As Christians, prayer is an indispensable part of our everyday lives, and the most direct way to draw close to God. We all hope that our prayers may be heard by the Lord, but we often do not receive God’s response or feel His presence, leaving us at a loss: Why is this? Why isn’t God listening to our prayers? What sorts of prayers are in line with God’s intentions? Let’s have fellowship on this today and by resolving these three issues, our prayers may be heard by God.
Much of the time, we pay attention to details such as the length of our prayers or our wording, or we even attempt to display our resolve to God through pleasant-sounding words, but we seldom truly open our hearts to God. For example, we commonly say: “God, I am willing to love You, expend myself for You, and no matter how great the dangers or adversities I undergo, I will not give up. I will follow You for my entire lifetime!” Or, “God, Your words are the lamp to my feet, the light on my path, I will adhere to Your word in everything that I do, and meet Your intention!” However, when met with adversities and setbacks, or difficulties crop up at home, we are often unable to put God’s word into practice and we lack the desire to fulfill His wishes. We even misunderstand God, complain about Him, even become demotivated, betray and walk away from Him. That we behave this way in practical situations shows that our prayers to God lack sincerity, and that we just utter boastful, empty, nice-sounding words in an attempt to please God. It is also to have others think highly of us, to have God and others see that we love God and are faithful to Him, but in reality, our prayers are filled with hypocrisy and deceit. They are, in essence, an attempt to fool and deceive God. How can we expect God to listen to these sorts of prayers? Jesus once told this parable: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10–14). It is not difficult to see that the Pharisee prayed in a hubristic manner, seemingly unaware of his own sins, parading himself under the premise of his ostensible good behavior. He was self-servingly bragging of his loyalty to God, saying nice-sounding things to God, exhibiting himself before God while belittling the publican (the tax collector). Such a hypocritical prayer could never be approved by God. The publican’s prayer was sincere, openly admitting his sins to God, acknowledging that he was a sinner, and expressing remorse. He also displayed a willingness to repent to God, and begged for God’s mercy. Seeing sincerity in it, Jesus approved the publican’s prayer.
Jesus’ parable tells us that God detests the use of bragging, empty words, or words pleasing to the ear to ingratiate ourselves with God or to trick Him. God wishes for us to lay our hearts bare and speak our actual thoughts, speak the truth, communicating with God sincerely. The Lord Jesus said: “When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24). And another passage of God’s words is: “The minimum standard that God requires of man is that man be able to open his heart to Him. If man gives his true heart to God and speaks what is truly in his heart, then God is willing to work in him. What God desires is not the twisted heart of man, but a pure and honest heart. If man does not speak from his heart to God, then God will not move his heart or work in him. Therefore, the crux of prayer is to speak to God from your heart, telling Him your shortcomings or rebellious disposition, laying yourself completely open before Him; only then will God be interested in your prayers, or else He will hide His face from you” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Practice of Prayer). From this we can see that we must simply open up to God, tell Him our innermost thoughts and the truth, tell God of our true state and troubles, and seek God’s guidance. Only then will God hear our prayers. When we pray, we can tell God of the difficulties and suffering we face in our lives, and seek God’s intentions. Or we can come before God and open ourselves up to Him about our transgressions or whatever corruption we’ve revealed each day. This is having a sincere fellowship with God in all matters. For example, when we grow attached to the world, yearning to follow social trends and becoming engrossed in worldly pleasures, and our hearts cannot be quiet before God, we can pray to God: “God! I find that I do not love the truth within my heart, but am always thinking of the dazzling world outside. Even when in a gathering, in prayer, or reading Your words, I cannot settle my mind. I want to rebel against the flesh, but I find myself powerless to do so. God! May Your spirit move my numbed heart, providing me with faith and strength to prevail over Satan’s temptation and quiet my heart before You.” After several sincere prayers like this, the Holy Spirit will guide and lead us to see that following societal trends will cause us to live in sin and grow ever more distant from God. The Holy Spirit will also touch us, and provide us with a heart of love for the truth. We will then be able to rebel against the flesh in practical ways, and overcome Satan’s temptation and seduction—this is the result we can achieve by speaking from the heart in prayer with God. However, if we do not have heart-to-heart prayers with God, instead attempting to ingratiate ourselves with God and trick Him by using words that are pleasing to the ear, God will not hear our prayers and will not touch our hearts. We will be unable to discern or overcome Satan’s various temptations and will inevitably follow evil trends, becoming further distanced from God and harmed by Satan. Therefore, if we wish for our prayers to be heard by God, we must simply open up and speak from the heart to Him. This is the first step we must take.
Most brothers and sisters believe that since we believe in God, He should bless us and grace us. We often supplicate and pray to God for fleshly benefits such as recovering from an illness, giving our families peace, or allowing our children to find a good job. Have you ever given thought to whether constantly praying to God for our own fleshly interests is true communion with God, true worship of Him? The answer is no. These kinds of prayers are merely seeking blessings from God; they amount to demanding things of Him and trying to get Him to act according to our own intentions. It is not treating Him as God. These kinds of prayers can only arouse God’s ire, and He does not listen to them.
