Matthew 6:7-8
7 “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
”1 Corinthians 12:7-10
“7…Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Sometimes the answer is just NO. I’m not more devout, I don’t believe more, I don’t have more faith, I don’t know more than Paul or Matthew did. They had a tremendous experience with Christ, in the flesh or via mind meld (as I’ve tongue-in-cheekly said before). I’m sure they prayed for things and were told no. Paul tells us that directly.

Sometimes the answer is just NO. If you’re following Christ, you’ll get no as an answer when your will isn’t aligned with His. If you’re trying to lead Christ, you’ll get no as an answer, but be pissed He isn’t giving you what you want, or worry that you don’t have enough faith.

Sometimes the answer is just NO. Like the squirrel trying to get to the bird feeder now – up the post, down the post, up the next post and down, back to the first post. The squirrel really wants to get to the seed in the feeders, but can’t. It keeps trying though, not realizing that sometimes the answer is just NO. If it does get past the NO, it’ll get relocated, and that’s not what it’s trying to accomplish.

Sometimes the answer is just NO. It’s not about how great your faith is, or how great your knowledge is, or how strong your belief, sometimes the answer is just NO and we have to be at peace with that.