God Hears!

I was talking to a friend the other day and he posed this question to me , he asked me "Do you think God hears all our prayers" Well at first I thought that’s an easy question to answer and I almost immediately shouted out to him, YES.I knew that there must be something deeper ,there must be more to this question he was presenting to me. I have known this individual for several years and he knows about the Lord. He has heard me talk about the many great and awesome things that God has done not only for me, but also for my family and friends’ almost with hesitance I told him "yes, I’m sure God hears each and every prayer we present to him. But why was I hesitant to give him my answer? Was it that maybe I had experienced a delay in my prayers being answered, or was it possible that I was reacting on the timeliness of the way God answered someone else’s prayers. As I thought about the comment, I realized the person was really saying God did not give him what he wanted. God always answers prayer. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is yes. God answers every prayer ever offered to Him but not necessarily like we want.1 Peter 3:12 says this, FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE UPON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL. Sometimes I think we get our priorities mixed up, we tend to forget at times that God has a will for our lives, and he wants to bless our socks off if we will just be obedient to that will. I believe in Holy Spirit timing. In God's own time, all our prayers will be answered-in one way or another. The trouble is, we are afraid to submit our prayers to Holy Spirits scrutiny. Some of our prayers need to be purged. Some of our faith is being misspent on requests that are not mature. We are so convinced that if our request is "in accordance to His will, we should get it." We simply do not know how to pray, "Thy will be done!" We don't want His will as much as those things permitted by His will. The only test we require of our prayers is rather self-centered: "Can I find it in God's catalog of things permitted?" So we can search all through God's Word and cleverly lay out all the reasons why we should be granted certain blessings and answers. We match the promises to tailor our specific requests. When we are convinced we have a good case and have garnered enough promises, we march boldly into the presence of God as if to say, "Lord, I've got an iron tight case-in no way can you turn me down. I've checked my faith. I've got Your Word on the matter. I've done everything according to plan. It's mine! I claim it! Right now!” So as my friend and I talked some more about God ,I offered him this, Don’t worry about whether God is saying "Yes!" or "No!" to your request. Don't be downcast when the answer is not in sight. Quit thinking of faith formulas and methods. Just commit every prayer to Jesus and go about your business with confidence God will not be one moment early or late in answering. And if the answer we seek isn’t right away, lets say to our hearts, "God is all I need. If I need more, God will not withhold it. God will do it in his time, in His way, and if He does not fulfill my request, He must have a perfect reason for not doing so. No matter what happens, I will always have faith in His faithfulness."
Psalm 54:2 Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. Blessings.