Awhile ago, we had a discussion about prayer and 
faith and some of us said that God does not 
always answer prayer in the way we want.  The 
prince, Charles Spurgeon, explains it better than I can.
.
May 19
Evening
"And he requested for himself that he might die." — 1 Kings 19:4
It was a remarkable thing that the man who was never to die, for whom
God had ordained
an infinitely better lot, the man who should be carried to heaven in a
chariot of
fire, and be translated, that he should not see death — should thus
pray, "Let me
die, I am no better than my fathers." We have here a memorable proof
that God does
not always answer prayer in kind, though He always does in effect. He
gave Elias
something better than that which he asked for, and thus really heard and
answered
him. Strange was it that the lion-hearted Elijah should be so depressed
by Jezebel's
threat as to ask to die, and blessedly kind was it on the part of our
heavenly Father
that He did not take His desponding servant at his word.
There is a limit to the doctrine of the prayer of faith. We are not to
expect that
God will give us everything we choose to ask for. We know that we
sometimes ask,
and do not receive, because we ask amiss. If we ask for that which is
not promised
— if we run counter to the spirit which the Lord would have us cultivate
— if we
ask contrary to His will, or to the decrees of His providence — if we
ask merely
for the gratification of our own ease, and without an eye to His glory,
we must not
expect that we shall receive.
Yet, when we ask in faith, nothing doubting, if we receive not the
precise thing
asked for, we shall receive an equivalent, and more than an equivalent,
for it. As
one remarks, "If the Lord does not pay in silver, He will in gold; and
if He does
not pay in gold, He will in diamonds." If He does not give you precisely
what you
ask for, He will give you that which is tantamount to it, and that which
you will
greatly rejoice to receive in lieu thereof. Be then, dear reader, much
in prayer,
and make this evening a season of earnest intercession, but take heed
what you ask.


John