by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
We don’t know much about what the newly-seeing man in John 9 believed about many things, but he was right about this: God doesn’t hear the prayers of sinners (John 9:31).<\/p>\n
Both Old and New Covenants abound with the idea that God refuses the prayer of those who obstinately sin (see Isaiah 59:1-2; Psalms 68:18; Proverbs 15:29; 28:9; I Peter 3:12).<\/p>\n
It’s not that God can’t<\/em> hear those prayers, but He doesn’t\u00a0attend<\/em> to them. After all, why should He? Stubborn people who resist Him yet appeal to Him when life is tough have no intention of turning to Him in obedience. But His loving, providential attention is for those who have made it their aim to do His will.<\/p>\n That sounds harsh, but I hope it serves to remind those who love Him, obey Him, and follow Him when it’s difficult that prayer is a special privilege that is heard by God and attended to by Him in His time and according to His will. But for Him to “hear” you, you’ve got to be standing firmly on “praying grounds.”<\/p>\n “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him<\/em>” (John 9:31).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Zeke Flores We don’t know much about what the newly-seeing man in John 9 believed about many things, but he was right about this: God doesn’t hear the prayers of sinners (John 9:31). Both Old and New Covenants abound with the idea that God refuses the prayer of those who obstinately sin (see Isaiah…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[183,1510,1640],"class_list":["post-85267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-evil","tag-prayers","tag-wicked"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24123,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-hear-the-prayers-of-those-who-are-not-yet-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":85267,"position":0},"title":"Does God hear the prayers of those who are not yet saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am writing, after reading\u00a0your article, wondering your understanding of the Scriptures that point to God willing not to hear because of sins or God not hearing a sinner\u2019s prayer, or even yet, God hears open to the prayers of the righteous? From those Scriptures I arrive at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-respond-to-the-prayers-of-the-alien-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":85267,"position":1},"title":"Does God respond to the prayers of the alien sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In my study of God's Word, I've come to the conclusion that God does not respond to the prayers of an \"alien sinner\" when asking for God's blessings on himself.\u00a0 However, what are your thoughts on whether God responds to an \"alien sinners\" prayers when praying for someone else?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29487,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-always-hear-our-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":85267,"position":2},"title":"Does God always hear our prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In John 11:42 it says God always hears you, but in the verse, you showed me in \"Should we pray for Satan's salvation?\" it says that God said that if people were to pray for the extreme idolaters then He would not hear their cries out to him? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-answer-every-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":85267,"position":3},"title":"Does God Answer Every Prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes; Vol. 56, No. 3; Jan. 19, 2007. Question: \"I believe that when we pray for something, in faith, God will give it to us. If we are sick, we can pray and God will heal us. He is able to do all things. So,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/prayer-2-1-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41048,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christians-worship-be-hindered-if-he-is-in-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":85267,"position":4},"title":"Can a Christian’s worship be hindered if he is in sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, Can a Christian's worship be hindered if they are in sin? Does God expect Christians to be completely holy when we worship Him? Answer: \"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51497,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-formerly-blind-man-correct-in-john-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":85267,"position":5},"title":"Was the formerly blind man correct in John 9?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, How are you? Well, I hope. I have a question and this was the only way I knew how to contact you. I was in a discussion earlier today with a man on the topic of the sinner's prayer. I quoted John 9:31 to the man and his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}