Tonight's speaker, Tom Fannin, discusses the importance of approaching God in prayer with reverence and humility. Tom emphasizes that God hears and listens to our prayers and that our approach to Him makes a difference. Tom also highlights the role of Jesus Christ as the mediator through whom we can approach God. He encourages having a genuine, close relationship with God through prayer rather than viewing it as a mere obligation. Mr. Fannin emphasizes the importance of having a poor and contrite spirit toward God's word in our approach to Him. Tom also cautions against praying for show or seeking recognition from others.
Well, greetings, everyone, and welcome to another session of GoToMeeting. It's again, as I typically like to say, it's really good to be with everyone, and hopefully, you're having a good Sabbath. The title of the message is "God hears our prayers." I want to start by just saying God absolutely hears our prayers, and he pays attention to them, and he enjoys hearing from us, as we'll bring out here in the message. But what I want to look at here with this message is why does God hear us? Why does he hear us? Then, how we approach God makes all the difference in our prayers, and we want to be mindful of that, too.
It's good to start when we think about God and Jesus Christ in heaven. It's good to think about who they are and consider what we come before when we go to God in prayer. Let's look back at Hebrews 12 and just see a summary here of the things that are in heaven and what's going on. Hebrews 12, and we're going to go to verse 22 of Hebrews 12. It says, ''But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the joyous festival gathering, and to the church of the firstborn registered in the book of life in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just who have been perfected, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkling of the blood of ratification, proclaiming superior things than that of Abel.'' So think about what we come before when we pray to God, God Almighty on his throne, the true holy of holies with Jesus Christ sitting there at his right hand, and you think about the 24 elders, and the four living creatures, and all of these angels, and talks about the spirits there.
We know that there's a spirit that returns to God who gave it, but the spirits of those written in the book of life. So pretty amazing what God allows us to appear before and come before, and that should be on our minds when we go to God, thinking about his glory, and who he is, and he allows us to come to him. Let's go to Matthew 6. We're going to be in Matthew 6 here, couple of times during the message.
But Matthew 6, I want to bring out just verse 9. It says, and we know Christ gave us instructions on how to pray, and what manner to pray as a model. It says, ''Therefore, you are to pray after this manner, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.'' So it's important for us to remember just who God the Father is, the Almighty God, and he is holy, he is perfect. So giving respect to who he is, his name and honor is very important.
So when we approach God, it's good just to remind ourselves what we come before. Well, do we enjoy talking to God? Well, that's something for all of us to think about. Is it something we enjoy, we look forward to? Now, I know all of us pray throughout the day, various times and various lengths of prayer, and sometimes I'm sure you take a special time you set aside for prayer, but we probably pray continually all day. But do we enjoy it? Do we enjoy talking to God? When you first come into the church, we're given admonishment, it's important to spend time every day praying and studying.
Certainly, as we do this, we start to get to a point where we enjoy it. We enjoy the time we get to read and hear what God's speaking to us through his word, and then the time we have just to talk to God, we look forward to that. So it becomes more than just what I'll call a checking of the box. Every day where we say, ''Hey, I've had some prayer time and I've had some study time.'' It turns into more of that relationship where we look forward to the time we get to spend talking with God.
God listens to us, doesn't he? We know God listens to us. We're going to be turning back now to Psalm 141. Psalm 141. One thing I want to bring out here is God's listening. Now, you know, a lot of times we talk about listening being an art, how important it is to listen to others. God, when we think about who he is, he's a perfect listener. God's perfect in all his ways, and he's also, think about this, he's a perfect listener.
He's listening and watching intently. So we have to think about that too. Psalm 141, verse 1 and 2, it says, ''O Lord, I cry to you, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice when I call unto you. Let my prayer be set forth before you as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.'' As David is bringing out here, he's saying, ''Let this be,'' and it is for God. Our prayers are precious to him.
He enjoys hearing us and listening to us. It's good for us to keep in mind that he is really paying attention to our prayers. Likewise, when we pray to God, we need to have full attention and direction to him in our speaking, in our words. We'll ask the question then, ''Why?'' Why is it we can approach God, the Almighty God? John 14, let's turn back there. John 14, and verse 6, and Christ talks to us about why we can.
John 14, 6, couple of verses here we're all familiar with. It says, ''Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known the Father also. But from this time forward, you know him and have seen him.'' We can approach God, we know, because of what Christ did for us, becoming a perfect sacrifice and the grace given to us through Christ, for all those who are in covenant.
