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Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Acts 12:2-3

Can you accept God’s will when His answer is no? If you are praying in God’s will, He will always answer you when you pray (Jer. 33:3). However, sometimes His answer will be no.

King Herod arrested Peter and prepared to have him executed. During the night, as his church prayed, Peter’s life was spared when an angel freed him. God miraculously answered the prayers of His people that night. Yet not long before, James, too, had been arrested by Herod. James, however, was executed. Surely the church had prayed for James as fervently as they did for Peter, yet that time God’s answer had been no.

Did God love Peter more than James? Of course not. James had been one of Jesus’ closest friends. Yet God allowed James to die while He continued to use Peter in His service. The church in Jerusalem did not become bitter toward God. They accepted His answer because they trusted His love and wisdom.

There are times when God wants us to persist in our praying until He has completed His work in us (Luke 11:5–8; 18:1–6). However, when God’s answer is no, it is futile to continue pleading for a yes. Some refuse to take no for an answer, insisting that if you pray long enough and hard enough, God will ultimately grant any request you make. It is an affront to your Lord to continue pleading with Him when He has clearly said no. The purpose of prayer is not to conform God to our will but to adjust our will to God. We must learn to trust God so that if He says no, we accept that His will is best.

- Experiencing God Day by Day Devotional



The past couple months have been filled with "NO" for me! It is pretty hard not to get discouraged when you hear no, after no, after no. But if you are truly praying for Gods will for your life, how can you get discouraged when things to take place the way you thought they should? Like Jason Upton sings, "YOUR thoughts are higher than mine!" What a great thing to remind yourself about. It still doesn’t make hearing the word NO an easier. So what is the purpose, why does God allow you to go through periods of time where all year seem to hear is NO! I wish I had the answer...all I know is what I have learned for myself. For each thing you pursue and the answer is no that is just one more step closer to your destiny. For every no you hear, you are getting one step closer to your YES! God knows how much you can handle, and He knows how many NO's you can hear before you go crazy!

So, if you are truly praying for God's will in your life, we must learn to be ok with hearing NO. We must learn to trust that God's thoughts really are higher than ours. Maybe one reason He allows us to go through times like this is to build our trust in Him, and to check our hearts. Do we REALLY want HIS will for our lives, or are we to caught up in our own plans, and dreams? The truth is, when you let your dreams go, and give them to God, that is when He can really use you. Because there is finally room for HIS dreams in your heart. And you might be surprised at how similar His dreams are to your dreams...I mean, He did create you...and He is the one that put those dreams in you in the very beginning.

Through time we tend to twist the dreams He placed in us, to mold them into something more "realistic" in the world's eyes. So, give your dreams back to God, so He can make them unrealistic again. God loves dreams that no MAN can get credit for. Only HE can make the impossible, possible.

So, how many No's does it take to get to a yes? As many as it takes!