Yes, most faiths believe God hears and answers prayers, but the answer isn't always a simple "yes" or "I'll give you exactly what you want"; it could be "no," "wait," or a different provision that aligns with God's will, wisdom, and purpose, often involving focusing prayers on faith, growth, and glorifying God rather than purely selfish desires. God is seen as listening to all prayers, but responses are guided by divine will, and answers can manifest as peace, strength, healing, or redirection, not always as immediate material gain.
The simple answer is yes, God hears your prayers. An ever-present, all-knowing God will hear every word from your mouth, thought in your mind and whisper of your heart. But there are some things that might affect whether He answers. Now, let us get one thing straight before we go on… God loves you.
You DO know what God's going to do when you go to Him in accurate Word of God, Spirit-inspired prayer. He's going to answer you! He's going to do exactly what you've asked Him to do.
In our hearts we will feel the confirmation that He does hear us, a feeling of peace and calm. We can also feel that everything will be fine when we follow the Father's will. If we doubt that He hears us, we ought to seek guidance in the scriptures and then ask if those things we read are true.
Prayers That God Answers
In the Bible God gets angry at human violence. He gets angry at powerful leaders who oppress other humans. And the thing that makes God more angry than anything else in the Bible is Israel's constant covenant betrayal.
Church teaching says nothing about the time of 3 a.m. However, in popular culture it has become known as the “devil's hour.” This is because Gospel tradition reports that Jesus died at 3 p.m., and so—because the devil likes to mock God—the inverse hour of 3 a.m. is considered the time the devil chooses to manifest most ...
As the apostle John writes in 1 John 5:3, “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” Like my old car's engine light, God gives us warning signs when we are veering off-course.
You are not right with God.
Nowhere in Scripture do we find God say that he will hear and answer the prayer of an unbeliever. Quite the opposite: Psalm 66:18, for instance, says that if we cherish sin in our hearts, the Lord will stop up his ears when we pray to him.
God is sometimes silent because He is awaiting the appointed time to speak. What is important is for us to wait for Him in His silence, to hold on to what He last said as we anticipate His response.
In Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day, "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion (i.e. 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m.)."
The truth is, God always answers prayer… it just might not be in the way we expected. In his sermon on Sunday, Pastor Brian taught about four possible answers when we pray: Yes, No, Wait, or Grow. Surprisingly, this is the easiest category to tackle. God is a good and gracious Father.
He knows our pain and even experienced it for Himself. So when He doesn't answer our prayers in the way we expect, it's not a sign of God's judgment or anger. Instead, it's an invitation to trust Him, examine our motives, and continue pursuing His others-focused way of life.
In the days of his flesh and his time on the earth, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.
In fact, in His eyes, our thoughts and our voiced words are one and the same. Some situations call for praying out loud; others call for praying silently—secretly even. Regardless, we can be confident that, as Psalm 139:4 reminds us, “Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.”
When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, he applies the truth of God's Word to our present situation or behavior. If our thoughts or actions don't agree with Scripture, he alerts us. We feel a check in our spirit, or a sense that what we're doing isn't right.
There is no one way to feel the Holy Spirit, but it's certainly a profoundly moving and powerful experience for most people. To put in a list, when the Holy Spirit enters one's life, one may get a sense of: Peace, warmth, and calmness. Love, belongingness, and acceptance.
Prepare Your Heart for Being in the Presence of God
Spend a few minutes placing your trust in God's hands. Slow your mind down as you breathe deeply and still your body. Acknowledge God's presence and tell Him what is going on inside of you right now. Thank Him for meeting you right where you are.
God warns us through the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit. He will bring an inner check that something isn't right, you experience an uneasiness, an unsettledness that you can't shake. Everything may look fine to your natural eyes, but God sees what you don't see!
While angels may not be visible to us in a physical form, many people believe that they are around us, watching over us and sending us signs of their presence. These signs can come in many forms, such as feathers, a sense of peace or reassurance, a comforting presence, or even a feeling of warmth or lightness.
Discover the five types of callings in the Bible — the apostle, the prophet, the teacher, the pastor and the evangelist. Learn how each reveals God's purpose, guiding believers to live faithfully and fulfill their unique role in His plan.
3 AM is considered scary due to folklore calling it the "Witching Hour" or "Devil's Hour," a time when supernatural beings are strong and the veil between worlds thins, but it's also linked to physiological factors like being cold, deep sleep cycles (REM), and increased anxiety when awake in the quiet, dark, and still night. The quiet allows unsettling thoughts to surface, amplified by darkness and strange noises, making mundane things feel threatening.
Medieval Christians believed blessed bells could disperse evil spirits thought to cause dangerous weather. The practice became so common that some bells were even inscribed with "I ward off lightning and evil spirits." What other unexpected origins of church traditions have you learned about?
The History of The Witching Hour
Religious beliefs place his time of death at 3 pm, and because the devil works in inversions, the witching hour, or the time when we are farthest from holy power and supernatural activity is at its greatest, is 3 am.