We don’t know all that is going on in the spiritual realm but the Word of God is clear-if we ask, we receive.  There are many verses that promise this.  Here are just a few.

Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

God’s Word is His will.  So, whether time is a factor, other people’s involvement, or even the devil in delaying the manifestation of our prayers, the one thing we can hold on to is God’s faithfulness to His Word.

God exalts His Word above His name. (Psalm 138:2)

God’s Word accomplishes what He says, and prospers where He sends it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

How do we stay in faith when we don’t see answered prayer?  We do not waver, but hold on to our expectation that God can be trusted.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

The word ‘hope’ in this scripture simply means hope, trust, and confidence; expectation of what is certain.  So do we really believe God is faithful to His Word?  Are we fully convinced that what He promised is sure to come to pass?  Our ability to have this certainty goes beyond knowing the scriptures of promise.

Our engagement with scripture can’t be limited to knowing what the promises are; all the good God has pronounced over us.  The Words God have spoken show us God’s nature, character and will for us.  Trust and confidence comes in knowing the person of the Word.    Then we will have assurance in His Word.

So for me, and I know for countless others, the key to faith isn’t in just knowing what the Bible says, but knowing God personally through it.  I relate to Him based on what His Word tells me about Him.  I know my Father is good.  I know He has only good planned for me.  I know He is always with me.  I know He wants me blessed and to prosper in every way.  I know He has given me the ability to overcome anything that is contrary to that.  I know that God loves me and His Word shows me what that means.  The more sure I am in His character, the more secure I am in His faithfulness.

God is love, and He loves us!

Ephesians 3:17-19 “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].”

And the next verse…”Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us”

When we are rooted and grounded in the love of God, we will be able to hold on with confident expectation in His goodness toward us, no matter what comes.

I encourage you to believe God’s love for you, abide in it.

John 15:7-9 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

God is Faithful.  He just asks us to trust Him.