Is God Listening
Psalm 34:15, Job 22:27
Sometimes I feel that my prayers do not matter. I feel that God isn’t listening and I am all alone. But, according to the Word of God, He is listening, I’m not alone and He desires to answer my prayers. Thankfully fact is not based on feeling. Let’s look at what the word of God tells us is fact in the area of prayer:
- If I believe, God answers. James 1:6, Matt 21:22
- If I call He answers. Jeremiah 33:3, Matt 7:7-8
- If I pray in Jesus’ name He answers. John 14:13; 16:23
- According to His will. 1 John 5:14-15
- If I ask, God answers. James 4:3, John 15:7, Jeremiah 29:12
I believe the Word of God teaches us that God hears every prayer. He longs to hear us call out to Him. The answers He gives to us are given to deepen our relationship with Him, to glorify Jesus, and to accomplish His ultimate will. God desires to give us the things that we really need and not necessarily what we think we need. More times than not we do not get what we ask for because we are asking for the wrong things or our motives are impure (James 4:1-3).
Sometimes I feel that God takes much too long to answer my prayers. We must keep in mind that God is never in a hurry. He is not on a clock, nor does he keep a calendar (2 Pet 3:8). In Scripture Jesus is never rushing yet he is always at the right place at the right time.
The reason we usually pray is because we have a need. When circumstances are not as we want them to be we get serious about our prayer. Problems and failure are really our friends. They often are the catalysts to deepen our relationship with God as we see Him do what we can never do. With that in mind, if God answers quickly and gives us our whims it will spoil us and certainly not deepen our relationship with him. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 teaches us that God may never remove the problems in our lives for the purpose of making us dependent on Him. His Grace is amazing.
Effective prayer begins with a need accompanied by a relationship with God through Jesus. We learn that sins hinders our prayerlife and ultimately our fellowship with the Lord. So, we need to come to him with clean hands and a pure heart (Ps 24:4; 51:10, 1 John 1:9)
Finally, we must acknowledge that God has not abandoned us and left us alone (Matt. 28:20, Heb 13:5, Ps 37:25; 139:7-11). He lives inside of us.
Let’s begin to ask God to deepen our walk with him.
- Ask him to teach you to pray (John 14:26, Rom 8:26-27, Luke 11:1-13)
- Ask Him to make you like Jesus Rom 8:29)
- Ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. (John 7:37-39, Eph 5:18)
He is listening!
