God Hears and Answers All Prayers

 God Hears and Answers All Prayers.

Things I used to believe about God that now I believe were incorrect.

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.for women only*

This post has been many weeks in the making. It is difficult to write that many of my prayers most likely went un-answered over the years.

Let's begin this journey of exploration with the Old Testament.

First let's list some of the people who prayed to God:

Gen 20:17 Abraham - Father of many nations

Numbers 11:2 Moses - Prophet

1 Samuel 1:10 Hanah - Mother of Samuel

2 Kings 4:33 Elisha - prophet

2 Kings 19:15 Hezekiah - king

2 Chronicles Isaiah and Hezikiah prophet and king

Ezra 10:1 Ezra -prophet

Nehemiah 1:4 - leader-supervised the re-building of Jeruselem

Job 42:10 Job - suffered fiercely

Jeremiah 32:16,17 Jeremiah - prophet

Daniel 6:10 Daniel - prophet

Jonah 2:1-10 Jonah - a reluctant prophet

As you can see, most of these people of prayer were prophets, or kings.

Nehemiah 1:5 tells us. " And I [Nehemiah] said, I beseech you, O Jehovah the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments."

It should be noted that God reprimanded the nation of Israel in Isaiah 1:15

"[God] Thus when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes form you; Even though you multiply your prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood."

Isaiah 59:1,2 "No, Jehovah's hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor His ear so heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have become a separation between you and God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear you."

So now the obvious question is: How have things changed since Jesus Christ died for our sins. Have the "rules" changed?

The rules have changed! Because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ EVERYONE who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior can have access to God through prayer. Hallelujah! It is ONLY through Jesus however.

John 4:6. " I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me [Jesus]. "

Having that settled, how do believers maintain fellowship with God? Notice this is maintaining fellowship NOT salvation. Salvation cannot be revoked.

James 5:16 " Therefore confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed. The petition of a righteous man avails much in it's working"

In the book of 1 John 1: 6-10 we find " If we say that we have fellowship with Him [God] and yet walk in the darkness, (sin) we lie and are not practicing the truth; but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin. If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

So this is telling us that we have all sinned and need the salvation provided by Jesus the Christ.

But it also says that if after we repent and believe into Jesus we will occasionally sin, we can still confess our sins and He will forgive them and restore our fellowship with God.

That fellowship goes both ways. I remember as a girl I stole a sweet treat from the cupboard and ran behind the house to eat it. Right after I ate it I heard my Mom calling me. I was scared to face her. She must have known what I had done! I went to her crying and apologizing for stealing the treat. As it came to be she wasn't even calling me for that but for something else.

The point is. I hid from her because of my sin. I was avoiding fellowship with her. When we sin against God we also hide from Him and avoid fellowship (prayer).

Anytime there is a sin against a family member, that fellowship is thwarted until the matter is cleared up. It is the same with us and our Father God. But when we keep the channels of prayer open by regularly confessing our sins and receiving forgiveness, we can enjoy being in God's presence.

If we maintain fellowship we can abide by:

1 John 5:14,15 "And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us and if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask (in His will) we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him."

Praise God that we can have fellowship and a prayer life with God through the sacrifice of Jesus IF we turn from our sins and believe into Him.

But we cannot have God`s ear AND keep on sinning shamelessly.

If you have not received Christ as your Savior, you can do that today. Pray a prayer to God and repent of your sins which have separated you from Him, and believe into the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ONLY way to make things right with God.

Karla

* Scripture is clear that as a woman I cannot teach or have authority over any man.

I am thankful to Bible teachers, especially my husband Dale, who have helped me understand God's Word better. Karla