The Bible says, ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.’ When we read the verses before this we can discover God does this through prayer. Many times we don’t pray because we don’t think anything’s happening. But with God, something’s always happening. We can wonder, ‘When is He going to work?’ But the truth is, He’s always working. When it comes to prayer He’s either answering us the way we hoped, or changing our heart through His Spirit to bring our prayer into harmony with His will. We can’t always see God working after we’ve prayed. When we plant a seed, we won’t come back the next day and see green shoots and leaves. It doesn’t mean that nothing’s happening. Things are happening beneath the soil where we can’t see. Just because we don’t see the evidence of God working doesn’t mean that He’s ignoring us. God might be working on something that we won’t see for a long while, but we can be confident that when we do see what He’s doing, it’ll be at just the right time. One way in which God is making us more like Jesus is by helping us to pray the way Jesus prayed: ‘not my will, but yours be done’ (Luke 22:42 NIV). That means when our prayer lines up with His will, He’s already working on it even though we can’t see it. And if our prayer doesn’t line up with His will, He’s working to change our request by changing us. Unanswered prayer can be as big a blessing as answered prayer, when it keeps us from taking the wrong path. The more time we spend with God in prayer, and the more we learn about Him through the Bible, the more we’ll be praying prayers that do line up with His will for us.

What Now?

Plant a seed. Every time you go back to water it, and look for signs of growth, ask God to help you be patient while waiting to see Him work in your life.