Does God hear you?

Give background on growing up Christian, thinking prayer was a magical language that i hadn’t figured out, not approachable, it’s for more religious people

Don’t know how to talk to God

It’s like mailing letters to God and what’s the point if He already knows

Maybe you have the same questions- if so pay attention, and listen for the answers

I want to take a second and address the ones that are maybe a little squirmy or uninterested- i also grew up with video games, i couldn't wait to get home and jump on the xbox. 20 years later i regret that mentality, i missed a lot of what the Lord spoke to me in those early years because i couldn’t give 15 minutes of my life to listen to Him, so all i ask is you don’t make the same mistake and tune Him out.

Now some of you who see the subject of prayer May be saying; Greg i pray and ask God for help and i pray for others and i never hear anything or nothing seems to happen.

Don’t worry, i have a video that we’re going to watch-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XeEXF25JWc

Obviously this is satire, but it’s a joke meant to poke fun at shallow prayer lives!

You notice in that video when he prayed for himself what was the theme of what he asked for? Nothing he asked for had anything to do with his relationship with Jesus.

You also notice the only words chuck allowed Jesus to get out was “that’s ok chuck, im just glad-” and immediately chuck cut him off for the rest of the video? Even in the small amount he was allowed to say, it was still a message of grace.

Obviously we dont have to go to a coffee shop to meet with Jesus, but it’s important to see the point this video is making: Maybe we need to not treat Jesus as our dumping ground for anything that pops into our brain, but treat our prayers for what it should be: a dialogue, not a monologue.

That’s how Jesus treated it when He went to deserted places to pray, to share His heart and speak with His Father

That’s how the prophets and David in the OT treated it

Now i’m not saying you will get a response from Him exactly when you want Him to, but also don’t just assume you will never hear from Him if you ask Him a question and expect an answer. Be Expectant.

The next topic of prayer i want to talk about, is when you have been praying, and you have been waiting on Him for an answer- and it’s crickets.

Luke 11:5–8 “And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.”

(NKJV)

Luke 18: 1-8 “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?””

Raise your hand, Who here is kinda sad about those parable's?

Who is encouraged by them?

Jesus Himself agrees and states a fact, that God bears long with the elect (us). If any of you have read the Bible, then you know nowhere in there does it say God always answers our prayers with a yes as fast we want Him to. But scripture does say, that He knows exactly what is going on with your life, and He hears your prayers (Psalm 139: 1-4

Psalm 139:1–4 NKJV

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

(He knows whats happening in your life, but He also has a higher plan and purpose that you can’t understand) Story about

Isaiah 55:8–9 (NKJV)

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Don’t try and spend your life trying to predict what God is going to do.

End Point:

Luke 11:9-13

“So I say to you, 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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

God is not a genie in a bottle for you to get whatever you want. James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss (greek word means wrongly), that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

How do i know if i’m asking wrongly or rightly? Ask for the perfect will of God to be done in that situation. Jesus modeled it in Gesthamane “nevertheless not My will but Yours be done.”

In the beginning i asked for your full attention and to not make the same mistakes i did in tuning out sunday mornings because i was bored, and i thank you for those of you that gave your full attention. For those of you that didnt, Jesus isn’t done with you and He’s not giving up on you because you’re uninterested. He is fully and completely interested in you and wants you to know Him as your best friend, so keep showing up, keep asking the hard questions. 1Thessalonians 5:17 says to “pray without ceasing” meaning- Don’t Stop praying.

Trust that if God is delaying His answer to your prayer, it is for a GOOD reason- “Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Application

You cant have a healthy and fruitful prayer life if you don’t care.

How do i start caring about my relationship with Jesus?

Why should i care? Because He cared for you and loved you first, paying for your evil by sending His son, while you were still His enemy, because He loves you and knows you are desperately in need of a Savior.

Luke 18:9–14 NKJV

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You can choose to be the religious person who comes to God with his works and all of the good things he thinks he is doing, or you can be like the other guy- aware of who you are and your condition. Both involve prayer- but according to Jesus, the only one that walks away from that is the one who repented in prayer.