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As Christians, prayer is an indispensable part of our everyday lives, and the most direct way to draw close to God. We all hope that our prayers may be heard by the Lord, but we often do not receive God’s response or feel His presence, leaving us at a loss: Why is this? Why isn’t God listening to our prayers? What sorts of prayers are in line with God’s will? Let’s have fellowship on this today and by resolving these three issues, our prayers may be heard by God.
1. In Prayer, Do You Speak to God Openly, Confiding in Him Your True Thoughts?
Much of the time, we pay attention to details such as the length of our prayers or our wording, or we even attempt to display our resolve to God through pleasant-sounding words, but we seldom truly open our hearts to God. For example, we commonly say: “God, I will love You, expend myself for You, and no matter how great the dangers or adversities I undergo, I will not give up. I will follow You for my entire lifetime!” Or, “God, Your words are the lamp before me, the light on my path, I will adhere to Your word in everything that I do, and meet Your will!” However, when met with adversities and setbacks, or difficulties crop up at home, we are often unable to put God’s word into practice and we lack the desire to fulfill His wishes. We even misunderstand God, complain about God, become demotivated, as well as betray and walk away from Him. That we behave this way in practical situations testifies to our lack of sincerity in our prayers to God, instead just talking big and spouting empty, nice-sounding words in an attempt to please God. It is also to have others think highly of us, to have God and others see that we love God and are faithful to Him, but in reality, our prayers are filled with hypocrisy and deceit. They are, in essence, an attempt to fool and deceive God. How can we expect God to listen to these sorts of prayers? Jesus once told this parable: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10–14). It is not difficult to see that the Pharisee prayed in a hubristic manner, seemingly unaware of his own sins, parading himself under the premise of his ostensible good behavior. He was self-servingly bragging of his loyalty to God, saying nice-sounding things to God, exhibiting himself before God while belittling the publican (the tax collector). Such a hypocritical prayer could never be commended by God. The publican’s prayer was sincere, openly admitting his sins to God, acknowledging that he was a sinner, and expressing remorse. He also displayed a willingness to repent to God, and begged for God’s mercy. Seeing sincerity in it, Jesus commended the publican’s prayer.
Jesus’ parable tells us that God detests the use of bragging, empty words, or words pleasing to the ear to ingratiate ourselves with God or to trick Him. God wishes for us to lay our hearts bare and speak our actual thoughts, speak the truth, communicating with God sincerely. The Lord Jesus said, “When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24). And another passage of God’s words is: “The lowest standard that God requires of people is that they be able to open their hearts to Him. If man gives his true heart to God and says what is really within his heart to God, then God is willing to work in man; God does not want the twisted heart of man, but his pure and honest heart. If man does not truly speak his heart to God, then God does not touch man’s heart, or work within him. Thus, the most crucial thing about praying is to speak the words of your true heart to God, telling God of your flaws or rebellious disposition and completely opening yourself up to God. Only then will God be interested in your prayers; if not, then God will hide His face from you” (“Concerning the Practice of Prayer”). From this we can see that we must be open and sincere with God, tell Him our innermost thoughts and the truth, tell God of our true state and troubles, and seek God’s guidance. Only then will God hear our prayers. When we pray, we can tell God of the difficulties and suffering we face in our lives, and seek God’s will. Or we can come before God and open ourselves up to Him about our transgressions or whatever corruption we’ve revealed each day. This is having a sincere dialogue with God in all matters. Like when we often become infatuated with the world and yearn to follow the trends of society, becoming obsessed with worldly pleasures and we cannot bring our mind to peace before God, we can pray to God: “God! I find that I do not love the truth within my heart, but am always thinking of the dazzling world outside. Even when in a gathering, in prayer, or reading Your words, I cannot settle my mind. I want to forsake the flesh, but I find myself powerless to do so. God! May Your spirit move my numbed heart, providing me with faith and strength to prevail over Satan’s temptation and bring my heart to peace before You.” After several sincere prayers like this, the Holy Spirit will guide and lead us to see that following societal trends will cause us to live in sin and grow ever more distant from God. The Holy Spirit will also touch us, and provide us with a heart of love for the truth. We will then be able to forsake the flesh in practical ways, and overcome Satan’s temptation and seduction—this is the outcome we can achieve by speaking from the heart in prayer with God. However, if we do not open our heart to God in prayer, instead attempting to ingratiate ourselves with God and trick Him by using words that are pleasing to the ear, God will not hear our prayer and will not touch our hearts. We will be unable to discern or overcome Satan’s temptation and will inevitably follow evil trends, becoming further distanced from God and harmed by Satan. Therefore, if we wish for our prayers to be heard by God, we must be open and truthful before Him. This is the first step we must take.