We can approach God then through Christ, and as we'll see through the Spirit. Let's go back to Romans 8. Romans 8, and in verse 14, we know we have God's seed within us. Romans 8, 14, it says, ''For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now you have not received a spirit of bondage again into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship.'' We know this when we've received God's Spirit, the down payment, the seed of begettal, the earnest as it's called, until we receive the full, we're sons and daughters of God.
It says, ''Whereby we call out Abba, our Father.'' So just think about that, because of the covenant we're in and receiving God's Spirit, we can approach God. As it says here, ''We then we call out, Father.'' That's how we recognize God, the Almighty God is our Father. Let's go back to Ephesians 6 chapter, Ephesians 6, Ephesians 6, in verse 17, it says, ''Praying at all times with all prayer and supplications in the Spirit, and this very thing being watchful with all perseverance and supplications for all the saints.'' So we approach God in the Spirit, through the Spirit, through spiritual minds.
We know through God's Spirit, there's many works done through us, and the Spirit gives us understanding and gives us wisdom. It's a comforter and it helps us, but we pray to God and approach God through the Spirit that He's given us. We know back in Romans, it talks about how the Spirit cries out for us, things within us that we need. So that's how we are prayed to God through His Spirit. Let's go back while we're here in Ephesians to Ephesians 3.
Ephesians 3, and this is a very important thing too, and how we can approach God and why we can approach God. Ephesians 3 verse 9, it says, ''And that I might enlighten all as to what is the fellowship of the mystery that has been hidden from the ages in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places.'' We just talked about that back in Hebrews.
''According to His eternal purpose, which He has wrought in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom, speaking of Christ, we have boldness and direct access with confidence through His very own faith.'' So why can we approach God? We can approach God through Christ again, through the very faith of Jesus Christ, and we can approach God with boldness, it says. We have access. We can be confident in that access, and we'll talk about boldness later in the message.
But this is why we can approach God. It's good to be mindful of that and remind ourselves why we can come before God. Well, we want to be turning back now to Isaiah 66, verse 2. Isaiah 66, verse 2. I want to talk a little bit about what God looks for in our prayers, and the kind of approach we should always have when we come before God. So Isaiah 66, we'll start in verse 1 here. It says, ''Thus says the Lord, to heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
Where then is the house that you have built for me, and where is the place of my rest? For all these things my hand has made, and these things came to be, says the Lord.'' Well, you think about all the things God and Jesus Christ have done, and their infinite wisdom, and the power they possess, and the love that they have. But with all this said, and all the things they've done, and are doing, and all this universe, and all their creation, we can look at what it says here.
''But to this one I will look, to him who is of a poor and contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.'' So when we think about how we approach God and our prayers to God, this is important and we'll be seeing the same theme throughout the Bible of how our attitude should be and what God's looking to, he says, ''a poor and contrite spirit, and those who tremble at his word.'' Let's go back to Matthew 6.
Again, we were there a little earlier when we talked about the model prayer, and we'll cover Matthew 6 again. Again, talking about what God is looking for in our prayers, and our approach to him. Matthew 6, verse 5. It says, ''And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and on the corners of the streets, in order that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.'' Does this match what we saw there in Isaiah 66, 1 and 2? Well, it doesn't seem like that's the same mind here, and Christ says not to be like them, the hypocrites.
''But you,'' Christ says, ''when you pray, enter into a private room and shutting the door, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that by multiplying their words, they shall be heard.'' Now, our prayers aren't like that, are they? Our prayers are very personal to God. We, again, we enjoy the time we have with God when we pray, and our prayers come from the heart, and from the spirit, like we mentioned earlier.
''Now then, do not be like them,'' Christ says, ''for your father knows what things you have need before you ask.'' We know that there's not a thought that can be hid from God, and he knows what's going to come off our lips even before we speak it, and God knows what our needs are. ''Therefore, you are to pray after this manner,'' and we cover this, ''O Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'' We approach God always with the attitude of, ''God, we're looking for your will in our lives, in your direction.'' There is a manner we are to pray before God and be mindful of.
