What to Do While Waiting for God to Answer Prayer
What do we do when we’re waiting for God to answer a prayer? Especially if it is a really long wait? I’m talking about the prayers that stretch across months, years, or even decades. The ones where the waiting feels endless.
I’ve been reflecting on passages that remind us how differently God views time compared to us. Psalm 90 tells us that to God, “a thousand years are like a day.” Peter echoes the same truth. From His eternal perspective, our entire lives are just a breath, mere seconds compared to eternity.
But here’s the challenge: what feels like a short moment to God can feel unbearably long to us. Waiting often feels like silence or absence. Scripture doesn’t give us a neat, step-by-step checklist on what to do while we wait for specific answers. We’re promised blessing when we wait on the Lord, but if you’re like me, your default way of coping is to “worry while waiting.” I want resolution. I want direction. I want to know what’s next right now. And when I don’t, I feel stuck or worried.
I finally sat with God and asked Him directly: What do You want me to do while I’m waiting? In that quiet time, He brought three truths to my mind through Scripture.
1. Remember God’s Promise to Bless Those Who Wait
Isaiah 30:18 tells us, “Blessed are all those who wait for Him.” Waiting is not wasted in the timeline of God. Even when we see no progress, He is at work shaping our hearts, strengthening our faith, and writing our stories.
2. Recognize That Waiting Isn’t Wasting, but Worrying Is
Jesus couldn’t have been clearer: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” (Luke 12:25).
Worrying drains us. It ties our hearts and minds in knots without moving us forward. Jesus doesn’t just tell us not to worry - He invites us to trust that He’s already carrying what concerns us. When we continue to live with purpose, we declare that it is God, not fear, who directs our story.
3. Press On Toward God’s Purpose
The last Scripture that came to mind was Paul’s encouragement in Philippians 3:13-14:
“…forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
I dug a little into the original Greek here, and it’s powerful.
“Press on” (dioko) carries the sense of pursuing something with urgency.
The word for “goal” (skopon) is related to our English word scope. It paints a picture of focus, of narrowing our attention.
And the word “called” (kleseos) is actually a noun. It means our calling or purpose.
So Paul is saying: “Don’t just wait and worry. Instead, pursue with urgency the calling God has placed before you. Fix your focus on your purpose in Him.”
So What Does This Look Like in Daily Life?
For some of us, God has already revealed pieces of our long-term purpose. For others, it feels foggy or unknown. But the truth is, God often reveals our purpose in small steps, not in a master plan. Psalm 32:8 reassures us: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”
Here are two practical strategies I’ve found helpful:
Strategy 1: Limit Worry with a “Worry Journal”
We can’t always just “turn off” our worries. But we can confine them. Cognitive therapists suggest scheduling your worry. For example: decide that at 4:30 p.m., you’ll spend ten minutes writing down your worries. Then, choose to worry only in that 10 minute window.
It may sound strange, but here is what happens: you’ll often find the worries shrink when contained. Some lose their grip entirely. Instead of worrying all day, you learn to limit and release.
Strategy 2: Ask God Each Morning for One Step
Each day when you wake up, pray: Lord, show me one step I can take today toward Your purpose for me.
Sometimes that step might be merely spending extra time with Him. Other times, it could be as simple as calling a friend, helping someone in need, or approaching an everyday task with fresh intentionality - doing it for Him. Over time, these small steps add up to a life lived in alignment with God’s calling.
Living with Purpose While Waiting
Waiting doesn’t have to mean passively sitting in worry. Instead, we can minimize and limit worry, and we can actively ask God to reveal daily steps toward His purpose for us.
Here is the result when we take this approach: when we choose to press on, step by step, instead of getting stuck, God meets us in the waiting. He shapes us. He uses us. And He prepares us, not just for the answer to what we are praying for, but for the eternal rewards that await us in Christ.
So the next time you feel paralyzed in the waiting, remember:
There are often blessings within the waiting.
Pursue smaller, purposeful steps, day by day, while requesting His guidance during your time of waiting.
When we look back at our waiting period, we will see that the waiting was not wasted.
Then as we press on, we can trust that our waiting is not in vain, for the God who calls us is faithful.
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