unanswered prayers

Today at church my pastor talked about the topic of prayer. It wasn't your typical sermon about how you should pray unceasingly or even the sermon about how to ask God for things in prayer. It was a very interesting sermon because it was about the issue of what seems like "unanswered prayers". I had never heard a pastor talk about unanswered prayers the way my pastor did today.

He made three points about how God chooses to answer our prayers. They are:
IF the request is wrong, God says no.
IF the timing is wrong, God says slow.
IF we are wrong, God says grow.

So often I pray for something that is very important in my life and I expect an immediate and obvious answer. Many times I find myself only expecting an answer that is to my liking. When I should have the mindset and heart desire that the answer will only be God's will and not mine. I had never thought of my request being three possibilities as my pastor taught. I generally think of it as my request is wrong or I myself am wrong. Rarely do I think of the timing as wrong.

I enjoyed the sermon and it caused me to think. It seems that here lately have my so very many requests to God. While many are answered, many are still unanswered, but I rest assured in knowing that God is listening; however, he is answering in His timing, which is always the best. :)