Are you confident the Lord hears your prayers? Do you believe He will faithfully answer you when you call out to Him? Could you use some reassurance of this truth?
The conviction that God hears us and answers us is a basic premise of the Christian life. It needs to be at the very foundation—the very bedrock of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to know with certainty that the Lord hears and answers us.
An Encouraging Study
Dick’s comments: A few years ago, I awoke on a beautiful May morning with a passage of Scripture on my mind: “Call to Me, and I will answer you” (Jer. 33:3). As I thought further about those words during my morning preparations, I sensed the Lord directing me specifically to devote some time right then to the study of this verse.
So, I grabbed my backpack with my New American Standard reference Bible and headed to a fast-food restaurant. After a quick breakfast, I cleared the table so I could open my Bible and take notes on what I found. In retrospect, I believe this was one of the most encouraging three-hour sessions of Bible study that I had ever experienced.
Verse by verse, I tracked the promises in God’s Word regarding His faithfulness to hear and answer prayer. What I discovered was a truth that has virtually no exceptions (except when people blatantly refuse God’s wisdom, as in Proverbs 1:23-29, or deliberately ignore Him, as in Isaiah 1:15). In almost every case, what is the Lord’s response to us when we call out to Him? What are His next words? “I will answer you.”
For me, the study affirmed a vital truth: the Lord hears me and He answers me.
David’s Example
Philip’s comments: One biblical character who modeled the truth Dick just shared is David. Throughout the Psalms, we see clear evidence of David’s absolute confidence in the fact that the Lord heard him when he prayed. Here are just a few examples:
Psalm 3:4: “I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.” Again, we see David’s assurance in the words of Psalm 4:3b: “The LORD will hear when I call to Him.” Then, we read two more statements in Psalm 34. First, verse 4: “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Then, verse 6: “This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
One of the reasons David was known as “a man after God’s own heart” was this amazing confidence, based upon his intimate relationship with the Lord. David knew without question, even after he had sinned or wavered, that when he lifted His voice in supplication to God, his cry was heard. He was sure the Lord would hear and answer.
We Can Be Sure
Philip and Dick: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could move through life with the same confidence that King David had? The truth is—we can!
Our Lord Jesus encouraged us to have this same assurance when we pray. In Luke 11:9, He said these words: “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.” Later, in Luke 18, Jesus provided a parable to remind us that we “always ought to pray and not lose heart” (verse 1).
Have you wondered at times whether the Lord is listening as you pray? Jesus Himself urges us not to cave in to those doubts, nor to give up on our prayers. The encouragement He provides in Luke 18 and other passages should be enough for us. But if we need further convincing, we have the remarkable prophetic statement by Isaiah in 65:24 to encourage us all the more. In that passage, God Himself says: “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
The Bible attests that the Lord “inclines His ear” to listen to our prayers, even while we are still voicing them. There is no debating this fact: He hears us and answers us.
Removing Wrong Images
One of Derek Prince’s best-loved books is Secrets of a Prayer Warrior, and he was the right person to share those secrets. Derek had a wealth of personal experience on this subject. At the very start of a 2-week radio series called “How to Pray and Get What You Pray For,” Derek shares this thought on how to be more confident in approaching God.
As we come to God in prayer, most of us need to begin by changing our negative and unattractive image of God which somehow hinders us and stands in between God and us.
I don’t know how it is with you, but in my experience as a boy growing up, I spent many long and rather weary years in boarding schools. In my thinking, God was somewhat like a schoolmaster, and I really wasn’t too fond of schoolmasters.
I envisaged God as a schoolmaster, sitting at his desk in his study at the end of a long corridor. If you ever had to go and see the schoolmaster, you had to tip toe down the corridor, and probably the floorboards would creak as you stepped on them. That would give warning that you were on the way.
Then you would knock at the door, and a rather grumpy voice would tell you to come in. He would probably begin by scolding you for something you had or hadn’t done. That picture of the schoolmaster was really the way I thought about God. For me to be able to pray effectively, that picture of God had to change.
I think somehow, there is a similar picture in the minds of many. It is of somebody who is a rather long way off. He doesn’t want to be bothered and is probably going to scold us. The best thing we can do is stay away from him. But that isn’t at all the truth about God. Actually, when we come to God, He does not scold us. He welcomes us. If anything, He says, “Why have you waited so long?”
Affirming His Truth
The principle we have been studying in this letter is a basic building block of our lives as Christians. It may already be a well-established truth that you know deep in your heart: that God hears and answers. Even so, it never hurts for us to reaffirm it.
Let’s take a moment now—in prayer and declaration together—to do just that.
Lord, I admit that there have been various times in my life when I have wondered whether You were really listening to me as I called out to You. Please forgive me for those times when I doubted, and please receive my profound thanks for Your faithfulness in inclining Your ear to hear my cry. I am so grateful, Lord!
In this prayer, I proclaim the amazing fact, so clearly promised in Your Word, that when I call, You hear and answer me. Dear Lord, I affirm this eternal truth as the bedrock foundation for my walk with You. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
The Help We Need
What we have just done together is more important than we realize. Derek was always one who encouraged believers to go “back to the basics,” affirming foundational truths. That is the essence of our prayer and declaration, and it is a powerful step.
All of us at Derek Prince Ministries regularly remind one another to confirm the basic elements of our faith, and we are committed to helping others do the same. If we can encourage you in any way in your relationship with the Lord, it is our joy to do so.
May we offer one suggestion? Take advantage of the materials that are available through DPM, starting with our free offer for the radio series from which we extracted Derek’s quote in this letter: “How to Pray and Get What You Pray For, Part 1.“
It is our pleasure to make this teaching available to you free of charge—just one more way for us to express our deep thanks for your prayers and your financial gifts.
A Stable Life
As we have said, the topic of this letter is very basic. Even so, it is an essential foundation for each of us: understanding God’s readiness to hear and answer our prayers. This is a principle we must never forget. It is at the core of our life of faith.
To help us further secure this truth in our hearts, let’s look at one more promise from the Bible that confirms the wonderful assurance we have in the Lord. The passage is 1 John 5:14–15: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
The language in this citation is powerful, isn’t it? Words like “confidence” and “know” are the keynotes of these verses. The assurance this passage offers is the sure foundation for a life of stability in Jesus—knowing that God hears and answers us.
Sincerely in Christ,
Philip Wyns
President, DPM-USA
All the best,
Dick Leggatt
Executive Consultant/Senior Editor
