Listening To Who?

Something has been going through my mind for several days in regard to unanswered prayers. I have been taking several issues to God asking for His grace and deliverance and nothing "seems" to be happening. But something is happening. Here is where I am thus far on this very important issue.


The enemy says that "God does not hear you... or " He is tired of hearing you" on these matters. I stop myself and think of His promises that He gives all Believers; the promise that He knows what we have need of before we even realize we need it. Before we can voice a request, He knows. I know that I know that delayed prayers are not unanswered prayers.


I am at a special stage in my personal spiritual development, after praying that God increase my faith, I want to be a man of faith. We know that faith comes by hearing and that hearing is from the words and promises of God; who He is, how He works, and what HIS desires are for His children. I feel His main desire is to have a pure and clean Bride for His Son when He returns. And that we be changed, ever so slowly, it seems to us, into the very image of Christ. It is a long, drawn out process.


As the Apostle Paul advises us, there are many voices in the world we live in; there are none without significance. All mean and come from somewhere; some are our own thoughts, some from the enemy of our souls, some from friends and some from the Holy Spirit as He deals with us to show us the way.


For the past several days this thought has been reoccurring in my mind ~
I have no trouble believing that if I were cursing God or berating Him for unanswered prayers that He would hear me immediately. If I were to become totally desperate and unbelieving, I would have no problem at all condemning myself and I would be assured that God heard me.


Why am I so confident on the negative aspects of life and faith? Is it just the nature of the natural man having control? Where is the man of great faith I wish to become? What I think the Spirit is trying to teach me is that just as I have no trouble at all believing that God hears the negative, and He does, I can have just as much confidence that He especially hears my requests, my praises, my glorifying Him in the midst of the fires, tests and trials.


He hears ALL! Keep praising Him! Keep asking Him! Never give us; no matter how things look in the natural, He hears, He answers, He is working on each and every one of us both as a Body and as individuals.