Does God Hear Our Prayers?

Introduction

It was the Puritan theologian John Owen who said meditation of the Word of God and prayer are the two disciplines that have “a special tendency towards the ruin of the law of sin.”

• If God’s Word is the health of a Christian, prayer is the breath of a Christian.

If this is the case, then the question we need to ask this morning is:

• Does God hear our prayers?
• Is our prayer acceptable to God?
• How do we pray?

In Matthew 6 Jesus spent time with His disciples, teaching them how to pray. First, how not to pray, and then how to pray.

How Not to Pray (vv 5-8)

1. Projecting Self (vv 5-6)

• To impress the people around
• Acting out
• The most sincere prayer is when we are alone

1. Meaningless Repetitions (vv 7-8)

• Repetition is not wrong, but meaningless repetitions
• Repeating words without thinking, just to fill the time

1. Prayer with Un-repented Sins (Psalm 66:18; James 4:3)

• Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
• James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

How to Pray (vv 9-13)

1. Pray in Right Relationship with God (v 9)

• Our Father—we should recognize whom we are talking to

1. Pray in Faith (vv 9-10, v 8)

• Our Father who is in Heaven
• Nehemiah 2:4—“So I prayed to the God of heaven”

1. Pray in the Will of God (vv 9-10)

• Hallowed be your name—Giving glory to God
• God’s will alone is supreme in my life

1. Pray Specifically (vv 11-13)

1. Pray Always

• Luke 18:1
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17
• 1 Chronicles 16:11
• Prayer is not an act, but attitude

1. Pray Persistently

• Luke 11:5-13

7. Pray for the Holy Spirit

• Luke 11:13

8. Pray with the Burden

Conclusion/Application

Prayer is like a child going to his father making his or her request known to him.

• Such requests are heard and answered.

• David wrote in Psalm 34, “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. … The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:15, 17-18).