God Answers Prayer in One of Three Ways
God loves us, and everything works for the good of those who love Him in return(cf. John 3:1). Further, "the Lord hears the cry of the poor". In all ways, we are indebted to God and another fold unmeasurable indebtedness since Jesus. Further, God is goodness itself. Therefore, our prayers are always answered for our good, in a way that we would, at least in the future, approve of. However, the virtues of faith, hope, and love are the only things that can allow being free to realize this. God helps us to be like Him if we choose it. Since God is good, he would only answer prayers ordered to the good requests with good, and especially not evil (cf. Luke 11:5-13).
1. Yes, right now in an expectable manner.
If your prayer is instantaneously answered it means you have responded to God's prompting you to pray in your heart. This is our greatest desire, to live in the know/uniformity with God's will, and thereby His providence. This uniformity and surrender to God's will. Through this uniformity, all is taken care of for ourselves in great measure, and others may be attain all things.
2. Yes, but later in an expectable manner.
More often than not since we are prone to error, sin, etc., we often fall sort of perfect uniformity. Still more to the point, we desire good immediately. We are made for beatitude with God. However, much like the lepers in the Gospel, Christ may use other means to bestow those goods such as virtue, healing, and grace. These means may require certain strange actions for the particular case, 12-step programs, etc. God often uses the physical for the spiritual.
3. Yes, but in this way that you were not expecting nor could have predicted (now or later).
When our desires are aimed at good but not quite our best good, especially with regard to the attachment to specific outcomes of life such as long life, easy death, minimal suffering, etc. The problem with what causes this is our desire being aimed at the temporal and not the eternal. God answers prayers in this way because we must be mortified of ourselves(cf. Romans 8:10). We know that God provides for our good desires, yet there are some aspects of providence that are so great that cannot be predicted on account of their grandeur, the foremost example of which is God taking on flesh, experience the worst of pains, encounter man in his sin, and cumulatively save man from his sin and make him capable of meriting (through faith and grace-filled acts) salvation.In conclusion, there is no cause to doubting prayer's effectiveness or God's goodness. Further, insofar as God created all things which are observed by science as consistently ordered to good, we ought to be more apt to believe God's constancy, faithfulness, and goodness on this account. If you cannot trust God what/who can you trust? It can be believed not just in word/theory, but also in predication/praxis that God is interested in our best God and answers our good desires affirmatively in ways expected or not and in a way immediately or not. Technically it is four combinations, however, the distinction between times is somewhat futile in the sense it is already unexpected and this is the dominant issue in the case. Prayer is the realization of our finitude and dependence on external realities. If we willingly put these in God's hands we can be unmistakable sure of our well-being, and our only task remains to receive what He gives.
Should have Thee what do I lack?What can the worst do as they attack?
There is no greater romance than to fall in love with Thee,
no greater adventure than seeking Thee be,
and no greater achievement is made than finding Thee.
How can prayer lack productivity?
All in Thee attain their worth.
All in Thee receive their birth.
Without Thy Will will nothing obtains,
