Let's Start Praying More (Part 8)

DOES GOD HEAR THE PRAYERS OF EVERYONE?
 
Not long ago, the subject in our Sunday night group study was prayer and one person asked the question, “Does God hear the prayers of everyone?” This is a fascinating question that deserves some consideration. The man blind from birth, but then healed by Jesus expressed this understanding,
    
“We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him,” (John 9:31).
 
This statement appears to reflect a solid theology based on scripture. First, notice the healed man’s statement is inclusive “if anyone is God-fearing.” This opens the door for a God-fearing Gentile like Cornelius to have his prayer ascend “as a memorial before God,” (Acts 10:4). The statement of the healed man is also conditional for the person who “does His will.” In first century Israel, a “sinner” was limited to the secular Jew who did not regularly attend synagogue nor keep the commandments such as those that differentiated between clean and unclean. In other words, God heard the prayers of people who sought Him, the person who “does His will”. Such was Cornelius, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually,” (Acts 10:1). Cornelius sets a high standard for Gentiles to follow, which was the reason God chose him.
 
I tend to believe that every person's prayer is initially heard by God.  As God responses to a person’s prayer, He tests the heart of each individual to see if that person will draw closer to Him. For the one who does draw closer, the LORD will lead him into a relationship with His Son, which will open the door to entering the “Holy of Holies” in prayer. However, for the person who ignores the grace of God, that person builds a wall around himself where God will not respond to his prayer. After some time, God will “not hear sinners.”
 
Most believers do not realize the impact our behavior has on the response of God to our prayers. We like to quote the words of Jesus, “Whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you,” (John 15:16). However, this blessing is contingent on a relationship with Jesus,
 
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and It will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (John 15:7-8)
 
The response to a person's prayer is preconditioned on “abiding” in Jesus.  So what does it mean to “abide"?  Jesus provides a definition a few verses later, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love,” (John 15:10). The person who desires to have his prayers answered, must move toward a relationship of “abiding” in Jesus Christ, which is predicated on keeping “My commandments.”
 
(Have a blessed day - Scott)