All prayer is answered; though sometimes it is in the negative! When that is the case, and we are not granted the requests that we make, we must not imagine that God is indifferent to our prayers; but we should recognise that He is either refusing our requests, or is delaying to grant them, because He knows that the time is not ripe for them to be given.

We must accept a refusal or a delay in faith.
Moreover, we should try and discover the cause of such refusal or delay.
Are our prayers in accordance with the spirit of the Word? Have we brought upon ourselves the very conditions from which we now pray for relief? Have we completely learned the lesson that the trials we are undergoing are designed to teach? Should trouble come upon us by acts of transgression on our part, have we fully cleansed our hearts from such? Will granting the petitions to us cause embarrassment to others?
We can do much to carefully assess the cause of refusal or delay in the answer to prayer.

We might pray for success in the preaching of the Word. No success might attend our efforts. Have we done more than pray? Have we been careless in the preparation of the leaflet to advertise the effort? Have we been indifferent to the work in hand? And what do we mean by success anyway?

We must provide God with the basis to bless our efforts.
The Word makes it clear that God is never indifferent to prayer. Consider the following assuring statement:

"For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found . . . ." (Ps. 32:6). This is from a Psalm of David, composed following his sin with Bath-sheba. To what is he referring? What is "the thing" for which the Godly will pray? It is for forgiveness of sins:

"I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; And Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin
- Selah! (Consider!).

Through bitter experience, David had been made conscious of his transgression. For a year he had refused to acknowledge it. Now in complete realisation of his folly, he had prostrated himself before God. He had poured out his heart in repentant confession:

"Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions;
And my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Thy sight: That Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest,
And be clear when Thou judgest"

That prayer was answered, and David received forgiveness of his sin.

Consider Joshua's experience as expressed to Israel in his closing address to the nation: "I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts that no one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof (Josh. 23:14).

All had come to pass. As Joshua reviewed his life he acknowledged the goodness of God in all circumstances. What of the defeat of Ai? What of the time when Joshua was prostrate with despair upon the ground, lamenting, "0 Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies?" (Josh. 7:8). He is able to look back upon these moments of deep and black depressions with understanding eyes, and realise that even in them, the goodness of God was revealed. It was necessary to the discipline of the nation, and for the success of the venture. All profited by the circumstances.

Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple, expressed himself similarly: "There is no God like Thee . . . Who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart: Who hast kept with Thy servant David my father that Thou promisedst him: Thou spakest also with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled with Thine hand . ..." (1 Kings 8:23-24). Solomon prayed with confidence because the life of David revealed the hand of Providence in a remarkable manner. David, in spite of his sin, was a man of prayer who was pliable to the moulding hand of God, and through great evil and sore trouble, rose to grand heights of spiritual virtue. His very life was a prayer.

Paul sums up the matter thus: "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Heb. 13:5-6).

In considering the petitions we make, we must not interpret delay as denial. As a parent will refuse its child the requests made to it until the time is ripe to grant them, so also does God. He knows the end from the beginning, and acts according to His omniscience. We must patiently await God to move. Generally we manifest impatience. We crave immediate action, blind to the fact that God knows best.

What should we do in circumstances of delay? First ask whether the petition is a worthy one, and then, if it is according to the Word, continue to pray for it. Christ spake a parable unto the disciples "to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18). The parable described the action of the importunate woman in pleading her case before the unjust judge. He refused her request; but she would not be put off. Time and again she returned to him with her urgent plea, until, at last, in desperation, he granted her request. The Lord concluded "And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?" (Luke 15:5).

The Diaglott renders the last phrase as: "as He is compassionate towards them." God is kindly disposed towards us; not indifferent as was the unjust judge towards the importunate widow woman. He does not tire of our approaches, and grant them only through exasperation. He is "longsuffering over us" as the Revised Version renders it; and is ready to help.

But notice the conclusion of the parable: "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Shall he find the faith on the earth? What kind of faith? A faith that makes a living reality of the Truth. In these materialistic, ruthless times, men seek to avenge themselves (cp. 2 Tim. 3:1-5), and do not impose trust and faith in God to vindicate them. This age, which is the age of the coming of the Son of man, is not an age of faith in prayer. Rather is it an age of dependence upon the things that can be seen and handled.

Delay in the granting of petitions made in prayer is due to the fact that the time or conditions are not ripe for this to be done. God "waits" for that tune, as Isaiah revealed. "Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of Judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him in patience (Isa. 30:18).

He waits, and He expects us to wait. When we do so in patience, we demonstrate our confidence, our faith in Him, acknowledging His omniscience, witnessing to the fact that He knows when to give and when to withhold. Thus will "the trial of faith .... be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:7).

Prayer must be answered because the very character of God demands that it be. He has promised to hear and answer prayer, and will do so, though not always at the time and in the manner that we may seek for it to be done. Prayer must be answered because God is True - He cannot lie: "God is not a man that He should lie .... hath He said, and shall He not do it?" (Num. 23:19). It must be answered because God cannot forget His promise: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isa. 49:15). It will be answered because God is Power - He can accomplish His desires: "Is there anything too hard for God?" (Gen. 18:14). It will be answered because God Hears - and will not ignore His own: "I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, 0 God" (Ps. 17:6).

The Lord Jesus summed the matter up by teaching "If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" (Matt. 7:11). However, we must leave it to Him to decide what is good for us, even as any considerate parent will decide what is good for his children.
Because patience and faith are required, there is a certain amount of agony of effort needed in prayer. Paul wrote: "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me" (Rom. 15:30).

The word "strive" is agonise in the Greek. Paul requested that the brethren agonise with him in their prayers. It speaks of the intensity of feeling that one can place into prayer. Paul desired that the brethren in their prayers on his behalf, should fully enter into his hopes and desires, and identify themselves completely with his aims.

To the Colossians he wrote that "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God" (Col. 4:12). Again the word agonizomai is used, here translated labouring fervently. It speaks of the intensity of Epaphras' prayers on behalf of his brethren, the urgency of the outpouring of his heart unto the Father, as he endeavoured to will Him to grant his requests. If we feel a matter deeply enough, we likewise will agonise in prayer.