We all have the same question: Why does God take so long to answer my prayers?

Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, says he doesn't have an easy response to this common concern, but he does know one thing: God cares about the relationship more than the request.

"The Lord is more interested in the conversation with us than He is in some of the things that we actually do," Bickle tells Dr. Steve Greene on a popular episode of the Greenelines podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. "He wants the conversation. He cares about what we do, but He really wants a conversation.

"The Lord sometimes delays the answer because He's going to give it in a different time, in a different way," Bickle says. "But He wants the conversation; he wants the heart-connect more than anything. And the answers are key."

Sometimes, we receive the answer to our prayer a month or two after we pray it, but other times, it takes years, Bickle says. "I'm like you and everyone else; I don't like the delay. But the divine delay is there. And at the end of the day, we have to trust His leadership."

He explains that over time, He has seen how God uses the delays to work His will into our lives. But that doesn't make them any easier to endure.

"When you're waiting through a divine delay, sometimes that could really create angst and pressure," Bickle says. "But then the Lord says, 'Do you trust My leadership? Do you just trust what you see with your eyes when I release it, or do you actually trust My wisdom over your life, and that I actually know what I'm doing, and I care about you more than you care about you?'

"I've had enough divine delays where I looked back a couple years later and I went, 'Lord, that was awesome," he says. "'How could I have known that a delay was would have been better?'

"And the answer that He would give me ... 'Yes, yes, trust Me,'" Bickle says. "Don't get offended, and don't get in a wrong spirit with Me, because I know more than you know about the larger trajectory of your life."

For much more from Mike Bickle on the power of prayer and how God can use it in our lives even when He waits to answer our requests, listen to the entire episode of Greenelines at this link, and subscribe to Greenelines on your favorite podcast platform for more inspiring stories like this one. Find Mike Bickle's comprehensive guide to prayer, Growing in Prayer: A Real-Life Guide to Talking With God, wherever fine books are sold.

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Dr. Steve Greene is the publisher and executive vice president of the media group at Charisma Media and executive producer of the Charisma Podcast Network. His book, Love Leads: The Spiritual Connection Between Your Relationships and Productivity, is now available.

Leaders, Dr. Greene wants to help you understand the spiritual connection between relationships and productivity. Read his new blog, here.

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Dr. Steve Greene is now sharing stories, teachings, and conversations with guests who lead with love on Love Leads, a new podcast. Listen now.

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