Frequency

 No, God does not hear everyone. It’s not because I want to feel special or I don’t want Him to. He said so Himself, and I have to take Him at His word. In order to be heard by God, you have to be on His frequency, on His bandwidth, and that frequency is righteousness.

God hears the prayers of the righteous. Not the rich, not the influential, no the famous or the educated, the righteous. We haven’t gotten into the dead horse-beating territory, but by the time we’re done, we’ll be on the cusp because it must be so. Not only does it set the table for what it takes for God to hear men’s prayers, but it also answers the age-old question of why He doesn’t.

Because intellectual laziness is now the norm, we’ve come to conflate an answered prayer, to wish fulfillment. In our minds, the definition of an answered prayer is that God does what we ask Him to do. Anything less than that, we jot it down to God’s ears being stopped up, and we conclude that He has not answered us. That is a myopic perspective, not taking into account anything other than your limited understanding. An answered prayer doesn’t always mean God doing what you ask of Him when you ask it of Him. He reserves the right to say no, as well as say later, not yet, or not in the manner you envisioned.

If you are what He expects you to be, you don’t have to wonder whether or not He heard your prayer. If you’re not, and you know yourself not to be, there will always be that nagging question of whether or not He heard your plea. This is just one of the many benefits of righteousness and pursuing sanctification rather than a justification for our current spiritual condition.

It’s not that the wicked don’t cry out; they do. It all depends upon the situation and the level of hardship an individual happens to find themselves in. As the saying goes, there are no atheists in a foxhole, but God does not hear the wicked. They’re crying out to a God they never knew, a God they rejected and mocked, not because they are convicted or overcome with repentance, but because they’ll run to anyone or anything offering them a lifeline.

Who are you to judge the sincerity of someone’s appeal to God? I’m not judging the sincerity; I’m just drawing conclusions regarding the intent based on anecdotal evidence and previous experiences. How often have you heard, “if God gets me out of this spot or this pickle, I’ll get my life right?” How many managed to get through their hardship only to forget the promise they made?

The righteous have exclusive privileges not extended to the godless; one of those privileges is that God will hear them. And here we get into another sticky wicket because it’s not whether or not you see yourself as righteous, but if God sees you as righteous. What do you mean? I identify as righteous, therefore, I am. Sorry, God doesn’t play those kinds of games. He knows the difference between delusion and reality, unlike this generation, and you can declare your righteousness until you’re blue in the face; if all you’re doing is declaring, He will not hear you.

1 Peter 1:13-16, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

There are action steps we must take in order to walk in righteousness, from girding up the loins of our minds to being sober to not conforming ourselves to the former lusts. That’s what obedient children do. It’s not an issue of legalism, it’s an issue of obedience, but since much of today’s church is living in open rebellion to the Word of God, we’d rather call it what it’s not in order to validate ourselves to ourselves.

We think that if we can get enough delusional people together, we can force God to change His mind and rescind His word. If everyone says it’s not a sin, then it must not be. But God still says it’s a sin. He never put it up for a vote, and this is not a democracy.

Some people are so well established in their self-delusion that the only time they realize they’ve been doing their own thing and God had no part in it is when they cry out to Him, and He does not answer. Since such souls only cry out when they are in desperate need, at their most vulnerable, at their most susceptible, they will cry out, and no answer will be forthcoming.

We can’t reject God’s commands and expect His blessing. We can’t reject God’s Word and expect Him to be a present help in times of trouble. I am not concerned about tomorrow because I live for Him today. I am not worried about the future because He is my present.

Because I am His, I know that He can and will hear me when I call and answer in my hour of need. I don’t have to wonder or guess whether or not I am being heard when I pray. I know He hears me.

2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.