I'm a Christian and I often pray to God when I am facing hardships. The trouble is I don't know if he is listening to me. Once I prayed earnestly that he would help my Mum to control her anger but there was no outcome. Could it be that he didn't listen to me?

I almost never post on the religious boards BUT I'll tell you what my very "believing," faithful to the church Grandmother always said - "God always hears you. Sometimes he says no."

Now I'll leave it to the experts.

Thank God you are a Christian! Never give up or quit. Jesus is faithful.

I would suggest you work on the "when I am facing hardships" part. Go to the place where you can say, "I am a Christian and I often pray to God, know Him, love Him, and value Him above all things."

In the meantime, don't give up on your Mum. I often think of the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel and how he prayed six times for rain with no result. The seventh time he was told that there was a small cloud the size of a man's hand. That was all he needed to hear. He was a man of faith who understood the ways of God. So he stood up and told the King that he better hit the road because rain was coming. So persevere in prayer for her and thank God for every little advance you see.

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Originally Posted by alexandradrozdz

I'm a Christian and I often pray to God when I am facing hardships. The trouble is I don't know if he is listening to me. Once I prayed earnestly that he would help my Mum to control her anger but there was no outcome. Could it be that he didn't listen to me?

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While you can pray for others God will not overrule free will, so perhaps you should orient your prayers differently asking instead that God give your mother patience and wisdom. Give thanks to God every day for your mother. So let's just say God heard you but the answer in that instance was no.

So what I'm saying is you need to ensure your prayers are seeking his will and his word, pray for blessing, for healing, pray that you will be a blessing to others and have the insight to help them with their problems

The issue here is that your one comment, "I pray to God sometimes" you should be praying to God all the time, and most of the prayers should be thanking him.

God is not a version of Santa or a loving old grandfather. He is God, and he will always listen to your prayer but that does not mean he will magicly change it. ( not that he could not) but he may want us to do things to change the issues we are in. And at times, it is us and our inward spirit he will change, our ability to withstand the problems and so on.

Wonderful replies guys! All of these are spot on.

Alexandradrzdz-these are the answers you need to be hearing and listening to.

Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

I don't think you are praying wrong in what you asked for... but I think, as mentioned above, you are looking for the wrong type of answer and possibly misunderstanding how and why God works through prayer.