God doesn't listen to your prayers if not in state of Grace?

[WordisLove]

This except below was taken from the website: God.com. It appears to be a protestant website…I thought I understood the Catholic perspective on this but would love to hear others takes on this passage and how it joves with Catholic understanding. Thanks

I am going through countless problems in my life. It seems to be one thing after the other. I pray every day that God will help me, but He doesn’t seem to listen or do anything. Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?​

Sometimes when you pick up the telephone receiver to call someone, you find the line is dead. If you ignore this and just talk into the telephone anyway, will the person at the other end hear you and respond?

In the Bible it says,

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2).

It is not that God cannot hear your prayers or that He does not want to listen; the problem lies in the individual: “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you.”

It is important to understand that unless the barrier of sin between man and God is fundamentally broken down, a person’s prayers are of no avail. If the sins of an individual are blocking the way, even though he may pray, his prayers are not appropriate before God, and God does not hear them.

It is no use just crying out to God when things go wrong in your life and forgetting about Him the rest of the time. A relationship between you and God must be established and then your prayers will flow as naturally as breathing, and God will hear and answer them.

To establish that relationship, you must first believe without any doubt that God exists. Then through the Bible, you will be able to see what kind of person you are before Him, as your sin is revealed to you through the mirror of His word. The next step is to allow God to solve the problem of your sin for you. When the problem of your sin has been solved once and for all, you will find that the conversation between you and God will be able to flow freely.

In John chapter 9 verse 31 it says, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.”

It says very clearly here that God does not hear sinners. There is, however, one prayer that God will listen and respond to, even if you are still struggling with the problem of your sin. If you are sincerely looking for God and cry out to Him deep down in your heart, you can be sure that He will guide you to the place where you can find Him.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15)

If you have not found a definite answer to the problem of your sins, please read the books listed on this website, looking up the references in your own Bible. Before you can talk to God, you need to listen carefully to what God is saying to you. Then you will know how to respond to Him.

 

[Alexius]

This except below was taken from the website: God.com. It appears to be a protestant website…I thought I understood the Catholic perspective on this but would love to hear others takes on this passage and how it joves with Catholic understanding. Thanks

Sounds like monergism to me…Man can’t respond to God, only God can allow man to do so when He chooses, rather than God enabling all to respond to Him…

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius

 

[dessert]

There is an entire section in the CCC on Christian praayer
It spans2558—2758
We pray as we live because we live as we pray.
The prayer of the hour of Jesus, the Our Father, pray everyday.
If you are not in a state of grace you better start praying pronto.
D.

 

[Milliardo]

It is important to understand that unless the barrier of sin between man and God is fundamentally broken down, a person’s prayers are of no avail

If we take this very seriously, then it should mean that a person who is in sin, and asks for forgiveness, will not be heard, since he is in a state of sin. It creates then a sense of hopelessness, since the premise of this is that only one who is in a state of grace will be heard. But God hears the prayers of all, sinner or not. I’ve seen many who we might call as sinners have their prayers answered, and I’ve seen many who are strong in their faith have their prayers go unanswered. Eventually, God hears us and gives us not only the time when He will answer our prayer, but what is really best for us. The answer we get might not be the answer we expect, and hence we think that our prayers aren’t answered because we didn’t expect the outcome to be that way. In short, then, God does hear and answer our prayers, whether we are in sin or not. The only thing is that it is His prerogative how and when He will answer it.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

It would appear to me that the good thief was not in a state of grace when he made his declaration, but Jesus heard him and put him in a state of grace.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

I cor 11 tells us to examine ourselves before taking the Lord’s supper. Jesus taught us to make things right before offering a sacrifice on the alter. So, to some degree it is true, God does not listen to those who knowily have unresolved sin in their life.

Matthew 5:23-24

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

I John 1:8-10