Friend, are you struggling to believe that your prayers even matter at all? When evil seems to run rampant in our nation every day — and that’s saying nothing of your personal struggles — do you wonder if you are making any difference?

If so, you should know today that God says your prayers matter a lot.

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Let’s look at a few scriptures that will encourage you today about this!

First, your prayers are so important to God that He actually keeps them, storing them in bowls in Heaven:

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8 NKJV).

Did you catch that? The golden bowls full of incense are the prayers of the saints. The prayers of the saints are actually incense to our Father; they smell good in His nostrils, and He cherishes your prayers enough to keep them.

This is reiterated in Revelation:

Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne (Revelation 8:3 NKJV).

Here we see again that the prayers of the saints have been kept and are being offered to God upon His altar. That means your prayers of all kinds:

• prayers for your children;
• prayers for your finances;
• prayers for your own encouragement when times are tough;
• prayers for our nation;
• prayers for your church and your pastor;
• prayers for the salvation of the lost, and every other kind of prayer.

Your prayers are a sweet offering and a fragrance to God.

We haven’t even talked yet about whether or not God answers prayers — which, of course, He does.

But sometimes, a person can become discouraged when He takes His own time to answer. So, let’s also look at this powerful verse in the Psalms:

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard (Psalm 22:24 NKJV).

Friend, are you afflicted today? If so, this verse is just for you.

God wants you to know today that He has not despised nor abhorred your affliction.

Your pain is not beneath His notice, and He doesn’t look down on you for your need. He is near to the brokenhearted! And friend, He has not hidden His face from you at all.

I know it can be frustrating when God doesn’t do things the way we want Him to. It can be frustrating when we feel like we need His answers now, but He doesn’t provide them on our own timetable. It can be even more frustrating when you know you are standing on His Word, and you’ve met the conditions for His promises to be fulfilled in your life — but still you wait.

Nevertheless, beloved, He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. And He has not hidden His face from you.

When you cried to Him, He heard.

He heard you.

That prayer you prayed yesterday, or this morning, or the prayer you’ve been praying for two weeks or two months or twenty years? He has heard you. He heard you every time. And He will answer.

Jeremiah says: ” ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know’ ” (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV).

Friend, when you call, God will answer. It might take weeks or months or years. On the other hand, He could answer in seconds. After all, Isaiah says: “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24 NKJV).

God’s timing is His own, and we have to rest in Him and trust Him in that. He is perfect, and everything He does is perfect — even when He allows things we don’t understand, and even when He doesn’t keep to our preferred timetable.

But God DOES hear you. He IS answering you. When you cried to Him, He heard.

And I pray that you will find comfort in that today.

There is a comfort in knowing that God hears your prayers. As long as you do not regard iniquity in your heart (see Psalm 66:18), He has heard every prayer you have breathed, shouted, or thought. His ear is attuned to your voice. And He will answer.

His timing may not be your own. But your prayers are being heard by the God of heaven, and our loving Father is perfecting all things that concern you today.

Do these powerful Scriptures encourage you today? What other Scriptures reassure you that our Father is hearing and answering your prayers? Leave your favorite encouraging verses below!

Jamie Rohrbaugh is the founder and CEO of From His Presence. She is the author of Getting to Know the Sevenfold Holy Spirit, and she seeks to equip you to carry His manifest glory everywhere you go. Her resources have been published by YouVersion Bible Plans and in Charisma magazine, as well as on The Elijah List, Spirit Fuel, and various other ministry outlets. You can find free mentoring on her podcast, Take Your Territory with Jamie Rohrbaugh, which is available through your favorite podcast streaming app. Download her free prayer tool, Praying the Names of God: 555 Biblical Names of God and How to Use Them in Prayer and Worship, here. Photo Credit: Intercessors for America.