In the first part of this series, we showed from the Bible that God can and does indeed listen to many prayers at the same time, and we showed how this is possible. We explained that God consists of two Persons, the Father and the Son, who are both Spirit Beings, having [spiritual] form and shape; and therefore, God cannot be, as a Person, at different places at the same time. Still, the Bible teaches that God is omnipresent, and we showed that this is true because of the Holy Spirit, emanating from both the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is NOT a Person with form and shape. It can be compared with water or electricity or wind, emanating from a source—God Himself. It is through the Holy Spirit dwelling in each converted Christian that  God is omnipresent and that He can listen to multiple prayers at the same time.

If this concept is still too difficult for the human mind to grasp, please consider that God does not listen to billions of prayers at the same time.

We wrote the following in our Q&A, titled, “Does God hear everyone’s prayers?”:

“The astounding truth of the Bible is that generally, He does not hear, nor does He answer the prayers of just anyone. In fact, at this time and throughout human history, only a small proportion of people have had the kind of relationship with God in which their prayers would be heard by Him!… God hears the prayers of those who have access to Him through Jesus Christ!… Jesus taught that not everyone praying was being heard by God! However, for those who have been called and who have established a relationship with God, prayer is the vital communication with God to obtain His guidance—His oversight in our lives!…

“The New Testament emphatically teaches that Satan is the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4). The whole world has been deceived by him (Revelation 12:9), and those who are deceived may be even praying to Satan, without knowing it—not to God the Father! Jesus Christ is not serving as their High Priest, nor does God generally hear their prayers…

“God is not now trying to save this world! Rather, He has called some to be a kind of ‘firstfruits’ of His salvation (compare James 1:18)—identified as His ‘elect’ (compare Matthew 24:22, 24, 31). God hears the prayers of His ‘saints’ (compare Revelation 8:3) because of what Jesus Christ accomplished in becoming our Savior.

“The elect have been chosen for salvation at this time, and they have the opportunity for God to hear their prayers. They are those who seek God with a true humility to be obedient to Him. They have gained access to God…

“Consider, also, that God is willing to respond to those who truly turn to Him: ‘But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word’ (Isaiah 66:2).

“Sadly, this does not describe the people of our age—not even the countless millions who profess to be followers of Christ!”

This reduces the number of people who pray to God at the same time and are heard by Him quite drastically to perhaps a few thousand … in any event much less than a million, not to speak of 7.8 billion.

In an additional Q&A, we explained what the Bible means with the statement that God does not hear the prayers of sinners. We wrote:

“In John 9, Christ healed a man on the Sabbath who had been born blind. The Pharisees and the Jews accused Christ of breaking the Sabbath and concluded that He was not from God (verse 16) and a ‘sinner’ (verse 24, in Greek, ‘hamartolos’). In response, the healed man said: ‘Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing’ (verses 31, 33)…

“The Pharisees had made terrible accusations against Jesus. They had accused Him of casting out demons with the help of Beelzebub, the ‘ruler of the demons’—another designation for Satan (Matthew 12:24). Some even claimed that He was possessed by Satan (Mark 3:22). Christ warned them in that context that they were in danger of committing the unpardonable sin, which cannot be forgiven, for they were blaspheming God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in Christ (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-30)… The implication is that Jesus, when He was called a ‘sinner,’ was accused of being a ‘pervert’ and a ‘bastard,’ born of fornication (John 8:41), influenced and possessed by Satan the devil and his demons (John 7:20; 8:48, 52; 10:20). The man who was healed of his blindness responded that Jesus could not have been guilty of such accusations, because if He was such a ‘sinner,’ God would not have heard Him and used Him to heal his eyes.

“The Bible does not teach that God does not hear us when we slip and fall occasionally, committing a sin because of weakness or neglect. All of us sin occasionally (1 John 1:8). We are told that if we sin, we can repent of and confess our sin to God, and ask God for forgiveness, and ‘He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). This shows that God WILL HEAR us when we pray to Him, even though we have sinned.

“However, Isaiah 59:2-3 tells us that God does not hear us when we live in iniquity and when we are unwilling to repent of it… God says in Isaiah 1:15: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.’

“God clearly states in Micah 3:4: ‘Then they will cry to the LORD, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds.’… David understood that if he ‘had cherished iniquity in [his] heart, the Lord would not have listened’ to his prayers (Psalm 66:18, Revised Standard Version).

“God told Jeremiah that He would not hear those who rebelled against God and who continued to live in rebellion… (Jeremiah 14:11-12)… God will NOT LISTEN to prayers of people who REFUSE to hear His law (Zechariah 7:11-13).

