"not in answer to my prayers" - A.W. Pink

“God not only gives, but He “gives to all liberally” (James 1:5). Very often His liberality exceeds not only our deserts but even our desires, bestowing upon us more than we have either wisdom or confidence to ask…
Every Christian already has abundant proof that God can give him & do more for him than he can ask or think, for He has already done so! It was not in answer to my prayers that God elected me & inscribed my name in the book of life, for He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. It was not in response to any petition of mine that an all-sufficient Redeemer was provided for my hell-deserving soul, for God sent forth His Son into this world to save His people from their sins nearly two thousand years before I had any historical existence. It was not in return for any eloquent request of mine that the Holy Spirit quickened me into newness of life when I was dead in trespasses and sins, for to pray for life is not a faculty of the unregenerate. Rather the new birth itself capacitates us for living desire and spiritual longing. The new birth imparts life which causes the soul to long for more life. No, God’s people are spiritually dead and far from Him when He regenerates them and thereby fulfills to all of them that word “I am found of them that sought me not” (Isa. 65:1). God’s gracious dealings with us are above even our faith and requests!"

- A.W. Pink, Gleanings from Paul: Studies in the prayers of the Apostle

http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Gleanings_Paul/paul_19.htm