2. Are You Praying to Practice the Lord’s Words and Achieve Life Growth?
Once we’ve been corrupted by Satan, we are full of satanic corrupt dispositions; we are selfish, greedy, crooked, deceitful, and keep only our own interests in mind. In all things we put personal gain above all else and even in our faith we want more and more grace and blessings from God. Most brothers and sisters believe that since we believe in God, He should bless us and grace us, and no matter what we ask of Him He should provide it. We often supplicate and pray to God for fleshly benefits such as recovering from an illness, giving us peace at home, or allowing our children to find a good job. When we do enjoy His grace we very happily praise Him, but when He doesn’t respond to our prayers the way we would wish, we complain about Him. Have you ever given thought to whether constantly praying to God for our own fleshly interests is true communion with God, true worship of Him? The answer is no. These kinds of prayers are just an attempt to get blessings out of God; they are demanding things of Him and trying to get Him to act according to our own wills. It is not treating Him as God. These kinds of prayers can only arouse God’s ire, and He does not listen to them.
As Christians, we shouldn’t just seek the blessings of the flesh or seek to have God bestow more grace and blessings upon us. That’s because these things just allow us to enjoy fleeting, worldly good fortune, but do not remotely help us grow in our lives. Neither can they help us achieve true obedience and fear of God. Our prayers and supplications should focus more around our understanding of the truth, putting God’s words into practice, and growing in our lives. Only this kind of prayer is in line with God’s will. The Lord Jesus said, “And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things. But rather seek you the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added to you” (Luke 12:29–31). “It is the spirit that vivifies; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). God’s will is for us to practice and live out His words, and through His words gain both the truth and life so that we may achieve compatibility with God and ultimately be able to enter into His kingdom. Thus, our prayers should be centered around how to practice and experience His words; this way, He will lead us in undergoing His work, we will continue to understand more and more of the truth, and we will be able to live out the words of God. Think of how all of us frequently tell lies and do deceitful things in order to protect our own face, status, wealth, or interests. We are well aware that these are sins, but we can’t stop ourselves from sinning. Even if we don’t lie with our words, within our hearts we’re calculating what to say to protect our own name, benefit, and position, and what we should do so that our interests aren’t compromised. When we become aware that we have an urge to lie or do something dishonest we should come before God and pray, “Oh God! I’ve seen that I’m unable to achieve the simplicity and honesty of a child, but still can’t stop myself from lying or cheating. If I go on like this You will certainly loathe me. God! I truly need Your salvation—may You lead me to be an honest person, and if I lie or cheat again, may You discipline me.” After offering up prayers like this, when we once again have the desire to lie for the sake of our own interest, we will feel the Holy Spirit’s reproaches inside of us. We will clearly realize that God requires us to be honest people, and He takes joy in and blesses those who are honest. We cannot lie to uphold our own interests, as that is disgusting to God. Once we’ve realized all of this we’ll be able to forsake our crafty motives from the heart, seek truth from the facts, and call a spade a spade. By always practicing this way, before we know it we’ll be lying less and less, and we’ll be able to enter into the reality of the truth of being an honest person, one step at a time. This is the fruit of prayer for growth in life. The Lord Jesus said, “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Luke 11:9–10). Clearly, as long as we pray to God for understanding of the truth and the ability to put the Lord’s words into practice, and we treat entry into the truth with the utmost seriousness, God will guide us to understand the truth and enter into the reality of the truth, and we will be able to grow in our spiritual lives bit by bit.
Source from: Eastern Lightning | Faith Guide --- How to pray
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