03/07/2022
Why Are My Prayers Not Heard by God? How Should I Pray so That God Will Answer?
Question: I often face a lot of difficulties and sufferings in life. And I also frequently pray to God asking Him to solve these difficulties. But after praying, I still fail to see God’s deeds. Is this because God doesn’t listen to my prayers? If so, how should I pray?
Answer: Prayer is a mandatory course for us Christians, but why is our prayer not heard by God? Read the following passage of God’s words, and then you will figure out the reason and also find the way to pray to be heard by God.
God’s word says, “I have discovered a problem that all people share: When something happens to them, they come before God to pray, but, to them, prayer is one thing, and the matter at hand is another. They believe they should not speak of what is happening to them in prayer. You seldom pray genuinely, and there are some who do not even know how. Actually, to pray is mainly to say what is in your heart, as if you were speaking as you normally do. However, there are people who forget their place as soon as they begin to pray; they insist that God grant them something, heedless of whether it accords with His will, and, as a result, their prayers wither in the praying. When you pray, whatever it is you are asking for in your heart, whatever it is you long for; or, perhaps, there is an issue you wish to address, but into which you have no insight, and you are asking that God give you wisdom or strength, or that He enlighten you—whatever your request, you must be sensible in phrasing it. If you are not, and kneel down and say, ‘God, give me strength; let me see my nature; I beg You to work; I beg You for this and that; I beg You to make me such-and-such….’ That ‘beg’ of yours has a coercive quality; it is an attempt to put pressure on God, to compel Him to do what you want—whose terms you have unilaterally decided in advance, no less. As the Holy Spirit sees it, what effect could such a prayer have, when you have already set the terms and decided what you want to do? One should pray with a seeking, submissive heart. When something has befallen you, for instance, and you are not sure how to handle it, you might say, ‘God! I do not know what to do about this. I wish to satisfy You in this matter, and to seek Your will. May Your will be done. I wish only to do as You will, not as I will. You know that all human will is contrary to Yours, and resists You, and does not accord with the truth. I ask that You enlighten me, give me guidance in this matter, and let me not offend You….’ That is the appropriate tone for a prayer. If you merely say, ‘God, I ask that You help me, guide me, furnish me with the right environment and the right people, and let me do my work well…,’ then, after your prayer, you will still not have grasped God’s will, as you will have been asking God to act according to your own will.”
“When one comes before God to pray, they must give consideration to how they might do so sensibly, and to how they might adjust their inner state to achieve piety and be capable of submission. Having done so, it is then fine for you to go ahead and pray; you will feel God’s presence.”
God is the Creator, and we are created beings. So we should take our proper place as created beings while praying to God—only this kind of prayer can be heard by God. But in our prayers, we often demand God do things in accordance with our ideas. Therefore, such prayers can not be answered by God.
