Does prayer work?

How many times have you heard and maybe said,
"The tests results came back and nothing is wrong!"
"He/she got the job!"
"The house sold!"
(or something similar, celebrating something we wanted) 
followed by either
"God answers prayer." 
or 
"God is good."

What about the times the results came back "bad".
Or the job fell through.
Or the house stays on the market for years.
(Or something similar, hard to accept, not what we wanted.)
And there were earnest prayers,
lots of them, 
offered up in faith.
Does that mean God does not answer prayer?
Does that mean God is not good?

The truth is
God answers prayer.
Always.
God is good. 
Always.


Even when there is pain.
Even when there is difficulty.
Even when there is heartache.
Even when we don't "feel" it.
Even when we do understand.
Even when we cannot explain it.
Even when we do not see how He is working.
Even when we get the opposite of what we ask for.
Even when it feels like we have been praying "forever".

The truth is
God loves us.
God has an eternal purpose that He is working.
God invites us to join Him in living.
And living has very little to do with avoiding pain, difficulty and death.

I am not saying that when things turn out the way we want
that we should not praise God,
that we should not thank God.
I wholeheartedly think those are good and proper things to do!
I am saying be careful that you do not base
your understanding 
of God's goodness 
or His responsiveness to your prayers
on the "results" that you see.

Because truth is:

God answers prayer.

Every single time.

God is good.

All of the time.

God loves us.

God has an eternal purpose that He is working.

God invites us to join Him in living.

And living has very little to do with avoiding pain, difficulty and death.