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In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. (Hebrews 5:7)
Does God hear everyone's prayer? Surely, as an all-knowing God, He is capable of hearing everyone. But, apparently there are some prayers to which He gives lesser attention. Jesus, our ultimate example, was always heard by His Father, and the writer of Hebrews tells us why.
There are some conditions to prayer. One is desperation with the humility that is borne out of our recognition of need. But further, God hears and answers the prayers of those who are willing to humbly obey as He instructs. Why would He answer our prayers if He knows we have no intention of obeying Him?
Jesus was heard “because of his piety.” We do not, and cannot, be sinless like Christ. But there should be in us a heart’s disposition to follow Him as faithfully as we can by His grace.
For instance, let's say your son not only wants a car, but he needs a car for transportation and he asks you for this provision. But, he has repeatedly violated the use of your car each time it has been entrusted to him. And he openly tells you that if he gets a car, he will use it to speed, go places where he should not go, and do things you know are harmful to him. Would you answer his pleas for a car? To do so would be less than loving. Further, to wisely withhold the provision would potentially create a desire for the car that is so great it might lead him to humbly submit to your directives about its use.
Andrew Murray, in “The Ministry of Intercession: A Plea for More Prayer” said, “Why are there such numberless unanswered prayers? … Christ taught us that the answer depended upon certain conditions. He spoke of faith, of perseverance, of praying in His Name, of praying the will of God. But all of these conditions were summed up in the one central one: ‘If you abide in Me, ask whatsoever you will and it shall be done unto you.’ It became clear that the power to pray the effectual prayer of faith depended upon the life. It is only to a person given up living as entirely in Christ and for Christ as the branch in the vine and for the vine, that these promises can come true.”
Father, how I long to come to You as one who is filled with humility, who longs to be obedient in all things, and who always intends to stay attached to the Vine! Yet, I am not always this person. Would You give me a deeper longing to be someone whose effectual prayer of faith is always marked by the deepest longing of my heart? I want to live in and for Jesus and to pray with a depth of persistence that can only come with the greatest desire for all that You are!
---Adapted from Prayer with No Intermission by Bill Elliff. This book is available at prayerleader.com.
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