“… if we continue to openly rebel against God; refuse to listen to Him and His Word; refuse to repent of our sins; refuse to keep His law and to be obedient to Him; then God will not listen to our prayers. If we want to remain ‘sinners,’ even though we have been taught the truth—if we choose to continue to follow the dictates and devices of our own evil heart—then we cannot expect to be heard on high.”

This reduces the number of people even more whom God is hearing and listening to at the same time. Even when a person is called to salvation and responds to the call, he or she will not be heard if they depart from the Truth. On the other hand, God may hear the prayers of people who show genuine remorse for their deeds, even though they might not be called to salvation in this day and age. We state in the above-mentioned Q&A on the prayers of sinners:

“God… listened to the prayer of the Ninevites and spared their city (Jonah 3:5-10). Jesus confirmed later that their ‘repentance’ was sufficient for God to relent from the disaster that He had intended to bring upon them (Matthew 12:41)…

“Christ listened to the prayer of a Gentile woman and healed her young daughter, by casting out a demon, when He saw her faith (Mark 7:25-30). In that case, we don’t even know whether she was conscious of, and whether she had repented of her sins, but God honored her faith in Him. God says that until He calls someone to repentance, He overlooks the time of ignorance (Acts 17:30), but even then, He desires that people ‘seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us’ (Acts 17:27).

“Someone who is looking to God and who is trying to do what is right, as much as he or she understands it, might very well be heard by God. Christ healed many people who had faith in Him, even though they did not understand many things about God and His Way of Life. But once God calls us to salvation, He expects of us to respond to His call, repent, get to know Him and His Way better, and to obey Him. We have to forsake the ways of this world and choose to live God’s Way of Life…”

This would especially include those children who are growing up in the Truth with at least one converted parent. We state the following in a Q&A, titled, “Does God hear the prayers of sinners?”:

“Little children are basically unaware of what sin is. But they may have a humble and teachable heart. When they pray to God, He might answer their prayers.  Let us realize what Christ said about little children, in Matthew 18:3-4:  ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’

“Little children don’t have an agenda. They are quick to forgive. They are open to teaching. Many times, God may respond to their prayers,  if they ‘believe’ in God in their limited way, since Christians must become ‘like’ them to be able to enter God’s Kingdom.”

Still, as we can see from the foregoing, the number of prayers which God would hear and listen to at the same time is considerably less than millions or even billions of prayers. We continue in the above-mentioned Q&A on sinners:

“… if we want God to answer our prayers and grant us the petitions of our hearts, we need to obey Him. After all, there is a strong connection between obedience and answered prayers, as we read in 1 John 3:22: ‘And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.’”

It is true, of course, that God watches all of mankind to see whether someone seeks Him (Psalm 11:4; 14:2-3). But He knows that in general, the overwhelming majority do not seek Him in this day and age, and so He does not listen to their prayers either, which for the most part are not even directed towards Him anyway.

There are many Scriptures which, according to some, seem to suggest otherwise; that is, that God hears the prayers of everybody at the same time, as He allegedly searches the hearts of everybody every second. But this is not what the Bible teaches. In our previous Q&A in this series, we quoted several passages to show that God searched David’s heart and that He knows and tests the hearts of man. But this does not necessarily mean that God does so every second of each person’s consciousness. It is most certainly true for those whom God has called for salvation and to whom He has given His Holy Spirit, or with whom His Spirit works, leading them to conversion (Acts 15:8; Romans 8:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 2:23).

But as mentioned, this only applies to a very few today. The Bible does not mean to tell us that God needs to listen to the prayers of billions of people at the same time to determine their thoughts and hearts. After all, they are not judged today; their judgment will still come. Nobody can come to Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:65; 6:44). God knows that all others are under the rule of Satan and that they, generally speaking, are fulfilling the will of their father, the Devil (John 8:44).

Even though God is most certainly capable of listening to billions of people at the very same time, the Bible does not teach us that He does; nor, that He has to do this. In addition, another astonishing aspect is revealed in the context of this question, which we will discuss in the next installment.

(To be Continued)

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

This question has perplexed many people, and the attempts of theologians and other religious “experts” to answer it are even more perplexing and confusing. Here are some samples, taken from the Internet:

“I see God as Ultimate Consciousness: an eternal, all-knowing, pure-loving reality that birthed and continues to sustain the universe… And so, our prayers… are already in God. They are part of the fabric of this awesome universe…”

“God is timeless… A being as big as the universe would experience all time in history at the same moment.”

