Does God even hear prayers from non-believers?
Answer:
God is omniscient. That is, God knows everything. He even knows what we need before we even ask Him. (Matt 6:8). Hence, when we say that God does not hear the prayers of non-believers, we are not saying that God does not have the ability to hear, but rather, that He does not entertain prayers that are built on a sinful desire. Ps 66:18 tells us, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”
The fact that God does not entertain sinful prayers applies to both believers and non-believers.
If God does not hear sinful prayers, then how can we as sinners come to Christ? Are we saved by our prayer? No. A person only comes to Christ when God creates a new heart (regeneration) in Him so that this person now believes in Jesus. Faith is a gift from God. And it is in already having been given faith that a person prays a prayer of repentance. In this sense, a person is already a believer before he prays, and this prayer is therefore acceptable to God.
If you are praying to God, it may be that God is working in your heart to look upon Him as Lord and Saviour. If you repent and believe in Him, He will give you a new heart to pray prayers that are according to His will.
If we are believers, we are sons and daughters of God (2 Cor 6:18) and when we pray, God hears us, and if our prayer is in accord with God’s will, He will answer us.
3 Comments
But Jesus interacted with unbelievers and spoke with many of them. If Jesus is God manifest – how can we be so sure that God does not sometimes listen to the prayers of non-Christians and in that way, draw them to Him?
Hi Rui,
We amended our original answer after your response, and after giving it some further thought. With regard to your comment especially, we’d like to add a few further comments. The way that we are saved is indeed by God hearing the prayer of an unbeliever as he or she responds to the call to repent and believe in Jesus (Romans 10:13)! However, if you are talking about more generic prayers e.g. praying for a raise, or a life partner, etc. with no relation to coming into a saving relationship with God, we’d have to say that God is Sovereign, and may choose to hear and even answer those prayers. However, receiving the answer to those prayers apart from receiving Jesus is not a good thing at all – in fact, it could harden the person from salvation, because they are receiving exactly what they want, and that thing isn’t God. And we know that ultimately, a life without God, results to death – eternal separation from God! So, God listens to the prayer of repentance and faith of unbelievers and makes them Christians. How God responds to other types of prayers of unbelievers, is entirely up to Him.
The Bible however, seems to turns the tables on this topic. It does not tell us about humans desperately seeking after a God who turns away, rather it shows us a God who pursues sinners who turn the other way (Romans 3:11-18, 5:8; John 1:11-12)! It tells us that, in and of ourselves, humans will never turn to God because we love other things other more than Him – even if we come to Him in prayer, it’s often to get what we really want, and using Him as the means to that end. But God still draws people like that to Himself! The only way we know that God has drawn people to Himself, is the person repenting of sin, believing in Jesus, and becoming a Christian, a believer, and child of God.
Hope this clarifies a bit!
Ok, thanks for that, you’ve really clarified the whole thing.
Blessed Christmas.