5 Essential Reasons We Know God Hears Our Prayers
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One of the greatest struggles encountered by many of God’s people is prayer. Our three deadly enemies, being the world, our own flesh, and the devil are all involved in keeping us away from this divine discipline. But even in the midst of our times of prayer, any one, or a combination of these enemies can rise up to distract us from fellowship with the Lord.
The world tends to increase our time spent away from prayer by busying, or overburdening us with things like work, school, and other necessary things. When it comes to our flesh, it wants nothing at all to do with the things of God. Flesh cries out to be satisfied—and prayer does not do that. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:17).
Satan of course, is an enemy of prayer because he and his horde of principalities and powers know what can happen when the child of God invests quality time with the Lord.
Whether it is through intercessory prayer, petitions, or simply desiring to hear from Him for guidance, we are ultimately strengthened through our prayer times. Prayer has been designed by God to enrich the life of every believer. Even at its most basic level, prayer touches God. It is not “busy work,” i.e., something that we do just to say that we did it. Through it we are able to enter into intimate fellowship with the Lord.
Prayer also engages us into spiritual warfare. As stated previously, there are spiritual forces arrayed against us when we pray. Satan will do all that he can to frustrate our faith, and if we are not careful, he can convince us that God either does not care, or that He is not listening. In times when this does take place, we know immediately that the devil is a liar, because God has given us His Word which assures us that we can know that he hears us when we pray.
Let us take a look at five essential ways that we can know that God hears our prayers.
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1. He Hears Us Because We Do Not Treasure Sin
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18).
And concerning sin in our life, Isaiah says:
“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
To regard or treasure sin in our hearts means that we are holding on to it in such a way that we are making no effort to rid ourselves of it. This is how sin separates us from God. If this is the attitude abiding within any child of God, then God is under no obligation to hear. Such an attitude carries our prayers away from the will of God. We read from the book of James:
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
Praying while treasuring sin will not only cause the Lord to “shut His ears” from our prayers, but will also, at least temporarily, damage our spirit. We see this principle played out with the children of Israel:
“And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15).
The great revivalist Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“Prayer may be answered in anger and denied in love. That God gives a man his desire is no proof that he is the object of divine favour, everything depends upon what that desire is. … The meat (quail) was poison to them when it came without a blessing; whatever it might do in fattening the body, it was poor stuff when it made the soul lean. If we must know scantiness, may God grant it may not be scantiness of soul. … How earnestly might Israel have unprayed her prayers had she known what would come with their answer! The prayers of lust will have to be wept over. We fret and fume till we have our desire, and then we have to fret still more because the attainment of it ends in bitter disappointment” (The Treasury Of David).
When the children of Israel rejected the bread from heaven that He supplied, and desired something more, God gave them quail, which would eventually become loathsome to them. This was followed by pestilence. Sin is the reason our prayers go awry, and God will not respond positively. As spoken by Spurgeon, our prayers are denied in love; He knows what is best.
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2. He Hears Us Because We Know That He Is Able
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6).
When it comes to prayer, faith is fundamental. We know that He hears our prayers because we have faith in who He is and what He is able to do. Is your difficulty or circumstance too difficult for the Lord to overcome? Do you believe that He is able? There is a wonderful verse from the book of Ephesians that tells us just how great our God is:
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
This verse implies that we can actually underestimate God by not believing that he can do all that we may be asking. It is possible to minimize the power of God in every aspect of our lives. Jesus’ words to His disciples during a storm at sea can form the basis of how we live our lives and approach the Lord in prayer:
“And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:26).
While Jesus’ clear implication here was that they did not have enough faith, we should understand that in spiritual terms, enough faith is equal to that of a grain of mustard seed (Matthew 17:20). What inevitably rises above the amount of faith we have, is the object of our faith. In what or whom are we placing our faith? At all times, Christ must be the object of our faith because all blessings flow from His sacrifice for us on the Cross. The proper object of faith will produce the proper amount of faith.
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3. He Hears Us Because We Come Boldly to His Throne
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
There are three things that every Christian needs. They are mercy, grace, and help. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we need a fresh supply of each daily. Each morning the throne of grace should be the first place we go, because it is there that we will receive all that we need.
The word “boldness” here means that we should approach Him freely, fearlessly, and with confidence. It comes back to believing that God is able. Let us not run away from Him through our actions, but let us run to Him to receive!
4. He Hears Us Because We Have Humbled Ourselves
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Before God even mentions prayer, you will notice that He says first that we must humble ourselves. Humility, along with the proper faith, lays the groundwork for effective prayer. Without it, we might as well be praying to ourselves, because God is not listening. We learn this from one certain Pharisee:
“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican” (Luke 18:11 KJV).
Here, the phrase, “with himself,” means that he was praying towards, or with regard to himself. It was an entirely self-centered prayer, lacking any type of humility. This was proven by the fact that he did not leave the temple that day justified in the sight of God (Luke 18:14).
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble’” (James 4:8).
Let us strive to enter into the place of prayer abounding with humility. We can rest assured that this attitude pleases the Lord.
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5. He Hears Us Because We Pray According to His Will
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).
What is the will of God? Simply put, it is that which aligns perfectly with His Word, and with His character. I believe we can find more direction in knowing what the will of God is here:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).
If these are the things that God deems as necessary for our thought life, then we can use these very same principles to gauge what is, or is not, God’s will. Is it honest? Or righteous? Or of good reputation? Of course there are several other factors to consider as we pray for guidance in one area or another, but one thing is for certain: praying outside of the will of God will not incline Him towards our prayers. We must remain within the circle of His will.
Some may quibble over which of the spiritual disciplines are most important. While each one may be involved more in one discipline over another, the truth is that they all share equal value to the child of God. Each draws us into God’s presence in its own powerful way. However, when we pray, we should listen carefully to His voice, because we know that our prayers have been heard by Him.
“But God has surely listened and has heard my prayer” (Psalm 66:19).
Amen!
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