Proverbs 13:2) A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth…

James 1
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraides not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

The is a world of “instant”: there is instant coffee, instant channels at the click of a button, instant breakfast, instant web pages and so on. Everything now a days is fast paced. It has become the norm to look for “quick fixes”. However history shows otherwise. The Roman Empire came to be established after the ascension of Emperor Augustus in 27 B.C. , but the apex of this empire’s territorial expansion was not achieved until emperor Trajan came into power in 117 AD. This is a 144 year period of necessary maintenance of currently owned territories/countries, as well endeavoring and laboring to expand. The Maxim that says, “Roman was not built in a day”, is true.

It says in Genesis 12 that “the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto your seed will I give this land…”. Abraham was 75 years old at that time (Genesis 12:4). This promise carried the implication that Abraham would have a child at some point in his life. This, however, did not come to pass until Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5). This is a 25 year waiting period.

There are some things that we pray for and hope for in life that will not come to us instantly. There must be an endure in faith in God to bring the answer to our petitions into complete manifestation at His appointed time, definitely at His appointed time. In psalm 37 it says:

“Entrust your ways to the LORD. Trust him, and he will act [on your behalf].”(GWT)
“Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass (KJV)

The First part of this verse deals with casting all your cares upon (cross ref Psalm 55:22, Psalms 62:8, Proverbs 3:5-6). This is where we say, “God, I need deliverance”, “God, I need guidance”. Certainly there are promises that we can lift up to God that correspond with each petition. It is extremely important to note that the only petitions that are guaranteed to be answered, are those that are in alignment with God’s will.

1 John 5:13-14) And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

So the question one might ask is this, “I prayed according to God‘s will, I even used the bible to seek God‘s will for the situation, so how come absolutely nothing has changed. I keep asking God and it says “ask and you shall receive”, yet I have not”

(I keep in mind there are multiple reasons, I am just focusing briefly on one)

The issue might be what is proceeding out of the mouth of you and me after we have Lifted up our petition to God. If I prayed to God to sustain me during a period of difficulty, but what comes out of my mouth an hour later is ”I am going to fail” or “I am not going to make it”, what I am saying is this “God‘s grace is not sufficient. It is not enough”. This frankly insults God and saddens him when we don’t trust in Him. It is important to note that all unbelief is sin (Romans 14:23). Therefore, God will not move on our behalf at times, because of what we confess or declare is pertaining to unbelief.

Concerning Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, Matthew 13:5 says “he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” and James said about the person who wavers “let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”

Therefore it is important that we only speak in agreement with what God is doing (by faith), in accordance with the answering of our petition. “God is delivering me from this stronghold of lust and fear” (Acts 7:34, Isaiah 42:6), “God is bringing increase and bringing me forth out of a barren place” (psalms 114:15, Isaiah 43:19, Psalms 107:35). This will renew and sustain our faith, as well as keep us in a mindset of patience until the appointed time of the (full) appearance of what we have been asking for.

Psalms 90:4) a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

Excellent read :)
Never heard the fact that some of my prayers may not be answered because I doubt, and that was an eye opener for me.