How To Have Faith That God Hears Your Prayers

“Our God is a God Who hears and answers prayer! Prayer-hearing is one of His attributes, a part of His nature.” ~ John Rice

Do you believe that God hears you when you are praying? Or are you doubtful, wondering, if God truly is listening to you? It takes faith to believe not only that God hears your prayers, but that He will answer them too. A mustard seed of faith is all you need though.

Maybe I have the gift of faith, I don’t know, but for some reason, it’s been “easy” for me to believe that God hears me when I pray. Many of my friends tease me with comments like “Oh you have a direct line to God” or “Tweeny’s prayers always seem to get answered.” I say this humbly, but there’s a lot of truth in these statements. I can say with confidence that God does answer my prayers.

My assurance comes from knowing my Father’s heart, that our heavenly Father desires to answer our prayers. I believe that He delights in answering the cries of His children. He loves us and wants to give us our hearts desires. God answers prayers because it’s at the heart of His nature. It’s who He is-faithful and true.

Answering prayers gives validity to God’s power, wisdom, His grace and His holiness.

I have faith that God hears my prayers because I know the intimacy I have with Him. The one caveat to knowing that God hears and will answer our prayers is that is we must have a rich relationship with Jesus. More than answering our prayers, God wants a relationship with us. This means we must, as John 15:5 says, be abiding in Christ. We must be one with the Father as Jesus was united with the Father (John 10:30).

The secret to having assurance of your prayer life lays in the degree of confidence you have in your relationship with Jesus.

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father…” (John 10:14-15). We are the sheep, and God is our Shepherd. How can we know the difference between His voice and the voice of the enemy? Only if we have an intimate relationship with Him. Through a rich relationship with Jesus, our will and His will becomes united. If we are out of His will, we will know it. There will be an unrest, a lack of peace in our spirit.

In Romans 8:26 we are told “…at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf...” and in Romans 8:27, “And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” So you see, when we are in a rich relationship with God, abiding in Him, the natural outflow of our prayer life will be led by the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. This means we will be led to pray according to God’s will.

When we have a deep intimate relationship with Jesus, our prayers will align with God’s will and our destiny.

We can have faith that God hears our prayers when we have confidence in our right relationship with Him. If we have a close relationship with God then we will delight in Him. We will delight in Him because we will know His character. We will have knowledge of Him as a kind, generous, and good Father. We will believe in Him as a miracle-working God, a faithful God. A Father that will do whatever it takes to bring you joy, as long as it is the best for you. He is a supernatural, extraordinary, divine God who is not limited by anything. Nothing is too hard for Him. As Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires,” we must do our part and get to know God, fall in love with Him, and delight in who He is.

Nothing blesses the Lord more than when we make Him our only joy. Once we do, He will bless in ways we could never hope or imagine.

He is a God that answers prayers because He is a God of infinite love and mercy. When we can fully grasp an understanding of His character, our faith will increase. As John Rice says in His book Prayers: Asking and Receiving, “Ah, when one really believes that God is a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God, he has the secret to the very heart of God, and he can dimly see and outline all the graces and powers and majesty of the infinite God! A God who hears and answers prayers is a true God.“

In order to have faith that God hears your prayers, you only have to do one thing-nurture your relationship with Him. Make a spiritual nest and enrich your relationship with God. Choose to spend time with God daily. As you become disciplined enough to spend time daily with God. This will, over time , turn into a desire, and eventually you will delight and look forward to your time with God. Then watch what happens not only to your faith, but also to your prayer life.

“You are the God who answers prayers, all of humanity comes before you with their requests.” ~ Psalm 65:2