I made a comment on Facebook today about whose prayers GOD hears. I felt the post was saying that GOD doesn't hear, or answer, the prayers of people who are not yet saved.
I really don't think that is true....
In recent years, I have heard a few sermons saying that GOD isn't listening to the unsaved. I don't know where that thought began. It was never talked about all the years I was growing up from childhood, or the years I searched the Bible.
GOD draws us to his heart, to our salvation, over our lifetime. No one is saved in an instant. We discover the Truth about GOD, and Jesus, over the long years of our life. Some of us find this Truth early, some of us later in life, and some never discover it.
When we are in the middle of problems we can't find the answers to on our own, we begin to look for someone who can help us. When we can't find people to help us, we reach out for something we can't see, for GOD. It seems foolish, to me, to think that GOD would ignore someone searching for answers, for help, for guidance, just because they aren't officially saved yet.
I have tried to understand where this teaching came from, but I don't have an answer yet. When we are saved, our relationship with GOD is renewed. The forgiveness that was obtained through the sacrifice of cattle and other animals is found in our belief in Christ. Christ becomes the sacrifice that GOD requires -- for all of us.
The idea that sin separates us from GOD has something to do with this idea that GOD doesn't hear our prayers when we aren't saved. I'm not sure that perspective is very clear. After Adam and Eve sinned, GOD still spoke to them, still cared for them, still loved them. If I remember right, they had to be banished from the Garden of Eden to keep them from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life.
We don't really know how prayer works, but we see that GOD hears us when our prayers are answered.
I would like the answers to our prayers to be a bit faster...
- ... if I need a car, why don't I get it today?
- ... if I need food, why isn't there someone leaving a bag of groceries on my porch?
- ... if I pray for a better place to live, for a job, for my health to be fixed, why isn't it provided for me by the end of the week?
I am really too tired to continue this talk about GOD and prayer and answers, but I want you to know there are different opinions about what the Bible teaches on some things, like whose prayers GOD hears.
I will continue to pray no matter what anyone says... I am talking to GOD, not to men. And I will continue to believe GOD hears the prayers of anyone that talks to Him.
