Jesus would often go to a lonely place to speak with his Father. A place where he could share his heart to him and hear his Father’s love for him.
Paul teaches we should pray without ceasing.
1Thessalonians 5:16 Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do you pray without ceasing and how effective are your prayers?
When Daniel prayed it was so effective that God would send an angelic messenger to answer him.
Daniel 9: 17"Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name." 20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill- 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.

What made God hear Daniel’s prayers was because God highly esteemed Daniel. God wanted to hear Daniel and he would answer him even before he began to pray. God would also answer Daniel because he loved his heart for him.

Daniel 10: 10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words Iam about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." Andwhen he said this to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come."

God had great respect for Daniel because Daniel set his mind to gain understanding and humbled himself before God this made God want to hear and answer him and would not let anything stop his message from getting to Daniel.

In Ezekiel we find that God also highly esteem Noah and Job because of their righteousness.

Ezekiel 14: 13 "Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, 14 even if these three men-Noah, Daniel and Job-were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD .

Reading the Bible about these men we learn about their righteousness towards God. They obeyed God’s will for them, they never forsake or abandon God when their life was threaten or were in a dire situation and they always humbled themselves before God. Their righteousness made God hear and answer their prayers.

Do we need to have the same righteousness as Noah, Daniel or Job for God to hear and answer our prayers? If he did there would not be to many people that God would hear and answer prayers.

Through Jesus, God does not hear prayers through the righteousness of people he hears prayers through the righteousness of his Son.

Hebrews 10: 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us
through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over
the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Our righteousness in found in the blood of Jesus that covers our sins forever giving us faith that is assured that by Jesus’ blood we are made holy in the sight of his Father. It is Jesus’ righteousness that makes it possible for God to hear our prayers.

Jesus’s righteousness frees us from the burden of trying to have the same righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job so that God hears and answers our prayers.
Paul teaches that we know God is for us when he sent his Son to give his life to save us and to graciously give us all things.

Romans 8: 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

When we believe in Jesus’ redemption and his resurrection, Jesus justifies us before his Father not to be condemned to death but receive eternal life. Jesus sits at the righthand of God and intercedes with his righteousness and makes it possible for God to hear our prayers.

We may not need the same righteousness as Daniel for God to hear and answer our prayers, but our prayers must be righteous to God’s will for him to give us what we prayed for.

1 John 5: 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask
anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us--
whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

What made Noah, Daniel, and Job’s righteousness highly esteemed by God was their undying love for him and this is the same love God wants us to have for him by loving his Son which gives us his righteousness which far outshines that of Noah, Daniel and Job. And to love God is to obey the teaching of Jesus and to disobey him is sin which will hamper our prayers.

James 5: 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

To pray without ceasing is listening to the Holy Spirit as he speaks to you God’s word so that you can capture every thought and make it obedient to Jesus so his righteousness shines in you and makes your prayers powerful and effective.

Be safe in Jesus, Ps. Glenn