Does Jehovah Answer Prayer Today?
Can you say with certainty that Jehovah has fulfilled some of your prayers? How do you know?
Most religious communities today have prayer rituals or prayer as an essential part of their worship. We have no verifiable possibility of verifying whether someone has actually been answered by their god in the present tense. Accounts of people who claim to have their prayers heard presuppose that we trust 100% their statements about what they have prayed for, and to some extent how they believe the prayer was fulfilled. Nor can we know for sure which events are the result of our own or others’ actions or coincidences.
The Bible has many examples of faithful servants of Jehovah where people’s prayers have been answered as well as examples of people not being answered. Is prayer the same today as it was in biblical times?
What Does the Bible Teach
Jesus said: “Keep on praying, and you will receive. Keep looking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7). When we pray to Jehovah today and things remain the same, it is natural to ask what this and similar statements mean for us today.
In 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 explains that certain miraculous abilities would cease. The Bible text mentions that prophesying, having a miraculous ability to speak foreign languages or miraculously acquired knowledge should cease. This means that prayer will not be able to give us miraculous abilities. Thus, Jehovah’s miraculous intervention by means of a prayer is an opportunity that has ceased —at least temporarily.
Miraculous abilities were exclusively linked to the Christian congregation that was established in the year 33 C.E., but which gradually disappeared around the 100s C.E. (2 Cor. Thessalonians 2:3). What characterized the Christian church was that it was founded by Jesus himself, directly under the miraculous direction of the Holy Spirit, led by the apostles, confirmed through miraculous signs, and that the followers showed true love for one another (Matthew 16:18, Acts 2:33,42, Hebrews 2:3,4, and John 13:35). No Christian denomination meets these criteria today.
After the apostasy that started before the 100s AD, the true Christian church has not been resurrected, regardless of what the various denominations themselves claim about themselves. There is no Bible text that says that Jehovah would maintain an organized, visible group of true Christians on earth throughout history until the 1000-year kingdom. On the contrary, Revelation 12:6,14 says that “the woman” would flee into the wilderness for an appointed time and be hidden without activity 1. The faithful were to sleep until Jesus returned (Matthew 25:5). The Christian churches were already considered “dead” in John’s time (Revelation 3:1, written around 95-96 C.E.). Throughout history, many religions have attempted to reform Christianity, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Pentecostals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. But all of them are based on traditions, interpretations and teachings that either contradict the Bible or lack support in it. Jesus said: “They worship me in vain, for the teachings they teach are commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9). Therefore, the use of the term “early Christians” is misleading, as there has only been one gathering of congregations of true Christians. These churches are discussed in Revelation chapter 3. No Christian denomination today is any longer directly inspired or given the power of holy spirit to perform miracles, as the apostles’ ability to write biblical texts or perform miracles ceased with the death of the apostles.
The purpose of establishing a Christian church at all was to preach about the salvation that Jesus had preached about (Hebrews 2:3,4). Miraculous abilities also proved that those who performed them were actually apostles (2 Corinthians 12:12). It would also lead some people to believe and change their way of life in harmony with Jehovah’s precepts (Acts 9:35; compare John 12:37). This purpose has already been fulfilled in that the evidence of these events has been documented both historically and through the verifiable texts of the Bible. Hence, there is no longer any need for Jehovah to perform miracles today.
A direct fulfillment of prayer to Jehovah requires that we accept that miracles occur in our day. If, on the other hand, we accept that miracles have ceased, we must also acknowledge that Jehovah no longer answers prayers directly. Jesus’ invitation to prayer was primarily addressed to the true Christian congregation living in the days of the apostles.
Jehovah has left mankind to himself. He no longer interferes with human free will, for it will interfere with the ongoing trial between Jehovah and Satan. The people are not passive listeners to this trial, but they are part of the trial. Eve was a human being and she agreed to Satan’s plan to make herself independent of God (1 Corinthians 1:1). (Genesis 3:4-7). It has been necessary for an extended period of time for Satan and humans to have the opportunity to prove the results of their independence from God. For humans to be truly independent of God, Jehovah must leave them to himself without interference with their free will.
This does not mean that Jehovah is indifferent to what is happening. In Noah’s day, Jehovah felt regret for having created humans when he saw how they behaved (1 Cor. (see Genesis 6:5,6). Jesus said that the end times would be like the days of Noah, and therefore we can assume that Jehovah attaches emotions to events in our day as well (Matthew 24:37-39). Although Jehovah does not answer prayers today, He does hear what the righteous pray for (Proverbs 15:29). Jehovah has also given us access to God’s Word, the Bible, precisely because he has chosen not to answer our prayers directly today. Yet, we cannot expect Jehovah to direct us to specific Bible texts to answer specific questions, for such special miraculous knowledge has ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). It is up to each individual to read the Bible and think for themselves. What matters today is not what you pray for but what you think (Hebrews 4:12, 1 Cor. (1 Samuel 16:7). The Bible is like a letter sent from Jehovah to mankind that we can read in Jehovah’s absence (Romans 15:4, 2 Corinthians 15:4). —2 Timothy 3:16). By having access to the Bible, we have access to Jehovah’s promises for the future in which Jehovah will again answer prayers.
Prayer today is an expression of faith and not an expectation of a concrete response (Hebrews 11:6).
- he topic of the woman in Revelation will soon be published here to be understood as the Kingdom of God. This includes both before and after Jesus’ birth, since the woman brings forth the Messiah (verse 5). She is not a physical woman, nation, or religious organization but a picture of God’s rule in heaven. Her flight to the wilderness shows that during this period God’s Kingdom is not visibly exercised on earth but temporarily hidden in anticipation of final restoration. ↩︎
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