To GRANT means to agree to give or allow something requested; to give (a right, power, property, etc.) to someone; and to agree or admit to (someone) that (something is true). Grant is a power word. One can't grant something they do not possess or control. Subjects hope a monarch will grant them an audience. A genie grants our wishes. We apply to philanthropic organizations to award us financial grants. The word implies not just the action of giving or allowing, but the sum of money, the action of granting, and the formal conferment of what is being granted. Usually, the word grant has positive connotations whether we're on the giving or receiving end.
In 2 Kings 20 King Hezekiah prayed that God would heal him of a sickness near death. The Lord granted his request and even extended his life 15 more years. In the book of Esther, after she and the exiled Israelites had fasted and prayed for three days, the Queen asked for an audience with her husband, Persian king Xerxes, and it was granted—as was her request for his intervention against Haman, the enemy of the Jews. It's a blessing not only to receive a granted request, but to give one. When's the last time you were part of the granting of a request or plea? How'd it feel?
The main time granted is not a positive word is when one is being 'taken for granted'—which means to fail to properly appreciate something or someone, especially as a result of over-familiarity. The quote above puts an interesting spin on this phenomena, (i.e. your reliability not being appreciated is really an expression of praise). Still, it doesn't feel good to be taken for granted. Have you ever been taken for granted or taken someone else for granted? Have you been taking GOD for granted? The people of Israel presumed God would continue to speak to them no matter how they behaved or responded to Him. So He stopped talking. The prophet Amos relayed the message, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD." (Amos 8:11) For 400 years there were no written or spoken words from Jehovah. I can't imagine what that would be like. God is so reliable that it's easy to take Him for granted. Let's try to cherish Him more. | 
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