How do you know that God has heard your prayer?

[kathryn89]

I read a passage of the Bible every night and pray. I pray in my head - I don't say anything out loud incase someone hears me, but I'm never sure that God has heard. How do you tell?

Secondly, Is it important to kneel down or pray with your hands together? I remember I used to pray with my hands together but now I only do that when I'm praying for something I need extra power for. Is there any particular reason why we kneel and put our hands together to pray?

Any suggestions would be appreciated

[Byblos]

I read a passage of the Bible every night and pray. I pray in my head - I don't say anything out loud incase someone hears me, but I'm never sure that God has heard. How do you tell?

Secondly, Is it important to kneel down or pray with your hands together? I remember I used to pray with my hands together but now I only do that when I'm praying for something I need extra power for. Is there any particular reason why we kneel and put our hands together to pray?

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Hi Kathryn and welcome.

Those are great questions and the answers are not all that easy. Does God hear our prayers? As Christians we certainly would like to think so but quite often we tend to pray in the form of asking God for favors and when those favors don't materialize, we tend to blame God for not listening, and in extreme cases, we start denying his very existence. This method of praying reduces God to some sort of gigantic vending machine, dispensing favors to honest (and sometimes not so honest) seekers. God does hear our prayers but I think he answers those prayers that are consistent with his will being accomplished, rather than grant us arbitrary wishes.

As for the method of praying, I commend you in wanting to be reverent when you pray, that's an admirable quality. Personally though, I do not see any difference or benefit, for that matter, in the form in which we pray. I don't think God cares one way or the other if you were kneeling, standing up, or lying down, so long as you communicate with him often. But then again, if keeping your hands together makes you feel closer to God then by all means do it; nothing wrong with it at all, as long as you don't feel obligated to do it.

Those are my 2 cents anyway, whatever they're worth (well, 2 cents I guess ). There's a ton of material on the site's main page, please feel free to read whatever interests you and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask (by posting or PM).

God bless,

John.

[Gman]

Hi Kathryn..

Yes, what a lot of it boils down to is having the right motives when you pray or ask for something.

James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

I believe the word of God also instructs us to test ourselves against the standards God has set...

Galatians 6:4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

[Silvertusk]

I read a passage of the Bible every night and pray. I pray in my head - I don't say anything out loud incase someone hears me, but I'm never sure that God has heard. How do you tell?

Secondly, Is it important to kneel down or pray with your hands together? I remember I used to pray with my hands together but now I only do that when I'm praying for something I need extra power for. Is there any particular reason why we kneel and put our hands together to pray?

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Hi Kathryn

God hears and answers every prayer - but sometimes the answer is no, unless it conforms with his will. Just be assured that everything works out for the best when God is concerned, even though it doesn't feel like it at the time.

As for how you prayer, in my opinion it doesn't matter how, cos God already knows what is in your heart. Do it in anyway that makes you comfortable. Sometimes i pray when i am walking to work.

God bless

Silvertusk

[Oriental]

[quote="kathryn89"][/quote]

Kathryn,

I pray often in my heart only; I hardly hold my hands together unless I am in church service. Personally, I feel a ritual in church sometime largely influenced by the majority; at home, after I read passage in Bible, I may not hold together my hands but I sing hymns instead. My hands and my body positioned in leisurely way.

I love praying in heart, in particular when people are crowding the place, in trains, on pavement queuing up for food stall, in heavy rain, in office when noisy roars are everywhere, when nervous moment is coming like my turn in a contest, ... delivering a speech in business meeting..

It is simply some privacy at the bottom of my heart immune from outside disturbance, sort of shelter that only God provides me with to walk through the darkest shadow of the valley. It is sweet actually.

Prayers may not come true. In the 40-day temptation Jesus didn't use passage to test the Lord so I think I never (should never) care about the outcome of the prayer; the important thng is : prayer is certainly close conversation with the Lord so that He shares with me the circumstance that I suffer or I enjoy. I may plead, or I may request, but my experience tells me that, as long as the pleads or requests were driven by ambitious desires, He hardly answered. Bigger prayers are hardly answered. I don't know. Probably bigger prayers are often driven by greedy desire so God didn't hear me. Gladly He did answer my prayers for small ones. I realized it only when I looked back retrospectively the outcomes and associated them with Him.


Blessings.
Oriental.

..

[Jac3510]

As far as God hearing our prayers, everyone has answered pretty much the same, and there's nothing really to disagree with. God is omniscient and omnipresent, so of course He hears our prayers. And, ultimately, He'll answer them all. However, it is true that our prayers can be hindered, that is, rendered inneffective, by sin in our lives (see, for example 1 pet. 3:7).

That said, here's some food for thought on the second question. This isn't so much of an argument, but just an idea worth considering:

Is it true that, being spiritual-animals (ultimately, that is what a human is), that our actions affect our soul? That was the general theology of C. S. Lewis, and I think he may have been on to something. Holy men have always prostrated and/or kneeled at certain times of prayer. Fasting has is important, and in the OT times especially, sackcloth and ashes were associated with the practice.

Now, if this is true, then couldn't it follow that the position of our bodies does, in some way, have an affect on our prayer? If so, in what would this effect be?

[FFC]

Some people are more expressive than others when they communicate. In my opinion the same thing goes with communicating with God. When we pray, although we are told we can boldly go before His throne, we need to approach with a heart full of awe towards our almighty Father, I think He takes pleasure when we do. If when praying you feel you should get on your knees or lay flat on the floor than do it...but to not do these is not wrong. We get into trouble when we try to make a law out of how to worship and communicate with God and that is not good. Making a law out of any good thing can bring death to it...whether it be bible reading, praying, or any other spiritual practice.

[Oriental]

I regard praying something a sweet connection with the Lord. I did kneel or lay prostrate some time when I was saddened and felt remorseful;

as a working man, work occupies quite plenty of time in a week. Work hardly involves ethical issues and it is more than a duty I feel obligated to fulfil wholeheartedly so there has been little time for me to feel guilty or else enough for me to exaggeratedly prostrate myself somewhere in office, in lavatory etc. It is tiresome getting back home and I get to sleep quite soon for another day of work comes.

I don't know whether I am not so much devoted as some other fellow Christians. I love praying anytime and anywhere, privately in my heart. It is sweet and people just don't know what is in my mind. Prayers assure me in work. He is with us when we pray. We don't feel alone. No matter what the outcome may turn out after prayers, I think we should pray.

Oriental.

..

[FFC]

I regard praying something a sweet connection with the Lord. I did kneel or lay prostrate some time when I was saddened and felt remorseful;

as a working man, work occupies quite plenty of time in a week. Work hardly involves ethical issues and it is more than a duty I feel obligated to fulfil wholeheartedly so there has been little time for me to feel guilty or else enough for me to exaggeratedly prostrate myself somewhere in office, in lavatory etc. It is tiresome getting back home and I get to sleep quite soon for another day of work comes.

I don't know whether I am not so much devoted as some other fellow Christians. I love praying anytime and anywhere, privately in my heart. It is sweet and people just don't know what is in my mind. Prayers assure me in work. He is with us when we pray. We don't feel alone. No matter what the outcome may turn out after prayers, I think we should pray.

Oriental.

..

Like Paul said in 1Thess 5:17 "Pray without ceasing", right? You're doing good, Oriental.

[godslanguage]

I think that God understands heart first and foremost. If your true to your heart your essentially true in every aspect with God.

Being true to your heart enables you to be with God all the time, imagine being with God 24/7 instead of praying to God once for 5 minutes. Every action you take should be considered a Godly action in this case.

[Jac3510]

Some people are more expressive than others when they communicate. In my opinion the same thing goes with communicating with God. When we pray, although we are told we can boldly go before His throne, we need to approach with a heart full of awe towards our almighty Father, I think He takes pleasure when we do. If when praying you feel you should get on your knees or lay flat on the floor than do it...but to not do these is not wrong. We get into trouble when we try to make a law out of how to worship and communicate with God and that is not good. Making a law out of any good thing can bring death to it...whether it be bible reading, praying, or any other spiritual practice.

I fully agree with you here, FFC. It would be very, very wrong to say that we have to pray in a certain position (I don't care how you qualify that). That's legalistic, and it's wrong.

But, with that understanding, I am asking if whether or not our bodily position directly affects our prayers. I would assume the position makes no difference to God. However, I know in my own life there are times I am forced to my knees, and other times to my face. There are other times I am not forced as such, but I simply do it for one reason or another - not to be more spiritual, but because I find the moment calls for it. Now, when I'm sitting in my car and praying, or when I pray before a meal, there is no doubt in my mind that God hears me. But when I fast and prostrate myself before the Lord, I have to be honest and say that strikes me as a different TYPE of prayer. Is it better? No. Is it worse? Of course not. But it is different, and I wonder if that difference is real, or if it something in my own mind.

[FFC]

Some people are more expressive than others when they communicate. In my opinion the same thing goes with communicating with God. When we pray, although we are told we can boldly go before His throne, we need to approach with a heart full of awe towards our almighty Father, I think He takes pleasure when we do. If when praying you feel you should get on your knees or lay flat on the floor than do it...but to not do these is not wrong. We get into trouble when we try to make a law out of how to worship and communicate with God and that is not good. Making a law out of any good thing can bring death to it...whether it be bible reading, praying, or any other spiritual practice.

