How God Answers Prayer 2
In Part 1, we considered some poor views of how God answers prayer. I ended by stating that God always answers every prayer of every Christian. In this post, we’ll look briefly at some parts of the Bible that show our God to be a God who hears and answers prayer.
God is a prayer hearing God - Psalm 119:26
When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
One of the most comforting things for the believer is to know that our prayers are heard. This text is only a representative text for a mass of verses that extol our prayer hearing and answering God. It is easy to begin believing the lie that God does not hear our prayers. We walk by faith and not by sight. If we walked by sight we could see God’s intent gaze. We could see his sympathy as we emptied our hearts before him. We could see the eyes of compassion brim with love. Yet it is only by the eyes of faith that we grasp all of these truths. When the false view of a prayer despising god is placed before us, we must remind ourselves that our God has given us manifest encouragement to know he hears even the most simple and silent prayers of his people. Before a word is on our tongue, He knows it altogether.
God is a prayer answering Father - Matthew 7:7-11
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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are 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!
One of the biggest transitions that the ministry of Jesus introduced to the people of God was the overwhelming emphasis of the character of God as Father. Imagine the disciples surprise when teaching the disciples to pray, Jesus began with, “Our Father.” Out of all of the exalted names of God that Jesus could have drawn from the Old Testament, he chose “Father.” Surely this is another encouragement to us that God hears and answers our prayers. What earthly father has a right to bear the name father if he does something as cruel as what Jesus’ analogy describes. If fallen, earthly fathers answer the honest requests of their children with goodness then how could we conceive of a glorious, holy God turning a deaf ear to his children or treating them with a cruel hand?
Jesus is the prayer answering Savior - John 14:12-14
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
What was Jesus’ encouragement to his disciples as he told them of his departure? Pray to me and I will do it. It is that simple. Pray to Jesus and he will do it. Does that mean that Jesus is an omnipotent pawn at the disposal of our praying whims? Certainly it does not mean this. We’ll get to how God specifically answers prayers in subsequent posts. But what we have here is a bold statement of Jesus concerning his willingness to hear and answer prayers. This is where Christian tradition has picked up the good habit of closing prayers with, “In Jesus’ name.” We pray in his name because we (1) recognize that it is through Christ alone that our prayers are heard and answered and (2) because we ask that our prayers be answered in line with Jesus’ will symbolized by his name.
Jesus is our prayer answering Mediator and Intercessor - Hebrews 7:25
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
It is through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on our behalf that we are justified before God. It is by his imputed righteousness that we are reconciled to God. I push hard on this point because it is preeminently at the Cross that we have assurance our prayers are heard and answered. Our prayers and our persons are accepted before God on the same terms: through the merit of Jesus Christ. A good evangelical Christian would scoff at the statement, “I did a good job so God accepted me.” However, we often don’t scoff at the idea, “I prayed a good prayer so God accepted it.” Many are Reformed in their justification yet Arminian in their prayers. No matter how long, short, eloquent, or stuttering, all of our prayers must pass through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ before they arrive at the throne of Almighty God. All of our prayers must be cleansed in that fountain of blood. It is Jesus who makes intercession for us. It is he who carries our weak prayers to his Father making them acceptable before a holy God. And it is on the merit of Jesus alone that our prayers are answered. Your holiness does not obligate God to answer your prayers. Our prayers are answered by the singular sovereign grace of our God exemplified in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How can I make the bold statement that God answers every prayer? First, because he has shown, through his word, that his character is one of a prayer hearing and answering God. Secondly, and most importantly, because his mercy is intensely trained on his covenant people, answering their every need for his own glory through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only at the Cross that we truly understand prayer.
Our next post in the series will begin with the first of five ways that God answers our specific prayers.
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How God Answers Prayer Series:
