Recently, top businessman and politician, Tonye Cole told Pastor Poju Oyemade of Covenant Nation during an Insta Live moment that he prayed God gives the cure for coronavirus to Madagascar, the small East Africa, island country. My neighbour dashed into my house the night after the interview and provided me his take on the rich contents shared. Instead of focusing on the valuable thoughts and ideas shared by Mr. Cole, he turned the exercise into an exploration of what constitutes answers to prayers. I know how difficult he is sometimes but I still indulged him, seeing how patient he has been with my own ‘questioning self,’ over the many years of our close relationship.

Below are some of the questions he asked me:

1. Does it have to be dramatic before it qualifies as an answer from God?
2. Are there historical and contemporary evidence for the notion that sometimes answers to prayers need not be overt, dramatic and fitting certain parameters before they can be checked as received answers to prayers?
3. Does anyone know all the constituent parts of an answered prayer?
4. Or the exact moment an answer to prayer manifests?
5. Or the complete spectrum of what constitutes an answer to prayer?
6. Shouldn’t requests for mercies be included in prayer requests to the extent that mercies guide us to the answers, regardless of our strong assumptions as to timing, manner, place or form the answer to prayer should manifest?