Does God Hear Me When I Pray?

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7

Prayer is a conversation not a monologue. Me speaking to God and God answering back through His Word, circumstances, and other Christians. I was talking to a friend the other who is going through some difficult times. I told her that I would be praying for her.  (This a conversation using text messages on our phones.) There was a long pause and then she said, "I don't know Charley. I have been praying for years. I am not sure that anybody is listening." That may have been the time to tell her that God is, but is He? 

"Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” - John 8:47

I don't know if my friend is a Christian.  And if not, then except for the prayer of faith - and even then I think salvation has taken place before the person can speak and they are sealed by the Spirit - inhabited if you will as a temple - God does not hear the prayers of the lost. He is not their Father. Satan is.  (A harsh - biblical reality)

"Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do." John 8:39-44

If you needed some money to go out with your friends would you go down the street and ask a random stranger for the money? You would be told to go ask your father for the money. God is not obliged to help someone who is not His child.

But what if you are his child?

"Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God." - James 4:2-7

Perhaps your heart is not right. You want relief from your trouble but have little time for God. God sees your unrepentant heart. You think that all you have to do is ask - isn't that what the Bible says - and what all of those "so-called" Christians tell you? We approach God on our terms - mistake! And when He doesn't deliver - there is the proof - this faith thing is not real.  We want God to do what we ask with no real commitment on our part. And God is silent.  Or perhaps God answered and we didn't like His answer. Like the man on the roof in a flood praying for God to save him. God sent a boat which the man refused waiting on God to do what the man wanted. The man refused to get on the helicopter - again waiting for the "right" answer. Then the man drowned. Once in heaven he asked God why God had not answered his prayer. God said that He had but the man refused God's solution.

In Experiencing God being confronted with God's solution is called a Crisis of Belief that requires faith and action which leads to you making adjustments in your life to obey what God has said. Obedience is where we fail so often. If you have a trouble with obeying God it is because you have trouble obeying God.

There is so much more to this that what I have written, but I think I have written enough to get the idea across. I know that my friend knows about Jesus - but I don't know if she "knows" Jesus. Please pray for her. Please pray for her. First, pray that like Nikodemus she would know that she "must be born again" if she is not, and then like Paul prayed for the Church of Ephesus.

"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places" - Ephesians 1:17-20

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone