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[Make War]

What is prayer, otherwise known as talking to God? Can Christians actually talk to God? Can any human just get on his/her knees and begin talking to God? Will I hear a Voice, God's Voice? How do I pray? Prayer is a benefit available only to God's elected and set aside children. I believe that I am saved through the blood of Jesus Christ and that all of my past, present and future sins were crucified on the cross with Him. I pray, not as often as I should but I pray and I talk to my Lord God. God is a personal and upfront God. God wants to have a relationship with humans, specifically those who he has elected and set aside for Himself. God is God and He does as it pleases Him. You see, when God created the universe and all that is in it he made a covenant with mankind, specifically with Adam. That covenant was severed and broken when Adam sinned against God. Humans lost the ability to directly communicate with God. This brings into question, if the first covenant was broken, did mankind become God's enemy? Yes. God could have destroyed everything He had created at this point. Instead He made a promise, a second covenant that would never be severed again and would exist between God and mankind again through the Lord Jesus Christ who left his glory in heaven and humbled Himself and became man, lived as a man on this earth and died as a man to fulfill the price on mankind's head and to quench God's wrath against mankind and through his Resurrection from the dead and then later on His ascension into heaven back to where he belongs in His glory in heaven, and also where we who believe in Him belong. When we believe and have faith in Christ we establish and restore a relationship with God the Father through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. When a Christian prays, he/she will not hear a voice like when you talk to your best friend or your parents. When a Christian prays his/her words go through the Holy Spirit who intercedes in our prayer to align it with God will for our lives. When I pray for someone who has cancer my prayer is not a complaint to God about why he allows this to happen. My prayer instead is of praise and glory to Him and a plea to comfort the affected person and if it is in His will to save and heal the affected person then to let it be done. God is in control whether a situation in this life be good or bad. He is always there and promises to keep His children safe. Paul says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. In life I will live not for what I want to do but for what God wants to do with my life. I am an instrument in his hands. He is the giver of life and the one who takes it away also. So can Christians really speak to God? Yes, through prayer aligned to His will not my will. God is present everywhere and He is there when you are alone and when you are in church on Sundays. God makes his presence be felt among us. Praise and glory be to the most high. Amen.

[jimwalton]

This is sort of an odd post. It's as if you haven't asked a sincere question. You ask a question, then you answer it yourself.

God "hears" in different ways. Yes, of course he "hears" all prayers. He cannot not hear all prayers, being God. But it's in a different sense he "hears" the prayers of the elect. It is believers who have access to the throne of grace.

So what is this post about? Do you want discussion? You have asked a question that you have answered yourself, so it seems you don't. Are you just writing an article for me to read?

[Make War]

This post is about prayer. No discussion. Yes, I answered it myself because I have been taught and learned what prayer is. This post was a personal thought that I had one night and I never want to forget about it so I wanted to write it somewhere and I chose this subreddit to write it down. This post is more for myself than any other person on this subreddit. But if it causes discussion among redditors then let it be so.
One question for you: Does God listen to every prayer?

Your best resource is always the Holy Bible for questions like this. Remember: Scripture interprets scripture and context is king.

Thanks for reading my post, feel free to reply to this post if you answer the question.

[jimwalton]

> Does God listen to every prayer?

I thought I did address this. God "hears" in different ways. Yes, of course he listens to every prayer. He cannot NOT listen—He knows all, and hears all, being God. But it's in a different sense he "hears" the prayers of the elect. It is believers who have access to the throne of grace.

[MAke War]

To hear and to listen are two totally different and separate actions.

There is only one way God hears and listens to His people and that is through prayer.

God is all knowing and all powerful and present everywhere I agree. I disagree that God listens to every prayer. God does not listen to every prayer. Ps. 66.8; Jn. 9.31.

God is God, and He chooses to do as it pleases Him.

[jimwalton]

You're confusing yourself. Your original question was, "Can Christians talk to God?" The answer, which you said yourself, is "Of course they can." Then I mentioned that there are nuances to what we mean by "God hears prayers." Of course He hears all prayers; if He didn't, we could say there are some things He didn't know, such as what that pagan over there just prayed. But God DOES know that. He knows what's on that person's mind, and the prayer He was just thinking and maybe also speaking. That's different from how God "hears" the prayers of Christians, a term you use "listening" for, with which I'm fine. You can use that term if you like to understand exactly what I'm talking about, that God hears the prayers of His people differently than He "hears" the prayers of the unrighteous. You say God "hears" every prayer, but He only "listens" to the prayers of His people. I was saying exactly the same thing. You realize that, don't you?

> There is only one way God hears and listens to His people and that is through prayer.

I disagree. God hears the desires of our hearts. God hears and knows our very thoughts. God even hears our unspoken prayers.

> I disagree that God listens to every prayer.

You're creating your own categories of definition here. "Listened" and "heard" are used synonymously in Ps. 66.19. The point of v. 18 is not that God doesn't hear them, but he doesn't respond to them. They carry no weight that He would answer them. To entertain sin is to create a barrier in the relationship. God expresses the same thoughts in Isa. 1.11-17. Cf. also James 4.3.

The argument Jesus makes in John 9.31 says the same thing. Jesus heals a man who had been born blind, and the Pharisees contend that a sinner (assuming Jesus is such a sinner) has no access to the power of God (v. 16). Jesus is restating that argument in v. 31, agreeing that sinners don't have access to the power of God. It doesn't mean God doesn't hear their prayers, but that He doesn't respond with a visitation of power in response to them. (Ultimately his point is that since he was able to effect the healing, it means he's not a sinner.)