Day 2651 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Proverbs 28:9 NIV

Here's another assurance that we have in our faith: God hears our prayers. We're told that very thing in 1 Peter 3:12, 1 John 5:14, Proverbs 15:29, John 9:31, and the list goes on. There are verifications all throughout Scripture that tell us that God hears our prayers. But there remains a large portion of our world that doesn't believe so. I contend that they don't believe in prayer because they also don't believe in the God to which we pray. And yet they shout and ridicule and blaspheme and throw stones at the idea of prayer when the world around them isn't changed.

I guess since they haven't read the passages that testify to the fact that God hears our prayers, then they obviously don't know the other half of those verses I listed above that point to a possible reason that they’re ideas of what prayer should be aren’t fulfilled. 1 Peter 3:12 for instance: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Or maybe John 9:31, "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will." Let's look at Proverbs 15:29, "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous."

You see, God hears our prayers, but He is far from the wicked. He doesn't listen to sinners. As this verse in Proverbs 28 teaches us, anyone who ignores His instruction will also be ignored. In fact, those who shirk His commandments and ignore His call to repentance and avoid His path toward righteousness, even if they were to pray, those words would be an abomination because they're coming from a heart that is still rooted in darkness and depravity. That's why so many hold so tightly to this idea that prayer doesn't work. Because they refuse to have faith in something bigger than their wicked hearts can imagine.

They think that prayer is an avenue to tell God what we want Him to do. But in reality, it’s our time of turning our hearts back to Him and asking Him to lead us to do what He needs done. His will, not ours.

Any time there is ever some tragedy in our world, you'll see an outpouring of people sending up prayers for those impacted. And, like clockwork, you'll also see an outpouring of people who say that prayers and well-wishes mean nothing. They'll say that prayer doesn't work. They'll throw stones at those who say they're praying for people because the darkness in their hearts has caused them to not only doubt in the power and effectiveness of prayer, but in the very faith that our prayers are centered around.

Make no mistake, prayer works. Prayers are heard by our Father in Heaven. Problem is that people outside of our faith expect prayer to be some kind of instant solution. They don't understand anything about our faith because they have chosen to harden their hearts to faith and therefore have no course but to berate and belittle those who live by faith and trust in prayer and believe in God's faithful goodness. They say that prayer doesn’t work and God doesn’t exist because if He were there and if our prayers mattered then the world wouldn’t be so messed up. Guess they’ve turned a blind eye to the free-will of a fallen humanity that has told God to get lost and continues to worship everything evil. Can’t they see that the world is still messed up because our society has told God to get lost and take His truth of sin and evil with Him?

The thing is that no, prayer doesn't change the world. It isn't some instant fix to the countless problems we see. When we close our eyes to pray, we don't open them to a world that is radically different than before we closed our eyes. The only thing that would bring that kind of radical change and lasting improvement would be universal repentance and surrender and hearts given to Christ. And well, we ain't gonna be seeing that anytime soon! Our world is a dumpster fire and too many are simply okay with it. And rather than changing themselves and working to soften their hearts so a little light could shine in, they settle for arguing and fighting against those who believe.

There will always be people who doubt in prayer because they don't see the instant miracles that they expect prayer to bring. But they don't want to do what needs to be done to actually fix things in our world. They just want to wake up to a paradise that took no effort or faith on their part. They want things to be better, but they won't work to do better. Since they choose to doubt in faith and doubt in prayer, they don't realize that the point of prayer is to change us. It connects us to the One who can change things for the better. It plugs us into our source of hope and love so that we can then use that hope and love to start making a difference ourselves.

Friends, prayer works. Prayers are heard. But if we expect God to simply do whatever we ask without building our lives in Him, then we're clearly living out our selfishness. If we turn our hearts from following Him, then how could we ever expect Him to listen to what we pray or act on what we pray for when our hearts are still set on following the evils ways of a broken world? So the problem isn't that prayer doesn't work, the problem is that our world is so far gone that prayer isn't even given a chance to do the work it's meant to do. It's meant to change hearts to align with God's will, not force God's will to cater to our hardened hearts.

The world has clearly turned a deaf ear to God's instruction, and yet people wonder why things aren't getting better. They wonder why prayers seem to go unanswered. They continue to doubt in faith and judge and persecute those who live by that faith they don't understand, but how is that helping make things better? Do they not see the irony in their foolishness? They won't give God a chance yet they hate Him when He doesn't act on their wishes. Don't care how you slice it, that's just plain stupidity.

Do not let the darkness of this world or the countless hardened hearts around you cause you to doubt in the power of prayer. Prayer will change things because it will change us to love like Jesus, fight to see God's will be done, and pursue the lives of kindness and compassion that we're called to live. God does hear the prayers of those who live according to His will. But as we continue through this land of the lost, don't expect any sudden improvements as too many are still set on burning this place to the ground and blaming God for not stopping it.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold