How Are Prayers Answered?

“On the day I called, you answered me; you increased strength within me.” Psalm 138:3

How does God answer prayers? The answer starts from how God helps us through the Holy Spirit. From today’s bible, we see that the psalmist offers thanks to God for His help and a strong sense of personal gratitude to show how God has helped him through persecutions and oppositions from the enemy. In other words, he is saying that he had an assurance that his prayer was answered even when he had not received it, but believed he would have a gracious return in due time is granted unto him.

Today’s bible verse enlightens us on one of how God quickly answers prayers, not by giving us the very thing we desired at that moment, but by giving us inward support and patience to wait for God’s time and to bear all his troubles cheerfully in the meantime. Beloved, if God gives us strength in our souls, to bear the burdens, resist temptations, and to do the duties of an afflicted state; if he strengthens us to rely on him by faith, to maintain the peace of our minds and to wait with patience for the issue, we must know that He has answered us, and we are bound to be thankful.

Psalm 18:6 says, “In my distress, I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”

When David was in distress during Saul’s persecution, he cried to God, and he immediately answered him and delivered him out of all his troubles. But, if I may ask, was it immediately after David’s prayers, he got delivered? The answer is A big No. However, a wave of inner peace through the Holy Spirit came upon him to assure him of his answered prayer. And this agrees with what Paul said in Ephesians 3:16, “that God would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in your inner being.”

Brethren, from your inner being, you have been given the power to do great things because, through it, you delight in God’s law. That’s why the quick answer to our prayer comes through the inner strength God gives through the Holy Spirit. Do you experience inner strength and peace when you pray? It is not a matter of whether we can pray and receive answers, but rather how much we have been strengthened through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because victory starts from our inner strength and peace, we find in Christ Jesus. Amen. That’s why Philippians 4:6 to 7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer
1. Father, thank you for inclining your ears to my prayers and for the assurance of my prayers.
2. Oh lord, I believed you would grant me strength according to the riches of your glory through Christ Jesus. Amen