Does it sometimes seem to you that God isn't listening, that He isn't answering your prayers. Do you find yourself desperately begging God to hear and answer your prayers?

While we are told in Scripture to continue asking, seeking, and knocking to get answers to our prayer requests, (Matt. 7:7-8), and we are assured that every one who asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. Therefore, we have to remember, we are not beggars. We are to be persistant, at least until God tells us otherwise, but we are not beggars. We are told to “Come boldly before the throne” (Heb. 4:16) Not fearfully, not quaking, not desperate, but assured that we are beloved children, and God will hear and answer our prayers.

God wants to give His children good things. And He wants to answer our prayers.

Now, God may not always answer our prayers the way we want Him to, or as quickly as we'd like for Him to. Like any loving parent, God will sometimes tell His children “No” if whatever they are praying for is not good for them. Imagine your child asking you for something that you, being wiser and more experienced, know is going to cause them trouble or hurt. You aren't going to grant their desire, for good reason. God is the same way: He knows what will result if He grants your request, and He will say no if it is going to cause a problem.

Often, His answer will be “Wait”, because we have some growing to do before He grants our request. Imagine a 12 year old asking for a car. As the parent, you know they are not mature enough or grown enough to drive, but that they will be one day. So your answer will be “Wait, you're not ready yet”. It is not yet time for that particular request. Same thing with our prayers: maybe we have some growing to do before it's time for that prayer to be answered. God is omniscient; He knows when it's the right time.

Either way, we don't have to beg God. The key is learning to accept His will, instead of begging and pleading, trying to bend Him to our will. Have you ever seen a child begging and pleading to change a parent's mind? That's exactly what we try to do when we beg and plead for God to answer our prayers according to our will, rather than His.

We are to be persistent, but we are not beggars. We are assured that in Jesus we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. (Eph. 3:12) In fact, Scripture tells us we are joint-heirs with Jesus (Rom. 8:17) That means that everything God has in store for His only begotten Son, we will share with Him. We know we have matured in Christ when we finally learn to pray as Jesus did, boldly and confidently telling God our requests and needs, but then praying “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”