“God is in us, and we are in God. That mutual indwelling means that our prayers are not even our prayers: They are God’s, and God is praying within us… there is no gap between the prayer and the hearing of that prayer.”

“Almost certainly God is not in Time… If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to them all in that one little snippet which we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty—and every other moment from the beginning of the world—is always the Present for Him.”

If we hear such confusing and completely inaccurate “explanations” of so-called religious “authorities,” then there is no wonder that people following such “guidance” are left without understanding. In addition, most theologians have a completely false concept of God Himself, only adding to their confusion.

We might want to point out that a true Christian knows, based on the clear evidence of Scripture, that God can and does listen to multiple prayers at the same time. The “mocking” question as to how can God do this is asked by those who doubt God’s existence and who are using their faulty human reasoning in an attempt to convince themselves and others that God does not really exist, so that they are “free” to live in sin and do whatever they want to do.

To begin answering the question of this Q&A correctly, let us realize that God is “omnipresent,” but what does this mean, exactly?

We state the following in our Q&A, titled, “Is God really omnipresent, that is, everywhere at all times?”:

“The question of God’s omnipresence has puzzled men for centuries and millennia, and diverse and sometimes incredible answers have been proposed. One common idea in Orthodox Christianity is that God, as a Spirit being, is everywhere, as allegedly, Spirit has no form or shape—no limitations—no ‘parts.’ God is understood to be… a formless or shapeless ‘blob’—permeating everything.

“This idea is clearly unbiblical. God HAS form and shape. God said that Moses saw the glorified ‘form’ of the LORD (compare Numbers 12:8). God, when creating man, said that man was to be made in accordance with the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27; 9:6). God is described as having a head, arms, a body, feet, eyes and hair, among other aspects. Man is made in the physical form of God—he is a physical reflection, if you please, of the Spirit Beings, God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. Please also note that Christ is described as the [Spirit] image of God the Father (2 Corinthians 4:4). He looks like God the Father; that is why He could say, even when He was here on earth in human form; ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9). In that same way—on a physical level—man is made in the image of God.

“Given the fact that God has form and shape, He IS therefore at one given moment in only one place at one specific time. This means, when He is sitting on His throne in heaven, He is therefore not at that very same moment on earth, or on planet Mars, or in another galaxy billions of light-years away. This is why we read that God came down from heaven to walk on earth; that Jesus Christ, after His resurrection to a Spirit Being, ascended to heaven; that He was brought before God the Father in heaven to receive kingship and power; and that He will return to this earth, in power and glory, to rule all nations. Of course, we must also understand that God CAN ‘travel’ from one place to another within a ‘split second.’ But… when God is at a certain place, at that very same moment, He cannot be—as a Person—at a different place at the same time.

“And still, it IS correct that God IS omnipresent—that is, that He is everywhere at all times, and NOTHING escapes His attention or is hidden from His eyes (Matthew 6:18).

“Let us understand how this is possible. David… writes in Psalm 139:1-2: ‘LORD, You have searched me and known me, You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought AFAR OFF.’ David knew that God could be ‘afar off,’ and still understand all of his thoughts… Continuing in verses 3-6: ‘You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before. And laid your hand upon me [i.e., He has given him protection and security]. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.’”

To interject and elaborate, we wrote the following in our Q&A, “Does Satan Know Our Thoughts, and Can He Read Our Minds?”:

“Psalm 139:4 [states:] ‘For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.’ Most translations render this verse in this way: ‘Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD’ (NIV, compare RSV and Living Bible). [This translation reminds us of what Christ tells us in Matthew 6:8: ‘For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.’]…

“1 Samuel 16:7 says that while a man may look at the outward appearance, the LORD looks at the heart. In 1 Kings 8:39 King Solomon says to God: ‘You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men.’ Psalm 44:21 adds: ‘Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.’ Isaiah 66:18 quotes God as saying, ‘I know their works and their thoughts.’ And Job says this to God in Job 42:2: ‘I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee’ (Authorized Version)…

“We also find that Jesus, as a resurrected God being, has the ability to discern and know the thoughts of people (Luke 24:38; Hebrews 4:12-13; Revelation 2:23).

“[The New Testament] also makes it very clear that God the Father knows our thoughts (Luke 16:15; compare 1 Corinthians 3:20). In Acts 1:24, the disciples prayed to the Father to reveal to them who should take the place of Judas Iscariot: ‘You, O LORD, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen.’ In Acts 15:8, Peter said that God ‘who knows the heart,’ accepted Gentiles into the Church by giving them the Holy Spirit…

“God will at the proper time make manifest and reveal the innermost thoughts and counsels or motives of our hearts (1 Corinthians 4:5; Luke 2:35). While our hearts might condemn us because of wrongly understood guilt complexes, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things (1 John 3:20). At the same time, we can deceive our hearts, but not God (James 1:26).”

