Who Does God Hear?
Does God hear everyone’s prayers?
Does God listen to everyone’s prayer? By listening, I mean listening, hearing, with the intent of answering.
Let us examine the scriptures to see if they shed light on this question.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Isaiah 59:2 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.
We are told in scripture that there is one mediator between man and God,that mediator is Jesus Christ.
Tim 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
When a believer prays a prayer to God, he usually ends the prayer with “in the name of Jesus Christ”.
When Moses was going through the wilderness, with the children of Israel, when they left Egypt.
The carried with them, the Tabernacle.
God’s presence was in the tabernacle.
Later when the children of Israel occupied Jerusalem, God’s presence was in the temple. The Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant stood, was separated by a curtain and the High priest was the one who went in to make offering for sin.
When Jesus died on the cross, we are told in scripture that the curtain was rent in two, from top to bottom.
Christ who is our High priest, made a way into the presence of God to make offerings for sin, for all those who believe in Him.
He is the only mediator between man and God.
We cannot access the throne of grace trough the Virgin Mary or Saint Joseph, Saint Jude or any other mediator.
There have been men who have claimed that they have been in contact with God through mediums other than Jesus Christ.
One such man was Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons, known as the Latter day saints. Who was said to have been visited by an angel called Moroni.
This angel supposedly delivered to him the book of Mormon.
There was Ignatius Loyola a Roman Catholic, who supposedly encountered God whilst praying to a statue of the black Madonna, it said ,he encountered God. He went on to found the Society of Jesus better known as the Jesuits.
There was Mohammad, who was supposed to have been visited by Gabriel, Gods messenger, who dictated to him, the words of the Koran and the Suna.
None of these have any grounds for truth, for Jesus made an emphatic statement.
Jesus said, John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but by Me”.
Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Anyone who does not know Christ and does not come to God through Christ, is not heard by God.
We are told in scripture that all men are sinners and separated from God by their sin.
Isaiah 59:2 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.
However, when the Holy Spirit regenerates a heart, (brings alive the heart of a man), The Holy Spirit makes it possible for him to call on the name of the Lord , and this sinners prayer, God will hear.
This is the only sinner’s prayer that God will hear with the intent to answer.
Jesus said, when He, the Holy Spirit is come, He will convict men of sin, righteousness and judgement.
When someone comes to the point of recognising his sin through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and he repents of his sin calling on God in faith to forgive him, then God hears him and will forgive him.
From that point, that person is born again of the Spirit of God and is baptised into the body of Christ and gains access to the throne of God’s grace.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
This is when God hears prayer.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
We know that God is sovereign and nothing is hidden from Him and He can if He so chooses, answer any prayer, however, the scripture makes it clear why it says God does not hear.
It is because of unrighteousness because of iniquity, because of sin.
There is the event in John 9 where Jesus healed a blind man, one who was blind from birth.
The Pharisees were trying to discredit Jesus and called Him a sinner.
When they questioned the man who was healed of the blindness, he, an unlearned man pointed out to the Pharisees that Jesus must be from God for the scriptures say that God does not hear sinners.
John 9:31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him.
We know that all mankind are sinners, even those that are born again are sinners. But they are sinners saved by grace.
Even those who are truly gracious and righteous persons, are saved sinners, for there is no man without sin.
We know that God hears all sinners who calls upon His name, for such Christ came to save; for such he died; and these He calls to repentance. God hears every penitent sinner but by "sinners" in this verse, it is referring to notorious sinners, such in whom sin reigns, those who live in sin, and in particularly impostors, charlatans.
The man who was blind picks up on the words of the Jews and applied them to Christ,
Joh 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner. (Emphasis mine), they were calling Jesus a sinner, that is, an impostor a charlatan.
If this was the case, the man concluded, remember, this man was an unlearned man, God would not have heard him, or have assisted him in doing a miracle, God would not support an impostor, or cover and encourage a fraud; but the fact was that Jesus was heard and assisted, by God, it was a plain case that Jesus must be from God.
As educated men, they should know but such an illiterate man as himself knew, that notoriously wicked men, cheats, and deceivers, were not heard of God.
We have seen that to be heard of God, one must approach Him in the person of Jesus Christ, for He is the only mediator between man and God.
John Calvin in his Commentary says this:
John 9:31. Now we know that God heareth not sinners. Those who think that the man spoke this, in accordance with the opinion of the people, are mistaken; for the word sinner, in this passage, as in another which lately occurred, means an ungodly and immoral person. It is the uniform doctrine of Scripture, that God does not listen to any but those who call upon him with truth and sincerity.
For while faith alone opens the door to us to go to God, it is certain that all wicked men are excluded from approaching Him; and he even declares that he detests their prayers, (Proverbs 28:9,) as he abhors their sacrifices, (Proverbs 15:8.)
It is by a special privilege that he invites his children to himself; and it is the Spirit of adoption alone that crieth out in our hearts, Abba, Father, (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6.)
In short, no man is properly disposed to pray to God, unless his heart be purified by faith. But wicked men profane the sacred name of God by their prayers, and therefore they deserve rather to be punished for this sacrilege, than to obtain anything for salvation. Accordingly, the blind man does not reason inconclusively, that Christ has come from God, because God lends a favourable ear to his prayers. End of quote.
It is quite clear from scripture that iniquity and sin separates from God.
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked,
Isaiah 59:2 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.
Is there a time then, when God will not hear, (that is, hear with the intent of answering) a believers prayer?
1 Peter 3:12b But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
James 4:3 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Psalm 66: 16 – 20 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
As said earlier, God sees, hears and knows everything—including our prayers. Nothing escapes his attention. So why does God say He will not hear?
Is it possible that people sometimes sabotage their own prayers?
The Bible mentions several attitudes and actions that can stop God hearing our prayers:
Sin
Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Jer 14:10 Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
Jer 14:11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
Jer 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry;
Disobedience
Pro 28:9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
Hypocrisy and insincerity.
Isa 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men:
Wrong motives.
Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Lack of faith.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
The Bible Illustrator puts it like this.
1. He hears no sinner’s prayer apart from the mediation of our Lord Jesus.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
2. He will not hear a wicked, formal, heartless prayer.
Pro 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
3. He will not hear the man who wilfully continues in sin, and abides in unbelief
Jer 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Isa 1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
4. He will not hear the hypocrite’s mockery of prayer.
Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
5. He will not hear the unforgiving.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
6. He will not hear even His people when sin is wilfully indulged, and entertained in their hearts.
Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
7. He will not hear those who refuse to hear His Word, or to regard His ordinances.
Pro 28:9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
8. He will not hear those who harden their hearts against the monitions of His Spirit, the warnings of His providence, the appeals of His ministers, the strivings of conscience, and so forth.
9. He will not hear those who refuse to be saved by grace, or who trust in their own prayers as the cause of salvation.
10. He will not hear sinners who die impenitent. At the last He will close His ear to them, as to the foolish virgins, who cried, “Lord, Lord, open to Matthew 25:11).
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
One or two things are very clear and sure.
1. He cannot hear those who never speak to Him.
2. He has never yet given any one of us a flat refusal.
3. He permits us at this moment to pray, and it will be well for us to do so, and see if He does not hear us.
In Conclusion.
Whose prayers does God answer?
Those that come through the only mediator between man and God, Jesus Christ.
Those that come to prayer in sincerity with faith believing.
Those that recognise that they are sinners and separated from God.
Those that repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can know for sure that your prayers make it to God’s ears and that He will answer you.
Psalm 17:6 gives you all the reassurance you need if you become a child of His that He will hear and He will answer your prayers:
“I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer.”