Let's go back to Luke 18. We know this is the account of a Pharisee and a tax collector, Luke 18.10, says, ''Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself in this manner.'' It's interesting there, it says, ''The Pharisee stood.'' ''God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.'' He's talking to God and just kind of exalting himself there, isn't he? He's not like other people and he's certainly probably looking over at the tax collector and thinking that I'm not like him.
''I fast twice in a week and I give a tithe of everything I gain.'' A little bit of horn tooting there, sounds to me like. ''The tax collector standing afar off wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat himself on the chest saying, ''Be merciful to me, a sinner.'' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. ''For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and the one who humbles himself shall be exalted.'' So again, it's the approach to God and our attitude towards ourselves and who we are.
We're nothing without God and Jesus Christ, are we? So they're looking for these things in us and our approach and our prayers comes out. Let's go back to Daniel 12. I want to cover something in Daniel here that God recognized. Daniel 12. And I said Daniel 12, but I really meant to say Daniel 10. Let's go to Daniel 10. So we're going to read verse 11 of Daniel 10. ''And he said to me, ''O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for to you I am now sent.'' And when he had spoken these words to me, I stood up trembling.
''Then he said to me, ''Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. And I have come because of your words.'' There's a lot there. A couple of things we can pick out from this again is the humbleness. That Daniel had, but also what was in his heart. His prayers to God were to be able to understand. And that's how we should be too.
And our approach to God is from the heart, wanting to understand, coming before God with this mind, ''God, I want to understand more of you, more of your will and your purpose for me, more direct to the direction you desire for me in my life, to be able to be led by you by the Holy Spirit. God heard this and recognized this.'' So hopefully we have that same mind and attitude that Daniel had. Again, God's will, wanting to know and understand God's will.
Let's go to 2 Kings. 2 Kings 20. And I hear the prayer of Hezekiah here. 2 Kings 20 and verse 1. ''It said in those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, came to him and said to him, ''This says the Lord, say your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'' That'd be hard to perceive that message. He was sick and looks like he was going to be sick unto death here.
And he received that message that he was going to die. He was going to die to get his house in order. In verse 2, though, it says, ''He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ''O Lord, I pray, O Lord, remember now how I walk before you in truth and with a sincere heart and have done good in your sight.'' And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.'' Oh, you know, I think for all of us, if we were put in this situation, we might have a similar prayer and similar thoughts.
''And it came to pass after Isaiah had gone out to the middle of his court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ''Return again and tell Hezekiah, the prince of my people, that says the Lord, the God of David, your father, I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of the Lord.'' Well, that's good to remember what Hezekiah did there.
And certainly that was an attitude of humbleness. There wasn't any self-exaltation there. But he poured himself out to God. And God heard that prayer. It points out there, too, that God not only said He heard the prayer, but He saw his tears. So God hears and He's also seen. He saw the very tears coming out of Hezekiah's eyes when he wept and prayed that prayer. So again, all these things are written and recorded for us so we can think about ourselves and how we approach God in prayer and what He looks to.
Let's go back to Psalm 32. Psalm 32, and I'm going to start verse 1. David says here, ''Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile.'' He says, ''When I kept silent, my bones wore away through my groaning all the day long. For by day and by night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was sapped, as in the heat of summer, so off.'' Think about that.
But he goes on to say here, ''I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this reason, let every godly one pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely in the floods of a great waters, they shall not come near him.'' So, a good point here to remember is, don't be silent.
Don't hold these things in. God wants us to come before him. God wants us to acknowledge to him our sins, our weaknesses, so we can have help. When we're silent, as it says here, we kind of within the inside, we're rotting away. We're rotting away. So, we don't want to be silent, brethren. God doesn't want us to be silent. He wants us to come before him and acknowledge all the things we need to acknowledge and he's quick to forgive and have, you know, what we know to be true repentance and that's change.
So, the point here is, don't be silent. And all the difficulties and the problems and the trials and also the sins that we have in our lives, but come to God. Psalm 34, let's just continue on this thought. Psalm 34 verse 11. It says, ''Come, hearken to me, you children. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man that desires life and loves many days that he may see good? And think about this, not only in our physical lives, but also eternal lives.
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry. So, again, he's looking to the righteous. And we know we are the righteous because it's been imputed to us through Christ. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the truth, from the earth, I'm sorry.
The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of the earth. The Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are of a contrite spirit. Again, as we mentioned earlier, that theme continues throughout God's word, who he looks to and who he's listening to. But our part, again, is our minds and our attitudes and how we approach God. Well, I want to talk a little bit about what doesn't please God.
