’ll give us whatever…period. Usually, there’s stuff we need to do too, like getting to know Him and spending time with Him. I know that when I spend more time with Him, it makes me better inside and I like that person better.
I enjoy the person I am around Him better too. (and you’re forgiven) 🙂
Sometimes we don’t get what we think we want, but it turns out for the best. I find the song “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks very profound.
That’s so true! I haven’t heard that song yet but I’ll be checking it out!
So this is awesome and really on point. It’s easy to get into the mode of just going to God when we need something. The thing is, we need to love and appreciate Him for who He is, trust that He knows what’s best for us, and be alright if things don’t go the way we want them to. Spending time with Him is so important. It’s important to take time out and listen for what He’s saying to us. Spending time with Him is give and take. He speaks to us all the time, we just need to be still and listen.
He loves spending time with His children! That’s why He created us!! The more time you spend with Him the more you hear His voice! Thanks for stopping by!! 🙂
You’re right – God isn’t a genie. It’s so important to have a relationship with him and to spend focused time with Him.
He most certainly is not! 🙂
I find a lot of people who are excellent ‘public’ Christians, but really don’t have a personal walk with the Lord. That personal walk takes time spent alone with God, every day…at all times.
There are a ton of ‘public’ Christians and sometimes, I feel like one of them. It’s in those times that we run back to the Lord, curl up on His lap and spend time with Him. 🙂
Great reminder to pray during all seasons of life. It is so easy to pray at meals or when we need Him rather than at all times.
That’s right! Sometimes it helps by getting into a routine of prayer. Sometimes, just pray whenever you want to talk with Him. 🙂
So I used to believe God was my personal genie in a bottle. I have learned quite the opposite and He was so patient with me teaching me along the way. God wants us to be in relationship with us… not just any relationship but an intimate one. Unfortunately may believers are not taught this… and they are often hurt when things don’t go the way they need them to go. Well, I am steadily working on my relationship with God and thankful that it gets better every day. Excellent post!
That’s right! Keep up the great relationship with Him, it’s the most important one!! Thanks for visiting!
I love that I hear God’s voice! For years I prayed for and believed that I could because He said in His word, “my sheep know my voice”. Yet I didn’t know anyone who actually said they knew when it was God. Even pastors. I kept believing, praying, seeking relationship with Him–not wishes granted. And just as His word promises, He gave me the desires of my heart. To know Him and know His voice! Prayer changes everything!!
I love the look of your site, by the way, and your fonts! You’ve made this a beautiful place to visit!
You are so right about God! Time is an important factor! And thank you! I’m so glad you came and visited! Come back soon!
Hearing God’s voice is really essential to a Christians life. Because of that we will be running a six week discipleship class for our worship team. We just discovered that over 80% of them do not know God’s voice. We thought this was an emergency!
Wow! Yes, it is so important to learn to hear God’s voice!!
and no 900 number either – He’s TOTALLY FREE 365 days a year! 😀
That’s totally right!!!
It is so true that we often try to make God our Genie who will just answer our prayers as we come to Him with them. It would be awesome if it worked that way, but thank goodness it doesn’t! Thank goodness we are to have a deep relationship with Him, where we can trust His answers and His timing amidst our own impatience.
It definitely is the best part of Christianity is developing that relationship with Him! Not just asking Him to *poof* here and there.
Such a great point… to worry not only about talking to God when we’re suppose to i.e. Church but in the quietness behind closed doors. Sometimes that is forgotten.
Definitely Betsy! He needs our attention a lot more than we think!
Love the title of this post- genius! I definitely feel that God listens to me. It may not always result in what I thought I wanted or thought I needed but so far it always seems to turn out ok. 😉
Thank you! And He is always listening and He does know what’s best! 🙂
This is such a great point- often we do treat prayers to God like a “press 1” button. Payers should be so personal and it is so easy for them to be just something we do before we eat or something we do quickly before we go to bed. I love the point you made about waiting to listen and building a relationship!
Personalizing prayer is so important! It really strengthens your relationship with Him!
To pray without ceasing. To have a constant, ongoing conversation with Him is what we should strive for. Learning to call on Him at every turn, every decision, every thought, is what our relationship should look like. But it is hard, especially in a world of now, now, now. Thankfully, He’s a God of patience, and waiting for us to lean on Him alone. Thank you for sharing.
Yes He is! Thanks for coming to visit!
It’s so nice that we don’t NEED to press 1 for Jesus, isn’t it? We have a direct line.
Absolutely! 🙂
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers! I’m thankful to serve a living God that is always there for me, whether I hear from it right away or not, because I know he always has my best interest in mind!
I love that our God longs for a relationship with us! I find my most consistent prayers get answered. The ones that I keep running to His arms with!
Learning to hear His voice… I have struggled with that. Is it my voice and what I want to do or is it the Holy Spirit leading me and guiding me? Sometimes we just need to be still and know that He is God and know that His timing is perfect. This is a great post!
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for the great post and reminder! I do tend to ask advice from friends and family when instead I should pray on it and ask for His guidance.
Happy to see that you’re a cancer survivor, and I hope you remain cancer-free!
Have a great week!
XOXO, Erin
This is a great post, fantastical even! This is exactly what I help people with, knowing their purpose and/or current calling on/in their life from our loving Father! It truly is impossible to hear Him if you don’t know Him. His characteristics and qualities. I love living life for Him! Now it’s not always easy that’s for sure! Why is it not easy? Just like He said, we will have troubles. They may be brought on by the king of lies, others or our circumstances but it ultimately is brought on by ourselves. Our thoughts to be exact. It’s how we look at everything that determines how our life will play out. Trouble will come but don’t worry as He has already overcome the world!
Thank you for sharing truth in how this does work. I needed this today!
Lovely post! Yes, I think we live in a society that has such a “microwave” mentality that we have a hard time waiting on the Lord. And, many times we have our “Christmas wish list” of prayer requests yet we don’t have time to really talk, share with Him. Instead we just click off our list & and offer a quick “thanks in advance” and go about our busy little lives. Thanks for the reminder that we need to stop, be patient, wait upon the Lord & know that He already has this amazing plan for us, we just need to let Him go on His own time!
You’re absolutely right! Too many people feel like Jesus is our butler or our genie. But he is so much more than that. If we only step back and let him, he will bless us beyond our wildest dreams.
I totally agree with you! We live in a culture that treats God as the Santa Clause in the sky and whenever things get hard or uncomfortable we make a list of our “needs/wants” and expect that He is right there at our beck and call. We have created a God in our head because that is not the One True God. You have a lot of wisdom for a young woman and I am excited to check out the rest of your blog! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for the great post! Happy to have found your blog 🙂
Oh yes! I’m so blessed to have discovered that God is so much more than a ‘fixer’. But a reminder like yours is always welcome.