Answers to Our Prayers John 11:41-42

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42“And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”



Jesus is at the graveside of Lazarus and He is about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus has been in the tomb now for three days and it is obvious that what Jesus is about to do has never been done before. Jesus prays, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42“And I know that You always hear Me.”

Prayer is a wonderful privilege! God hears our prayers. Not only does He hear our prayers, He hears them every time we pray! Jesus said, “I know that You always hear Me.” You and I can know that God always hears us as well. This is the foundation for our prayers. In Romans 8 we read, “26Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Our prayers are heard by God.

Listen to Jesus’ next statement, 42“And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Here we have Jesus explaining one of the profound benefits of prayer. Prayer proves our level of faith in God. When we go to God in prayer, we are making a statement of faith in Him! Jesus said what He did so that those who were standing around Him would hear and see and then believe.

When you and I go to God in expectation in prayer and we make our prayers known in public, God rewards us openly and He hears our prayers and He answers those prayers that everyone might know that we belong to Him and that He is still at work in our world today.

The problem with most prayers today is the lack of real faith in God to do what we are asking Him to do. Most people pray to God without any expectation whatsoever. A prayer offered to God for which there is no answer expected gets none. Prayers that get no answer are often prayers where no answer was expected. Jesus said,“I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

What kind of expectation do you pray with? Do you know that God hears your prayers and even more important than that, what kind of answer do you really expect from Him when you pray? Your answer may have a lot to do with the answers you have been getting!