Are there things that we can be doing? And I'm going to be mentioning specifically here in prayers, being mindful of our prayers. Are there things that don't please God that we can be doing? Well, the answer we know is yes. So God does hear our prayers, but there are things we can be doing where God's not pleased with. And we also have to be very mindful of that. Now, we've already covered a couple of things there, haven't we? In Matthew 6, he talks about, don't be a hypocrite.
Don't be like the Pharisees and some of the others and what they're doing. Don't be as them. We've read that already. And the self-exaltation we saw there, the Pharisee in Luke 18. But while we're in Psalms here, let's turn back to Psalm 66 and bring out something else here we need to be mindful of in Psalm 66. And I want to go to verse 16. It says, come and hear all you who fear God. And I will declare what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth and exaltations were under my tongue. But it goes on to say here, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Surely God has heard. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer nor his steadfast love from me. So we don't want God to turn away from our prayers. We don't want to be in a position where God doesn't hear us.
But we need to pay attention to what verse 18 says here. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now Christ's instructions, we know what he talked about. What's inside the man defiles the man. Out of the heart or out of the mouth speaks the abundance. We know the heart. So it's good for us to examine ourselves. And what's within our hearts and what do we regard? So we need to work on this all the time and examine sins in our lives and what we may be doing.
Because, you know, there are certain things God doesn't want us to be regarding. And sin is very powerful. And that's something we work on continually to get out of our lives. But the point here is making that God does not hear when we regard sin. So, again, something for all of us to consider. Let's go back to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. Psalm 5. You know, a lot of times when we pray, too, I'll just say we got to pay attention when we're praying to God.
And, you know, even sometimes in prayer, we can have things maybe come into our minds that we shouldn't. When we're before God's throne. So pay attention to that, too. If you have distractions or things come up in your mind while you're praying, get those things out. You don't have regard for them. Remember, again, who we're before when we pray. Psalm 5, verse 1. It says, So, yeah, we want God to hearken. We want God to hearken.
We want God to listen to us. And he does. But we have to look to ourselves and what we're doing. Again, this is part of examining ourselves and considering where God is at. He's in a holy place where sin doesn't exist. So we have to work very hard ourselves and we approach God and come to God that he's in a holy place where sin doesn't exist. So we have to work very hard ourselves and we approach God and come to God that he's in a holy place where sin doesn't exist.
So we have to approach God and come to God and be mindful of who he is with and what he demands and what he wants us to come out of. So just part of self-examining is what it is and where we're at with these things. I'll go back now to 1 Peter, the third chapter, and bring out something else that's very important as far as God and hearing our prayers and thinking about things maybe that God wouldn't be pleased with.
1 Peter 3 and verse 7. Peter writes here, Likewise you husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge. As a weaker vessel, giving them honor as women and as joint heirs of the grace of life. So men or husbands are to dwell with their wives according to the knowledge, the knowledge given to us through God, the wisdom that comes from God's word. And we're to dwell with them that way, acknowledging them, their joint heirs. So it goes on to say here, so that your prayers may not be cut off.
Let's continue reading. Now the goal is that all of you, all of us in the church, be of one mind, sympathizing, loving, the brethren, compassionate, and friendly. Not rendering evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but instead a blessing, knowing that you are called to do this, that you should inherit a blessing. Blessings in this physical life, but the blessing of eternal life. And again, this is a continual thought. It talks about how a husband should be with their wives, but then it goes on to the church and how the brethren should be with one another.
Again, God's already said here, or Peter said here, God's inspiring Peter to write this, so your prayers don't get cut off. Verse 10, For the one who desires to love life and to see good days, let him restrain his own tongue from evil and not allow his lips to speak deceit. Let him avoid evil and let him continually practice good. When he seeks peace, let him earnestly pursue it. Because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their supplications.
But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil. So what I just want to bring out here is our conduct, right? Considering one another, how we treat one another, how we love one another, it's important to God. It's important to our approach to God in prayer also. And certainly forgiving one another, right? You know, we want God to forgive us. So having an attitude where we're loving and forgiving each other, God requires that also.
