Can You Hear Me?

1 John 5:14 ESV

'And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.'

Do you remember the old cell phone service commercials where the gentleman would stand in one spot and say, “Can you hear me now?”. The person on the other end couldn’t hear him, so he would move to another location and repeat, “Can you hear me now?” over and over again, hoping that eventually the other person would finally hear him.

There have been times in my life where I wondered if God was hearing me when I prayed. We’ve probably all been there at some point or another. Seasons of waiting for an answer or direction and it felt like silence on the other end. Maybe we didn’t receive the answer we expected or wanted in line with the prayers we offered up. Does that mean He’s not listening or can’t hear us? Well, He’s God! He hears everything. So, what’s the problem then? Although He sees and hears all, there are certain situations in which He advises us He will not respond, and other seasons where the timing of a thing hasn’t lined up yet.

Firstly, God listens to every prayer of repentance, this we can be sure of. If we recognize an area of sin in our lives and confess it before him, he is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from our wrongdoing (I John 1:9). The flipside to that is, if we choose to hang onto sin rather than repent, God finds our prayers detestable (Proverbs 28:9). Yikes! He also warns us that if we don’t extend forgiveness toward one another, neither will He forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). That’s a strong statement and I personally don’t want to find myself in a place where God doesn’t offer His forgiveness toward me. Secondly, our motives must be in check. Scripture tells us we will not receive if we ask wrongly or for our own selfish gratification and desires (James 4:3).

But what if our hearts are right? What if we’ve forgiven those who have done us wrong and repented of every known sin, and it still seems as though God isn’t hearing or answering our prayers? It’s possible that it just might not be His will for our lives. What do you mean it might not be His will? Doesn’t the bible tell us that God likes to give good gifts to His children? Yes, it does; however, that particular good gift may not have been meant for us. So, while it was upsetting when they didn’t choose us for that promotion we prayed for, His answer to our prayer might have meant that we still had a job when the company cut back on its budget and downsized. That gift had the appearance of being good, but in the end, it wasn’t good for us. The thing we must remember, in conjunction with our prayers and whether they line up with the will of God, is that He works all things together for our good. If we learn to trust Him in this, then we learn to trust His will and the way in which He answers our prayers.

Just as in the commercial where the fellow had to change locations and/or positions in hopes to be heard, so must we examine our "position" when we pray. If our hearts are right and we have repented of our sin and extended forgiveness toward others, then we must fully trust He hears our prayers and answers according to His will and what is good and perfect for us. He is a good God. He is good to us and His ways are good for us!

If this is your first time learning about prayer and forgiveness of sin, please click here for more information and how you can accept Christ as your Savior.