Prayer: Is God listening to me?

 People don’t understand that prayer is a two-way process of communication. Most people just don’t get it. I began to wonder, “Do people pray? Do they really pray?” I was shocked to learn that they do. Barna conducted a survey that revealed that 82 percent of adults, and 89 percent of teens prayed in a regular week.  It’s too bad that God doesn’t listen to them.

The Barna Survey found that:

• 95 percent of adults thank God for what he has done in their lives.
• 76 percent ask for forgiveness for specific sins.
• 67 percent spend time in prayer worshiping God by praising his superior attributes.
• 61 percent ask for help for specific needs.
• 47 percent are silent during prayer to listen for God.

If this statistic is true then I am more worried for the fate of those around me than I ever have been before. Can you imagine the horror of God’s punishment that awaits those who make a mockery of talking to the living God that they have absolutely no intention of listening to when He talks back? They talk to God, and have specific needs and requests that they ask of Him. 47 percent even remain silent in prayer waiting for God to speak back. But nearly all of these individuals refuse to listen to Him when He actually does talk back.  

How do I know that they aren’t listening to Him when He talks back? The 2001 Canadian Census shows that only 6% of Canadians claim any Christian affiliation. Reginald Bibby, renowned researcher from the University of Lethbridge, conducted a survey of Canadians and found that less than 5 percent of Canadians consistently attended any form of religious worship or corporate devotion in the past year. Of the Canadian population, an overwhelming majority claim that they pray to God and discuss such issues as forgiveness of sins and help for specific needs. Yet the one thing that they should hear God nearly shouting back at them as they pray is this: TRUST IN JESUS & GO TO CHURCH.  Yet few of those who claim to pray trust in Jesus as Lord of their life (less than 6%), and even fewer (less than 5%) directly obey the voice of God by having no involvement or interaction with the Church.

God doesn’t hear your prayers. Have you ever worried that God doesn’t hear your prayers? You’re right to be worried. He probably doesn’t waste His time listening to you. If you’re one of these people that prays weekly, yet do not obey Christ as Lord nor have weekly involvement with church, then God doesn’t hear you.

Listen to what God says:

“…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

This is a conditional clause. God says that He will only listen to people who are called by His name and have turned from their wicked ways. So… if you’re not a Christian, if you have not trusted in Jesus Christ, if you have not invoked the name of God over your life and taken the name “Christian” in response to entering into a trusting and obedient relationship with Jesus -then God doesn’t hear you. If you are proud and arrogant, and think that you know what is best, spend relatively little or no time reading the Bible trying to discern God’s will for your life, flagrantly ignore His command to be involved in church, to love His people, to serve Him by being a witness in the community -then He doesn’t hear you.

In fact, God is explicit:

“And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.” Deuteronomy 31:18

Scripture says that He will hide his face from you when you turn away from Him. If you’re not involved in church, then can you really claim that you have not turned away from Him? The simple fact is that you have turned away if you are not involved in a church. Therefore, scripture says that He does not hear your prayers, and He has hidden his face from you.

Quit Prank Calling God. Have you ever been prank called in the middle of the night? I have. It wasn’t appealing. I slumbered quietly through the night. It was about two in the morning, and the phone rang by my bedside jarring me from my sleep.

“Hello?” I groggily murmured.

“Hey. Do you know where your daughter is right now?” The caller’s question bothered me. I wasn’t fully awake, and in my dazed and confused state I actually did not know where my daughter was. I don’t actually have a daughter. I was childless at the time I received this prank. I didn’t have any children. But it took me a few seconds of trying to remember if I even had a daughter to realize that this was a prank call.

The few seconds of silence that lingered between us amused the caller. He began to laugh.

“I don’t have -” CLICK! He hung up the phone. I went back to sleep.

An hour later he called back. “Where’s your daughter, man?”

“”I don’t have -” CLICK! He hung up the phone. I went back to sleep.

About an hour later he called back. It was about 4:30 AM at this point. The phone rang. I decided not to answer it. It rang a few more times. I got up and pulled the cord out of the wall. The phone was silent. I went back to sleep.

This is what people do to God when they pray to Him, but refuse to listen when He talks back. They call Him at all hours of the day. They petition Him with all manner of requests, pleas, and entreaties. But if they have not obeyed Him in the simple things such as trusting in Jesus or making church a significant priority in their life, then they are missing the whole point of talking to God. Would you be friends with a person who thought little of you, disregarded your advice, disrespected you repeatedly by asking questions and then walked away as you were in the midst of your response?

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t call upon God as God to offer you His divine help and assistance, when you disregard His position as God in your own life. He either is God or He isn’t. You either pray to Him in obedience, or you disobey and shouldn’t bother praying at all. I encourage you to trust in Christ, make Him the Lord of your life, humble yourself and turn away from your sins, get actively involved in church, and then see where your prayer life goes. You will be amazed at the difference it makese!