What Prayers Are Heard By God

Question #5

“Isn’t it true that only the ‘Regenerated,’ that is, only the ‘Born Again,’ the ‘Saved’ people can communicate with God, for the purpose of solving their problems?”

Answer #5

The answer is yes. The only ones that have access to God are those that are His own. Because the only access to God is through whom? Christ. It [Bible] says, “No man comes to the Father, except by me.” You can’t go to God on any terms, for any reason, unless you come through Christ. The way has been opened for us. And that’s what the writer of Hebrews means when he says, “Let us come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, to find help in time of need.”

No, there is no promise in the Bible that God will answer the prayer of an unsaved person, no promise at all. God is not obligated. God is not bound. God has made no such promise, because there is no access to God. Access only comes through Christ.

You say, “Does that mean that God never does for a person what they ask done?” That’s a very difficult question, and it’s been asked a number of times. I would venture to say, that an unbelieving, unsaved person might pray a prayer to God, “Well, God, I wish I had a wife.” And three months later find a girl and marry her. Or he might pray, “You know, I wish my mother would get well,” and maybe his mother get well.

So it is possible that circumstances could appear to look like God answered a prayer, when in fact, it was just the working out the providential plan of God anyway, and the prayer was irrelevant to what God was going to do. I mean, if you pray, “Lord heal my mother,” only one of two things can happen. Either she does or doesn’t get healed, and if she does, it does not mean that God answered your prayer. It just means she got better.

But, it also true, and I want to say this, that God may for His own purposes, hear the cry of an unregenerate person. The point is this, He is not obligated to do that. There is no claim on that. Because, you see in John it says, “if you ask anything,” Jesus said, “in my NAME.” If you come in Christ’s name, if you come in Christ, then the Father will do it. He has no obligation to answer the prayer of an unregenerate person, though sometimes He may in His sovereign choice. And sometimes, it may appear as if a prayer has been answered, simply by the way things turned out.