Why God may never seem to answer our prayer(s)...

God promised to hear the faithful's prayer requests, and to decide whether to grant prayer requests one way or the other. God's answers to our prayer requests is God's will. But, that doesn't mean he will consult us, inform us of his decisions, or communicate with us as to his acts that either grant or deny prayer requests. 

Sometimes our prayers are in God's will, and the answers we receive to our prayers may be exactly what we have asked for, or His decisions may be the exact opposite of what we have asked for, because what we have asked for isn't in the will of God. We aren't necessarily going to receive a quick and definitively recognizable verbal or metaphysically direct response from God, but that doesn't mean He isn't hearing and answering prayer. 

In the flesh, our connection to God was severed thousands of years ago, originally by Adam and Eve the first in the human family. When Adam and Eve sinned, God said that a severing of a connection to Him is to be a direct punishment for sin within the human family, in addition to the sentence of individual physical death due to sin committed by the human family as a whole as well as all sinful individuals. 

God said through His prophets that Jesus Christ was the only sinless man, and that all others are, were, and will be sinners. As human beings we can not escape this sentence unless we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Mankind will not have the connection with God that Adam and Eve originally enjoyed prior to sinning. The imposition of God's punishments, which is declared by God to be handed down through every generation of the human family, is a sentence imposed on mankind due to mankind's sinful nature.  

As a consequence of sin, the communication with God that would enable us to receive answers from God that are discernable in the flesh have been sabotaged by sin. Jesus said that "...no one comes to the father but by me." But, the promise of God to hear prayer, doesn't mean we will receive direct communication with God. Jesus is our only method to communicate our prayers to God, and that's through our intermediary, Jesus Christ. 

Even if we are among the faithful, it doesn't mean we will be "hearing" directly from God, or that God's acts will be immediately discernable by  us. Since Jesus is also God, it doesn't mean we will be receive direct communication with Jesus. Jesus is our intermediary to God through prayer. God and Jesus have both promised to hear our prayers, but only if we are among the faithful, and He acts on our prayer requests one way or the other according to His will.  

That doesn't mean we will be receiving some kind of epiphany that God is acting one way or the other with respect to our prayer requests. It especially doesn't mean we will be receiving answers to our prayer requests according to our timetable, or being granted our prayer requests according to our will, and not God's will. 

Mankind, especially the modern man, is very impatient.  If we don't "see" an immediate response to our prayer requests doesn't mean the prayers will not be granted or denied. But, an important thing to realize is that if we are among the faithful, our prayers will only be granted or denied according to God's timetable. Mankind's impatience for "answers" can be frustrating. But, if we're all part of a fallen race of human beings, then that goes along with the other punishments imposed on a sinful race.

Prior to Jesus' sacrifice to save mankind from God's decrees, decrees that were made thousands of years ago, God's communication to the human family, after Adam and Eve sinned, was only to be through His chosen prophets. This is because human kind's connection to God was a punishment for sin, and one that could not be reversed until Jesus sacrificed himself for us. In addition, physical death was imposed on mankind, and only through a connection to God through Jesus Christ would our prayers be answered, either granting or denying our prayer requests, but not necessarily informing us one way or the other. 

To illustrate our frustration as human beings, my entire life has been spent working with emergency radio communication. I am conditioned to receive a "reply" to radio transmissions. When a transmission is made, and I don't receive a reply, it's very frustrating, and difficult to endure. Failed responses to emails, phone calls, or avoidance of answers to simple questions face to face, etc...are similarly frustrating. So, mankind is conditioned in the flesh to receive a clear metaphysically discernable response to our attempts to communicate with God. It's understandable that we're frustrated when we don't receive a direct discernable metaphysical communication from God. 

But, we must understand that unless our requests via prayer are in the will of God, and we communicate them in Jesus name, and are faithful followers of Jesus Christ, God does not hear our prayers.  We are not necessarily going to be receiving a metaphysically discernable acknowledgement from God. We were not promised that connection. We were promised that God would hear our prayers, in Jesus name, and that God would respond to our prayer requests. We were not promised two-way communication with God directly. 

Why not? Because it was decreed by God thousands of years ago, as a punishment imposed on all of mankind, throughout all subsequent generations, that communication with God would be severed as one of the punishments for sin within the human family. Sin is in the spiritual DNA of every human being, inherited by us from Adam and Eve, the first of the human family. This connection to God can only be restored through our faith in our intermediary, Jesus Christ, and even then, our prayer requests may or may not be within the will of God.

But, the good news can be found in Romans 8:28, which if accepted, also demonstrates the depth of our faith in God's promises, ensuring that He will hear our prayer requests, and act upon them to what is ultimately good for us, as well as being according to His will.

Romans 8:28 ESV

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."