Expect Answers to Prayer

“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” (Psalm 5:3)

The Lord Jesus lived in the expectation that God would answer His prayers. With Him, this went so far that He could say publicly in prayer: “I knew that you always hear me” (John 11:42).

The Psalmist brought his requests to God in the morning and then watched expectantly for the answer. Habakkuk also had the expectation that God would respond to his prayer, for he said: “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me” (Hab. 2:1).

In difficult times Micah confessed, “But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (Mic. 7:7), and Elijah sent his servant seven times to see if the answer to his prayer was coming (see 1 Ki. 18:43).

How often does it happen to us that we pray in the morning and by noon we no longer know what we asked God for in the morning? Yet God rejoices when we expect Him to respond to prayer and therefore consciously look for responses to that prayer. He is the ‘Hearer of prayer’ (see Ps. 65:2) and we honor Him when we expect Him to respond to prayer!

Do you still remember in the evening the requests you brought before God in prayer during the day? How do you expect Him to give you an answer to your prayers, and how does this expectation manifest itself practically in your life? How can you cultivate an attitude of watchfulness for answers to prayer?

J.P.S.