As Christians, we shouldn’t just seek the blessings of the flesh or seek to have God bestow more grace and blessings upon us. That’s because these things just allow us to enjoy fleeting, worldly good fortune, but do not remotely help us grow in our lives. Neither can they help us achieve true submission and fear of God. Our prayers and supplications should focus more on our understanding of the truth, putting God’s words into practice, and growing in our spiritual life. Only this kind of prayer is in line with God’s intention. The Lord Jesus said: “And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things. But rather seek you the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added to you” (Luke 12:29–31). God’s intention is for us to practice and live out His words, and through His words gain both the truth and life so that we may achieve compatibility with God and ultimately be able to enter into His kingdom. Thus, our prayers should be centered around how to practice and experience His words; this way, God will lead us in undergoing His work, so we can understand more and more of the truth, and live out the words of God. Think of how we frequently tell lies and do deceitful things in order to protect our own face, status, wealth, or interests. We are well aware that these are sins, but we can’t stop ourselves from sinning. Even if we don’t lie with our words, within our hearts we’re calculating what to say to protect our own fame and gain, and status, and what we should do so that our interests aren’t compromised. When we become aware that we want to lie or do something dishonest, we should come before God and pray, “Oh God! I’ve seen that I cannot be pure and honest like children, but still can’t stop myself from lying or cheating. If I go on like this You will certainly loathe me. God! I truly need Your salvation—may You lead me to be an honest person, and if I lie or cheat again, may You discipline me.” After offering up prayers like this, when we once again have the desire to lie for the sake of our own interest, we will feel the Holy Spirit’s reproaches inside of us. We will clearly realize that God requires us to be honest people, and He takes joy in and blesses those who are honest. We cannot lie to uphold our own interests, as that can only make God loathe us. Once we’ve realized all of this we’ll be able to rebel against our crafty motives from the heart, seek truth from the facts, and call a spade a spade. By always practicing this way, unknowingly, we’ll be lying less and less, and we’ll be able to enter into the truth reality of being an honest person, one step at a time. This is the fruit of prayer for growth in life. The Lord Jesus said: “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Luke 11:9–10). Clearly, as long as we pray to God for understanding of the truth and the ability to put the Lord’s words into practice, and we treat entry into the truth with the utmost seriousness, God will guide us to understand the truth and enter into the truth reality, and we will be able to grow in our spiritual lives bit by bit.
Sometimes in our lives we encounter issues that aren’t in line with our notions, like problems at work or in the family, or we may even be faced with some natural or man-made calamities. When these things occur, most of us ask God to take away these unpleasant environments and give us peace and happiness. Even if we work hard for God or even give up our marriage and our jobs to serve God, when facing a major illness, we’re unable to calm ourselves and seek God’s intention, and pray that we may stand firm in our witness and satisfy God. Instead, we pray to God, begging for Him to heal our sickness so that we can be free of the torment of illness as soon as possible. When God accedes to our request, we thank and praise Him, but when He does not heal us, we are disheartened and disappointed in God; we live within negativity, complaining about Him and we may even have the urge to toss our efforts for Him out the window. We can see from this that we are too enamored of our own fleshly interests; in our hearts we do not love God or wish to satisfy Him. We often make unreasonable requests in our prayers, and we are so selfish and despicable that we demand Him to act according to our own will. We absolutely do not worship the Creator from the proper status of created beings. Why would God heed such prayers? Then how should we pray in line with God’s intention? His words direct us the path: “When you encounter difficulties, hurry up and pray to God: ‘O God! I wish to satisfy You, I wish to endure the final hardship to satisfy Your heart, and regardless of how great the setbacks I encounter, still I must satisfy You. Even if I have to give up my whole life, still I must satisfy You!’ With this resolve, when you pray thus, you will be able to stand firm in your testimony” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God). “How should man love God during refinement? By using the resolve to love God to accept His refinement: During refinement you are tormented inside, as if a knife were being twisted in your heart, yet you are willing to satisfy God using your God-loving heart, and you are unwilling to care for the flesh. This is what is meant by practicing the love of God. You hurt inside, and your suffering has reached a certain point, yet you are still willing to come before God and pray, saying: ‘O God! I cannot leave You. Although there is darkness within me, I wish to satisfy You; You know my heart, and I would that You invest more of Your love within me’” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only by Experiencing Refinement Can Man Possess True Love).
When hardships come upon us, we must seek God’s intentions and pray that we can stand firm in our witness and satisfy God. We must also have the resolve to love and satisfy God, and be willing to endure physical suffering if it means standing firm in our witness for God rather than praying for our own interests. Only this kind of prayer is in line with God’s intention, and this is also having the kind of conscience and reason we should possess, as created beings. For example, Job lost all of his possessions and his children through his trials and he himself was afflicted with boils from head to toe; he suffered enormous emotional and physical pain. But he did not complain to God about why He had allowed him to suffer all of this, nor did he ask God to take his suffering away. Instead, he first submitted and prayed to seek God’s intention. He recognized that all he owned had not been gained through his own toil, but had been bestowed by God; whether God gives or takes away, as created beings we should naturally submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. We should not have any requirements of God, or any complaints. This is the reason we as humans should possess. Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). Job ended up bearing a resounding witness for God by relying on his fear, submission, and faith for God. We should emulate Job and when encountering something not in line with our notions, we must first quiet ourselves before God and pray with greater diligence to seek His intention, and pray that we may stand firm in our witness and satisfy Him. This is the most critical aspect of our practice. This way, God can guide us; He can give us faith and strength and help us through any difficulties we may face, so that we may stand firm in our testimony through trials.
These are the three issues we must resolve in our prayer. As long as we practice and enter in according to these principles in our daily lives, I am confident that all of us, brothers and sisters, will reap rewards we have never dreamed of.
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