God Answers All Our Prayers
Once I passed by a room of a seminarian and I read a note posted on his door. It read, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. OPEN and you shall be KNOCKED."
Though meant as a joke, that attitude, if taken seriously, depicts one's insensitivity to the needs of others. Because if possible, we would not want to be disturbed by beggars, by small-time vendors, by money borrowers or by our neighbors whose borrowing habits and needs ranged from kitchen utensils to transportation fares for their children. We want to avoid these people. We shut our doors at them, insult them, humiliate them in front of others or shout at them at the top of our voice. Indeed one of the beggars who use to knock our door once said, "Brother, how hard is your heart..."
Well, we human beings can be mean at times. But God is not. When He says, "Ask and you shall receive," He really means it. Because He is God who listens. He understands. He knows what we need and when we need it. He is just waiting for our request. It doesn't matter how often we make such requests. For the more we ask, the more it pleases Him. We only have to be sincere and open to His will when we pray. Surely, He only wills what is best for us.
God hears our prayers and He answers them, especially the prayer of the poor in spirit - those who have nothing else to depend on except God. But for some, the answer to their prayers is no. Not because God is stingy, or that He doesn't care, but because He knows what is best for us. And that is what He wants us to have. As our Father, He would not hand over us a snake if what we truly need is a loaf.
The things we ask for in prayer can be very revealing of our relationship with God and with others, it can be very revealing of our values and our wants (which are very different from our needs). The deepest prayer of petition will be to ask God to give us those things which are most for our long-term well-being, those things which will bring us closer to him and help us to interact in truth and love with those around us. It is a prayer to be the kind of people we ought to be. It is difficult to see that prayer not being answered.
The trouble with us at times is that we are not actually praying when we pray. Many times, we are simply informing God of what we want, without regard whether He who is our Father would like us to have what we ask. Many time we think that what is important for us is what we like, not what God likes. This is not prayer at all but arrogance. Interestingly though, perhaps due to our stubbornness or annoying persistence, God at times still grants what we asks for even in an arrogant manner, if only to please us.
When we pray then, we must pray humbly, trustingly, and sincerely, not seeking our own glory but only God's design and the honor of His name. Whoever loves God for anything else does not abide in Him, but abides in the thing he is loving Him for. If, therefore, you want to abide in Him, you must love Him for nothing but Himself.
