I’m a firm believer in timeless prayers. I believe that prayers have no expiration dates.
Because God isn’t limited by time.
What matters is that we take the time to pray. That we pray according to God’s will. And we do our part in making our prayer come true. Then we’re assured that our prayers will be granted.
Really? There’s such a guarantee, an assurance of answered prayer?
Yes. Here it is, in the Bible:
“This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him.” (1 John 5: 14-15).
I was pleasantly flabbergasted the first time someone showed me these verses! What a radical promise from God Himself.
The critical thing to remember is this: if we want a 100% guarantee that our prayer will be answered, then we must be sure that what we’re asking for is according to God’s will. That it doesn’t go against His commands.
To pray for something that’s wrong is not only foolhardy but also disastrous. For example, if one plans to get a big contract through bribery or some other evil means, one may actually get the contract – but the consequences will surely be disastrous.
All people who profit or become rich through cheating, bribery, or any other evil means will surely suffer sorrow and grief, one way or another – themselves, their family members, their loved ones, their cohorts. All will suffer the consequences. No one can escape God’s wrath. It’s only a question of time.
I’m sure you’ve seen the lives of corrupt people become tumultuous, abysmal, and profoundly miserable. They might be rich and powerful but their lives are constantly besieged by serial sorrows: sickness, scandals, fights, accidents, addictions, kidnapping, murder, death, betrayals, turmoil at home and at work, horrifying experiences, etc. They may be experts at putting up a prosperous, confident facade, but in private, they’re never at peace. Never content. Never secure.
Their prayers were “answered,” but definitely not by God. Every kind of “success” attained by sinful, evil means shall always reap a harvest of grief and tragedy. This is a horrific, abominable kind of answered prayer.
On the other hand,
“The blessing of the Lord enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it.” (Proverbs 10:22) This is the kind of answered prayer we want.
So, for example, you pray to God that you’ll get a certain contract – without bribing anyone or cheating in the bidding – but alas, you “lost” to someone who bribed or cheated. Did you actually lose? Was your prayer not answered?
If God didn’t let you get the contract even if you’re an honest bidder and you’re qualified to get it – then He’s protecting you or it’s not the best thing for you. He’s preparing you for something much, much better.
This has happened to us many times. Once, my husband lost a bid because he refused to bribe anyone. Although we were discouraged, we knew that God had something better for us.
We just kept doing our part – we kept looking for other opportunities, we continued to run our existing business as well as we could. We paid our taxes honestly even if this decreased our profits significantly.
But God did an awesome thing. One day, out of the blue, we were offered a contract that gained us profits way beyond what we were projecting to earn from the previous bid that we had “lost.”
In fact, our profits were so good from this contract that aside from providing for our daily needs (we were sending our four children to good, expensive schools and financially supporting our mothers), we were still able to build our third house – without any debts or financing!
To this day, we’re astounded by what God did in answer to that one prayer. We continue to reap the benefits to this day.
Many times, when I look out our balcony to watch the sunset over a breath-taking panoramic view of Metro Manila, I remember God’s promise: “The blessing of the Lord enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it.”
So for the 36 years that we’ve been living here, I still say, “Thank you, Lord, for your timeless promises that have no expiration dates!”
