Prayer is great. But if we’re all honest for a minute, prayer can sometimes just become part of our routine. We pray, but are we praying expectantly? In other words, do we pray expecting God to answer? David knew the importance of praying expectantly. He said: ‘In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly’ (Psalm 5:3 NIV). Faith when we are praying is important. Faith in itself is important. The Bible says, ‘Without faith no one can please God. We must believe…God is real and…he rewards everyone who searches for him’ (Hebrews 11:6 CEV). So, how do we increase our faith? ‘Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ’ (Romans 10:17 NIV). If we’re reading the Bible, and really digging into what it’s saying, our faith starts to grow. This isn’t another ‘I need to do more’ call. God can help us increase our faith – just ask Him. But what about unanswered prayer? Does that mean you didn’t have enough faith? It’s important to remember that even if our faith is small, God can, and will, still hear our prayers. Ever seen a mustard seed? It’s small. In fact, it’s tiny. But God says even if we have faith as small as a mustard seed nothing will be impossible for us (Matthew 17:20). God answers our prayers in His timing, and His answer may not always be the one you were after but keep praying expectantly and keep asking in faith.
What now?
Grab your favourite sweets and some paper. Write down a prayer request on a piece of paper, then use it to wrap up a sweet. Do this for all your prayer requests and put the little parcels somewhere safe. Whenever God answers one of the prayers (even if the answer’s ‘no’), unwrap that sweet and enjoy eating it.