The following are my notes on a short sermon at Comforts of Home. Does God hear every prayer? How can I be confident that God hears my prayers? While not an exhaustive study, this will give a base from which you can launch your study into the subject.

Heard Prayer
Comfort of Homes
October 24, 2009


Does God hear my prayer? If not, then it is reasonable to assume that He will not answer it. How can I know that God is hearing my prayer? I must study the Word of God on the matter and then believe what it teaches on the matter. James asks, “Is anyone among you suffering?” He goes on to answer, “Then he must pray.” Later, he refers to the cheerful and then the sick, leading to verse 16, which mentions effective prayer.

James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

No matter what someone is teaching us, it is something they want us to learn, know and believe. Our responsibility is to discern the teaching that is true from teaching that is deception. The key will be what we use as our benchmark for truth. Is our worldview biblical, or is it based on popular teaching? If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then we must accept it as truth. If we accept the Bible as truth, then we must believe that it takes precedence over our beliefs.  Our beliefs should be formed and molded according to the truth, according to the Word of God.

For example, I believe that there are very few prayers that God hears from unbelievers. He certainly hears all prayers from anyone in the sense that He has knowledge of them since He is omniscient, having total knowledge. But does He concern Himself with all prayers? Prayers that are cries of repentance, seeking salvation, are prayers that I believe He hears from unbelievers. He may also hear the prayers that are in line with His will. It is His desire that all come to know the joy of salvation, to be saved from the penalty for one’s sins. So an unbeliever praying for the salvation of a loved one may be an example of a prayer from an unbeliever that God would hear. You may have other beliefs on prayer or other matters. The important thing is that we massage our beliefs until they fall in line with the teaching of Scripture. The wrong attitude is to massage Scripture to make it say what we believe, which would be self-deception. Are we followers of Christ or practitioners of a religious life style?

James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

What is, or who is, a righteous man?

The righteous is not the wicked. There are many verses talking about God not hearing the prayers of the wicked. Here is a sampling.
Proverbs 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
Psalm 66:18 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear;”
Micah 3:4 “Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time because they have practiced evil deeds.”
John 9:31 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.”

We see in John 9:31 that “if anyone is God-fearing and does His will”, God hears the person. So part of being righteous is to be God-fearing and obedient to the will of God. Job was such a man as we see in Job 1:1, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.’
We see in Genesis 15:6 that Abraham believed God and that act was counted as righteousness. “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
When God decided to remove corrupt man from the face of the earth, Noah was spared. Genesis 6:8-9 says, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.” Peter says of Noah the he was a preacher of righteousness.
In 1 Samuel 26:23, David refuses to kill Saul and says, “The LORD will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I refused to stretch out my hand against the LORD'S anointed.”
In 2 Samuel 22, David sings to the Lord the song of Psalm 18 after he is delivered from his enemies and the hand of Saul. In the song he refers to his righteousness as we see in verses 21-25, “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not acted wickedly against my God. For all His ordinances were before me, and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless toward Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness before His eyes.” Psalm 4:3-4 “But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; the LORD hears when I call to Him. Tremble, and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.”
Psalm 37 talks of the righteous and of the security of those who trust in the LORD, and insecurity of the wicked. Verses 5-6 instruct, “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.” This Psalm teaches the way of righteousness. It speaks of trusting God, waiting patiently, turning away anger and wrath, the humble, the gracious, wisdom and justice. In the middle of the Psalm, the summary is verse 27, “Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever.”
The Psalms and Proverbs are filled with all sorts of descriptions and teachings of the righteous and righteousness. We should study them and learn how God would have us live our lives so we may draw closer to Him.

How then do we deal with the portions of Scripture that say there is none righteous?
Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”
Psalm 143:2 “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous.”
Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, ‘I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin’?”
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
In the words of Jesus Christ from Matthew 23:27-28, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Apart from Jesus Christ and His deliverance for the saving of our soul, there is no righteousness. Our righteousness is because of His grace and mercy. His work on the cross was the atonement for our sins and we are covered by His righteousness. Only through Him can we be presented to the Living God as holy, blameless and righteous. John 14:6 clearly states, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” No one can find any other way to enter the Kingdom of God than through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 34 is about the Lord as a provider and deliverer. A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed. David says, “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears” and “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.” Read and meditate on this Psalm as it implores, “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” It instructs us to, “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” The Lord is our provider, our deliverer and He is our salvation.

So who is the righteous man or woman? The righteous is the one who trusts in the Lord for all things, most importantly, salvation. Those who have been given the power to become children of God by faith in the work of Christ on the cross. These are the ones whose prayers are heard by God. These are the ones whose prayers are effective.

The way of the righteous and the promise of Jesus are found in Matthew 25:34-40.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

Go forth and serve the Lord. Draw close to Him and He will not forsake you. Trust in Him alone for the salvation of your soul and He will be faithful to deliver you.