Psalm 143:1

O Lord, hear my prayer.

In addition to a Theme Verse, My Fervent Prayers® has four key verses. If the MFP Theme Verse is the foundation of our endeavor to pray more effectively and more fervently, then the Key Verses are the four walls of our endeavor. 

The first two key verses are prayers we can pray to God. The second two are commands or reminders of how we need to pray.

Psalm 143:1 is our first key verse because it is where we begin and where we have all been at some point when we have prayed, “God, are you listening? O Lord, hear my prayer.”

Many of us struggle with doubts about whether Anyone is listening when we pray. Some of us know in our head that God, of course, is listening, but if we really think about it, we carry a nagging doubt in our heart about whether God is listening to us.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. You are not alone in your doubts.

We are not alone in our doubts. Count the number of times in the Bible where the writer implores God to hear his or her prayer. I found several verses in the Psalms and other verses elsewhere in the Bible where the person cries out to God imploring Him to listen — and before you write those people off as weak people who didn’t have a great relationship with God, please ponder the fact that one of those people crying out to God to hear his prayer was King David. If David could feel the need to ask God to listen to him, so can we.

Let us not be too hard on ourselves if we don’t feel heard by God, and let us not be embarrassed to admit those feelings. We cannot work through the feelings, and we cannot get beyond them if we cannot admit we have them.

First things first.

Let’s back up for a moment. You may be here today reading this blog page, and you don’t know whether God even exists, let alone whether He chooses to listen. You will likely need to settle for yourself this issue about His existence before you can tackle the issue of whether He listens to the prayers of His people.

I recommend you keep reading here but also read a couple of my favorite books. The first book I recommend is pretty much any book by Lee Strobel. I especially like two of Mr. Strobel’s books, The Case for Christ and The Case for a Creator. In my opinion, the children’s versions of these books are every bit as good and thought-provoking as the adult versions, and they are easier to read if you struggle with reading.

Another of my favorite authors is CS Lewis, one of the great Christian apologists of the 20th century primarily known these days for his penning of The Chronicles of Narnia. While The Chronicles of Narnia are fabulous books, CS Lewis so much more than The Chronicles. Read his book, Mere Christianity. It is profound. Both of these authors are former atheists who, upon investigation, became devoted Christians.

For those who know God hears, but still struggle with feeling heard.

If you do know in your head that God really is listening, but your heart is struggling, and your prayer life isn’t where you would like it to be, I hope you will find this My Fervent Prayers blog helpful. Some of the initial posts will be dealing with things I call, “Prayer Preventers.” Prayer Preventers are weapons or tactics Satan uses to keep us from praying. One of those Prayer Preventers is doubt about whether God is really listening to us when we pray. Why bother praying if No one is listening? Yes. I think Satan loves sowing those seeds of doubt.

As I was getting ready to write this blog, I realized that I was one of those people who at times feels like I am not being heard. I find it helpful to spend time thinking about God and the fact that He does hear me when I pray. Maybe it will be helpful to you when you’re done reading this page, to take a few moments, and tune out the world, and ask yourself if you really know that God is listening to you when you pray. Ask God to search your heart and to help you know your heart and your true feelings. Some of us know we struggle with feeling heard; others of us may not even realize we have doubts.

God can handle your truth.

When you ponder your thoughts and feelings about being heard by God, be brutally honest with yourself and with Him. Honesty and truthful communication is the foundation of any good relationship. God can handle your truthful communication. So, be honest. This is between you and God. If you go to church, no one from your church is going to know or criticize you for owning up to your true feelings. No one, but God, is privy to your thoughts, and He is kind and loving and wants to hear the real you and wants you to feel heard. He loves you, and He wants to hear you.

I once had a girlfriend who grew up in a home where her father told her and her brother that he would rather they lie to him than bring him bad news. I thought that was sad. The dad could have no meaningful relationship with his kids if they could not be honest with him. If you grew up in a household like that, know this . . . God is not like my girlfriend’s earthly father. God wants you to communicate honestly with Him . . . and He can handle whatever you have to say to Him.

Talk to God right now wherever you are.

Talk to God. Ask God to hear your prayers. Ask Him to reveal to you any doubts — blatant or latent — that you may have about whether He is listening to you. Ask Him to give you peace and assurance that He is listening.