I fully agree with you here, FFC. It would be very, very wrong to say that we have to pray in a certain position (I don't care how you qualify that). That's legalistic, and it's wrong.

But, with that understanding, I am asking if whether or not our bodily position directly affects our prayers. I would assume the position makes no difference to God. However, I know in my own life there are times I am forced to my knees, and other times to my face. There are other times I am not forced as such, but I simply do it for one reason or another - not to be more spiritual, but because I find the moment calls for it. Now, when I'm sitting in my car and praying, or when I pray before a meal, there is no doubt in my mind that God hears me. But when I fast and prostrate myself before the Lord, I have to be honest and say that strikes me as a different TYPE of prayer. Is it better? No. Is it worse? Of course not. But it is different, and I wonder if that difference is real, or if it something in my own mind.

Maybe not different, Jac, as much as more intense in communication. Like when a man gets on his knee to propose, or a woman throws herself on her bed and sobs. Sometimes falling flat on our faces before God is the most powerful way to express our heart toward Him. I think God hears us no matter what position we pray in but I have a feeling He takes great pleasure in the one who sincerely and genuinely falls on his face before his or her heavenly Father. Maybe I'm wrong. This is just how I feel about it.

[Oriental]

I fully agree with you here, FFC. It would be very, very wrong to say that we have to pray in a certain position (I don't care how you qualify that). That's legalistic, and it's wrong.

But, with that understanding, I am asking if whether or not our bodily position directly affects our prayers. I would assume the position makes no difference to God. However, I know in my own life there are times I am forced to my knees, and other times to my face. There are other times I am not forced as such, but I simply do it for one reason or another - not to be more spiritual, but because I find the moment calls for it. Now, when I'm sitting in my car and praying, or when I pray before a meal, there is no doubt in my mind that God hears me. But when I fast and prostrate myself before the Lord, I have to be honest and say that strikes me as a different TYPE of prayer. Is it better? No. Is it worse? Of course not. But it is different, and I wonder if that difference is real, or if it something in my own mind.

I agree with you the bodily position directly affects the prayers.

I have solemnly prostrated myself to pray. The prayers are quite strange. I feel that I was trying to personify God as though he was standing or sitting physically at some direction to my position or my attention becomes directional; the peculiar point is that God himself should not be physically present anywhere. He is a spirit beyond dimension. I do not dislike positioning the body especially for praying purpose. Fellow Christians are free to bear their devotion in any manner.

I can only say that, positioning myself for praying purpose takes place only when I become a bit in emotional state. in earlier days after I pledged to believe, I positioned myself quite much for prayers. As time went by, I realize that praying privately and without positioning but a flash of idea in my mind is better to understand that God is so real and praying is so real. It is not a ritual nor a game to me. There is merger between my soul and Him, inseparable. In contrast, not a separate individual away from my physical body for me to worship with my face down .

No one needs agree with me. It is quite subjective thing. Neither is it any sort of criticism.

As regards the theme of this thread: How can we know God has heard our prayers. I think only when God fulfils our prayers should we get to know He has heard our prayers.

1) He hears our prayers that doesn't mean He would fulfil our prayers.
2) He hears our prayers that doesn't mean we know he hears my prayers; He may choose not to fulfil our prayers by not answering us so that we are under the delusion that He doesn't hear us simply because of the silence that He reacts to our prayers.
3) He answers our prayers that doesn't mean we accept it is the answer that God gave, in particular when the answers do not feed our desire. When our prayers are not fulfilled to our wishes, we usually conclude that He does not hear us. It is not true.


Oriental.


..

[Michelle]

I read a passage of the Bible every night and pray. I pray in my head - I don't say anything out loud incase someone hears me, but I'm never sure that God has heard. How do you tell?

Secondly, Is it important to kneel down or pray with your hands together? I remember I used to pray with my hands together but now I only do that when I'm praying for something I need extra power for. Is there any particular reason why we kneel and put our hands together to pray?

Any suggestions would be appreciated

I know that God answers every prayer, however he may not always answer in the way we expect him to. Sometimes God might answer us by refusing to grant our request for something we want to happen because he has something better for us down the track, or he wants us to learn a very spiritual lesson on something.

I dont think it is important how you pray. God just wants you to have a personal relationship with him. He just wants you share your thoughts with him. Think of it as having a best friend that you share everything with, only more special. It is not the position that is important, it is what is in your heart that God sees.

[akiracapsule]

In the bible it states that god is perfect, and has a master plan.

isn't praying for events, objects, and ANYTHING telling god that you want him to alter your plan?