In addition, we are told that God knows the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30). Psalms 147:4-5 informs us that God’s understanding is infinite.

This Scriptural evidence provides us with part of the answer to our question in this Q&A; that is, that God DID know and hear every word which David and others spoke, and that He saw EVERYTHING that they did at the very moment in time when they did it. God is not a respecter of person—whatever God revealed about and said to David would apply to all of God’s people as well; that is, God sees everything that we do today, when we do it, and He hears every word [in our prayers] which we say, when we say it. When, let’s say, hundreds of Christians speak to Him at the same time, God hears every single one of them AT THAT SAME TIME.

But how is this possible, given the fact that God, as a Person, cannot be, for example, at different places at the same time?

Continuing with quoting from the above-mentioned Q&A on God’s omnipresence:

“David did not conclude that God’s miraculous omnipresence was due to God being everywhere like a form- and shapeless blob; he knew better than that. And so, he continues to explain HOW God is omnipresent, beginning with verse 7: ‘Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?’

“Here is the answer! God the Father and Jesus Christ are both Spirit beings. They both have form and shape, composed of Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is NOT a being—rather, it is the power emanating from God (compare Micah 3:8; Luke 4:14). It is through the POWER of God’s Holy Spirit that things are created. And God’s Holy Spirit does not have form and shape—God’s Holy Spirit does not exist in a bodily form… God’s Holy Spirit is everywhere… God, a Spirit being, who has form and shape, is everywhere [and present] through His Spirit. And so, David continues to meditate on this fact, as follows, in verses 8-12:

“‘If I ascend into heaven, You are there [through the Spirit of God]; If I make my bed in hell [Hebrew sheol, the grave], behold, you are there [through God’s Spirit]. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there your hand shall lead me [through God’s Holy Spirit], And your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light upon me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You’…

“God’s Spirit can be compared with breath or wind… God’s Holy Spirit emanates from God… and through the Holy Spirit, God is and can be everywhere at all times.”

Thinking of breath, it emanates from a source, such as an animal or a human being or God. In the case of God, He is the source of His breath (or spirit). We read that God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul. This passage can refer to real breath, or the spirit in man through which God, through His Holy Spirit, gave life to Adam, or both.

One could also compare the Holy Spirit with electricity, emanating from a source, such as a generator or a power plant. When we touch an electricity-charged wire, we realize that there has to be a source of the electricity. Individual electrons travel through the wire “slowly” and have to work their way through a multitude of atoms in the wire. The electricity speed is equated to the speed of light.

Another analogy would be the miracle of broadcasting. TV or radio programs are being broadcast all over the world, but each one has a source… a TV or radio station from which the broadcast goes out.

The Bible compares God’s Spirit also with living, flowing water. A stream or a river of water has a source from which it emanates, the “fountain of water.” God is that source. Revelation 21:6 says: “And He said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of water of life freely to him who thirsts.”

We say in our booklet, Is God a Trinity?:

“[In] John 4:10, 14, [God’s] Spirit is compared with water. Jesus tells the woman at the well: ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water… whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’

“… the Bible makes it very clear that Christ… [compared the Holy Spirit] with living water to be poured out. We read in John 7:37-39, in the Authorized Version: ‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive…’

“Christ compares the Holy Spirit with living WATER. We read earlier that God pours out of His Holy Spirit [in Acts 2:17]—again the same analogy of water being poured out on or into people is being used.”

This is referring to the fountain of water, God, who is willing to give us of His Spirit. Please note Isaiah 58:10-12, addressing the future of those who did receive God’s Holy Spirit prior to Christ’s Second Coming: “You shall be like a spring of water whose waters do not fail” (or: “never run dry,” New Jerusalem Bible).

We need to realize that God lives in converted Christians through His Holy Spirit. This is HOW God can dwell in thousands of Christians all at the same time (John 14:23)—through His Spirit (compare Romans 8:9-11, 14-15; Galatians 4:6). And when He dwells in thousands of Christians through His Spirit, He can also see, acknowledge, hear and read the minds of those Christians through His Spirit—all at the same time. Even though Christ appeared to Adam and Eve or Abraham or Moses at a particular moment in time, in a physical manifestation, through His Spirit, He was still everywhere at that same time.

(To be continued)

Lead Writer: Norbert Link