“So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-7 NLT)
In our journey to become more like Jesus we traverse many treacherous and troubling landscapes. There are times we pray and almost before the words pass our lips, we feel assured of the answer. But there are other times we pray and pray and pray and it seems heaven is silent and we’re certain God must be about more important matters.
Child of God, may I assure you of this one thing – YOU ARE at the top of God’s agenda! God loves you as if you were His only child. Had you been the only person on earth who needed a Savior, Jesus would have died just for you. When He died you were on His mind and in heaven your name is written on the palm of His holy hand.
To pray and not believe God is listening is like standing in the rain without any cover, believing somehow the rain is going to miss you. God hears, perceives every thought, every sigh. The Spirit is able to interpret even the deep longings of our heart and convey them accurately to the Father. The problem of silence from heaven is not an issue with God’s hearing, it’s an issue with our faith.
There are those who ask me why I pray, usually because of prayers I’ve made known to others who haven’t seen any apparent answer. And I’ve explained, “I don’t pray simply to get answers, I pray to connect with the heart of God, so that I might hear His voice and submit to His authority in my life.”
As surely as I live and breathe, I’m certain that some of the answers of the prayers I’m praying right now won’t be answered until I’m dead and gone. Does that mean nothing is happening now? I don’t believe that for one second. He’s always working!
We don’t pray to get God to work, we pray to align ourselves with His activity so we can join Him in that work. “Well, we know it’s His will to save people, why aren’t the people for whom I’m praying getting saved?” In my understanding of the Scriptures, our prayers don’t save anyone, even ourselves. Our prayers unleash the power of the Holy Spirit to stir in the hearts of those for whom we pray, but ultimately, salvation is between them and God.
That said, I firmly believe that God works powerfully to answer those prayers, so, if someone isn’t yet saved, as many for whom I pray every day aren’t, one of a couple things is happening: either they aren’t ready, or Satan has such a hold on their lives that they just can’t hear the Spirit’s voice.
I believe that’s especially true of those who are a part of religious or non-religious cults who hold beliefs that lead them either to not understand the truth of who Jesus is or they’re deliberately choosing to believe lies. Either way, Satan has erected strongholds in their hearts from which only the Holy Spirit can deliver them, but they must give Him access.
Jesus said of the young demon-possessed boy, when the disciples were unable to cast out the demon: “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Regardless of what you may believe about prayer, it’s an act of faith. I don’t pray to get answers. I pray to get closer to God, and, if in the process, people are saved, healed, delivered, or in any other way blessed and helped, all praise goes to the only One who deserves glory, praise, honor, and credit.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
Good post
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