Ed and Patsy now live in Athens, Alabama and are members at the Pepper Road church. As administrator of this blog, he enjoys sharing thoughts about spiritual maters. Not only his thoughts but good articles from other authors. He is also thankful to have been able to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ for over sixty years.
A cell phone company has popularized the above question in its advertizing videos. For the answer to be positive depends on both the transmission and reception of both phones. If either is faulty then the conversation becomes a monologue rather than a dialogue.
Successful communication with God is kind of like that. It depends on both parties (God and man) being able and willing to hear. Man speaks to God through prayer. God speaks to man (in this dispensation – Heb. 1) through his Son. Heb. 3 shows that his Son speaks through the words of his chosen men (apostles), none of whom are alive today – but we have their words written and preserved.
Following our analogy, while God in times past spoke to his people through “voice messages,” then a mixture of the two, he now speaks through “text messages.” In any case he has always expected to be heard and has warned against choosing not to hear. I know that there are some today who say they have heard God’s voice literally speaking to them in answer to their prayers. Sometimes just out of the blue without having prayed to him. It is more than highly likely that they are hearing the static of their imagination and mistaking it for the voice of God.
There are times when man puts in a call to God in prayer which he does not hear. It is not that God is unable to hear, but he wills not to hear. One might say he has selective hearing
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2 KJV)
We have no right to expect the Lord to hear us if we have closed our eyes and ears to his word
“For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” (Acts 28:27 KJV)
If we expect God to hear us, then we need to first hear him. Faith comes by hearing the word of God first preached by inspired men (Rom. 10:6-17). The faith that comes by hearing the word of God involves obedience to his commands. Notice the interchangeability of believing and obeying in verse 16
“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias [Isaiah] saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” (Romans 10:16 KJV). Also “But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26 KJV)
Saving faith is obedient faith. It is obeying whatever God’s word says to do for salvation from the bondage of sin. This involves repenting of sins (Luke 24:47), confession with the mouth unto salvation (Rom. 10:10), and being baptized to wash away sins (Acts 16:22; 1 Pet. 3:21).
When one hears and obeys God in these things he is made righteous by the blood of Christ. Being made righteous and being saved are one in the same “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10 KJV)
It is the righteous man that God has promised to hear and answer (James 5:16).