Prayer ... part 3

Do We Have To Meet Certain Conditions Before God Will Hear Our Prayers?

part 3 in a series on prayer

By Patsy Norwood ~ 2007 – 2016 ~ All Rights Reserved

Prayer is a privilege reserved for God’s children. What an awesome thought ... a link to God that is just for Christians and no one else. It makes me feel special and loved, but not everyone enjoys this privilege. According to Proverbs 15:29 which says “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (NASB) and I Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (NASB) those who are not Christians do not have this privilege. John 9:31 affirms this also, “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears us.” (NASB). God does not hear the prayers of sinners unless the sinner is praying for help to find Him.

Cornelius, in Acts chapter 10 is an example of a man who was not a Christian but prayed to God continually. Even though the Bible says he was a devout man who feared God and gave alms to the Jews he had not yet been taught God’s plan of salvation. (Toward the end of the chapter God answers Cornelius’ prayer through Peter .... he and all his household learn of God’s teachings, are baptized and become Christians.) Cornelius earnestly sought God through prayer and God heard him. One ‘condition’ to having God hear our prayers, as indicated in the above verses, is that we must be one of His children or earnestly seeking Him before He will hear us.

The other ‘condition’ I would like to address is specifically for Christians. What happens when Christians get out of relationship with God? Does He hear our prayers then, after all we are still His children, albeit erring ones? II Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from heir wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins, and will heal their land.” (KJV) While this verse is God’s answer to Solomon’s ‘temple prayer’ in II Chronicles 6, it is applicable to the question we are trying to answer. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His principles were applicable in Bible times and they are applicable today. God has not changed nor will He. The word ‘if’ signified a condition then and it signifies one now. “If My people who are called by My name ..........” The condition is repentance. If we know we are not right with God than we must repent and turn from our erring ways before God will hear our prayers.

What about those who are not Christians that say they are sure God has intervened in their lives when they called out to him? Many would have us think that God is only a loving and caring God and that He would not turn His back on anyone calling out to Him in their hour of distress. Ladies, God is loving and caring, but He is also just. God said what He meant and He means what He said. In Isaiah, chapter 1, verses 10-14 God is talking to the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah. He is telling them that He has had enough of their hypocrisy and wicked ways. He continues on in verse 15 saying, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers I will not listen.. (NIV)” We find another example in the 27th chapter of the book of Job where Job is speaking out against his accusers and is taking a stand for righteousness. Verses 8 and 9 say, “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God requires his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? And again in chapter 35 when Elihu is reproving Job, trying to get him to admit to sinning against God thereby having brought all these hardships on himself, “There they cry out, but He does not answer because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it (verses 12-13). Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” confirms that God does not hear the prayer of a sinner or an erring child as does Proverbs 28:9, “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” Isaiah 59: 1-2 puts it in these words, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear, But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. There is no doubt that God is a loving and caring God, the Bible is full of example after example. What we don’t like to admit or think about though, is that he is also a just God. Here again the Bible is full of example after example. I repeat, God says what He means and He means what He says and it is in our best interest that we remind ourselves of this from time to time.

Let’s go back to the non-Christian and talk a little more about his/her certainty that God hears or has heard his/her prayers. Many non-Christians can relate stories of “near misses” in their lives or situations in which they were certain God was with them. They are convinced that in their hour of need, when they called out to God, He heard their prayers. According to Scripture this is simply not true. So how do we account for those situations in which it appears that God DOES intervene on behalf of the non-Christian? I believe the answer lies in the following verses: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5:16-18, KJV) In my humble opinion this is the key, God did intervene, not because the non-Christian called out to Him, but because somewhere Christian/Christians (maybe a mother, father, grandparents, friends, etc.) had been or were praying for the non-Christian. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous person ....”

Yes, there are conditions to having our prayers heard by God, for the Christian as well as the non-Christian, we must be in a right relationship with God, or earnestly seeking Him, nothing more and nothing less.

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could

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