Does God still answer prayers?

Reya has an unusually loud voice and Irene had always wondered about it. So, as they went out together for lunch break, she found an opportunity to ask about her voice.

“Apologies Reya, I don’t know if it is just me, but I feel you have an unusually high pitch when you talk. Do you sing?”, Irene asked.

Reya laughed and it sounded like thunder. “People ask me that all the time”, she added.

“So, what about it?”, Irene asked again.

“I grew up in a large family with 14 siblings. I quickly noticed that my siblings who were quiet didn’t get much attention from my parents. But the loud ones got all the attention. So, I quickly learnt to raise my voice when talking so I could get what I wanted – especially when talking to my Mom who mostly ignored us all when she felt exhausted”, Reya explained.

God is not like Reya’s Mom.  He does not ignore us when we talk to Him neither is He ever exhausted. Whether we whimper, sob, or cry out in desperation, God hears us. “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

However, some factors could hinder our prayers from being answered. The Bible explains that sin could make God silent when we call. Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2).

Unbelief in God’s promises and His word can make our prayers unanswered – even when we pray. The lack of faith renders our prayers ineffective. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7).

Other things that could hinder our prayers from being answered include unconfessed sins (2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 66:18); unforgiveness (Mark 11:25-26); praying with selfish motives (James 4:3); praying to impress other people (Matthew 6:5-8); and many more.

God is interested in answering our prayers. He is interested in giving us what we need and has made provisions to meet all our needs.  Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened…If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11).

Once we put these away – sin, unbelief, unforgiveness, etc. –  we can boldly pray to God knowing that He hears us when we call on him.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).