I want to turn back now to James, the fifth chapter. Another thing I want to bring out here in the message is just continually important as we read there. When we think about others and love others, considering others that we continue to pray for each other. Because God wants us to be doing this. James 5, 14. It says, is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
It says, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick one. Our prayers have to be in the name of the Lord. Our prayers have to be a faith. And the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. And that's an important thing. Again, we mentioned faith when it comes to anointings that. We believe and trust in those anointings and those healings. We have faith in those things. Through Christ.
Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another. That you may be healed. Again, the emphasis here, we need to be praying for each other. It's our part. We want to be healed ourselves. We want to help ourselves. So, yes, we pray for one another too. The supplications of a righteous man prevails much being effective. So it goes on here to talk about the example of Elijah. Elijah was a man of emotions like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain.
And it did not rain upon the earth for three years and six months. And again, he prayed. And the heaven. Gave rain and caused the earth to spout its fruit. So just a point here. Elijah was a man of emotions. So just a point here that our prayers are effective. And God looks to them and God hears them, but we need to pray for each other, brother. Well, a couple of more things I want to bring out here is, you know, when we pray to God, we we should be praying on our knees.
And we have examples of that from Christ. Daniel, Solomon, Peter. Or they prayed on their knees. But we know, too, at times is. People get older or have health issues. You think about things like, you know, hip replacements or knee replacements. I've heard some say it's really impossible for them to be able to get down on their knees. So. If we can't, then. We pray lying down or in a position where. Or we can have an effective prayer to God.
But we should try to pray on our knees. But if we can't, we do the best we can. I just want to bring that out. And some are in certain health conditions where they can't pray on their knees, but certainly they can pray lying down on their knees. They can pray lying down in their beds. And we know David talked about that late prayed lying up on his bed. Something else here I want to bring out, too, when it comes to prayers is steady.
Now, a lot of a lot of you may get up early in the mornings and have a prayer time as the first thing you do, and maybe later in the day have steady time and then on your schedule. Maybe something to do occasionally is have some steady time. Before you pray. And you might find that to be very effective, too. And I think about steady time when we read God's word and we know it's inspired and the men who wrote it were inspired by God's spirit to write it.
And we know Paul talked to Timothy about it. His word being God breathed. Now, when we read God's word, it's really like God talking directly to us. And how many times have you picked up God's word and started the study or started reading and all of a sudden something inspiring came out of it that was for you, you knew directly for you for that day. Whatever was going on in your life, something came out you needed to hear directly from God that day.
So that's why sometimes it's good to have some steady time and listen to what God is telling us. Listen to him first and then maybe go to prayer after that and talk to God about what we've heard. So think about these things, too. But certainly prayer and study is so important and very, very effective. Well, as we've covered, we need to continue. It says there, I believe in Thessalonians 5, to pray unceasingly. We need to continue to come to God and come to Jesus Christ in prayer.
So we're going to go back to Hebrews, the fourth chapter. Hebrews 4. Now, we're told we can come with boldness to God. This is brought out here again in Hebrews 12. Hebrews 4, verse 12. For the living word, the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of both the soul and the spirit. And of the both the joints and the marrow and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And that's how God's word works in us. And that's why we study God's word. And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. And we know that. And we, you know, we should never forget that. That when we're before God or whatever we're doing in our lives, he continually knows what's going on.
There's nothing hidden from him at all. Therefore, having therefore a great high priest who was fastened to the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, we should hold fast the confession of our faith. For we do not have a priest who cannot emphasize, empathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things, according to the likeness of our own temptations. Yet he was without sin. So we know Christ is a great high priest. Yet he was without sin.
So we know Christ knows what it's like to be us in the flesh as he sits there to write into God and intercedes for us. Finally, in verse 16, it says, therefore, we should come because of all this we've just read. We should come with boldness to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So we don't come in our own minds in a bold way before God and Christ, but we're told by them that you come to the throne right with boldness.
We have that confidence that from them and from their word, they tell us you can come to the throne with boldness, with confidence in our prayers. So we can receive grace and mercy in time of need. And brethren, we all need help. We all have time of need, don't we? Continually. So that's why God's there for us in Jesus Christ. And yes, they hear and they want us to come to their throne. They don't want us to be quiet.
They want us to approach them. So, brethren, as we conclude here, what a blessing it is for us to have the knowledge of the truth that we have and most importantly, to know who God and Jesus Christ are and their love for us. God hears us. God hears our prayers. So let's approach him then continually in a way that pleases him and just continue to thank God and Jesus Christ that they've called us and that they're a part of our lives.
