1 John 1:9

Dear First name / friend,

 

This week’s podcast episode dives into a multifaceted question: If the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective, does God still hear my prayer when I sin? Adjacent to this question are similar questions like Does God hear the prayers of unbelievers? and Do more prayers equal more power?

 

I am diving into all of these questions on this week’s podcast episode (coming Thursday), but in today’s email we will talk about what righteousness is and how God responds to our prayers.  

 

Righteousness is “integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting”—it is not an emotion, and it is not something we maintain by our own works and good deeds. Philippians 3:9 tells us “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” In this verse Paul makes it clear that our righteousness is from Christ Himself. All saints of God—from the Old Testament to the New—are saved by faith. Abraham believed God, and this was the basis of his righteousness. We believe in God, and this is the basis of ours. This righteousness is the confidence we have when approaching God. We can come to Him with any request, fully confident that our prayers are heard because we are unified with Christ.  

 

 

I argue that the very first prayer God ever hears is that of an unbeliever becoming a believer! No one would be saved if God never heard the prayer of a sinful heart turning toward Him. Luke 18:9–14 talks about this at length. (I will deep dive this on the podcast.) God hears prayers of humility. One example of this is Martin Luther, the lawyer turned Benedictine monk. While still a lawyer, Martin cried out to God during a terrible lightning storm, begging for his life to be spared. Up to that point Martin was not a believer. This prayer was a turning point in Martin’s life, leading him to become a monk and eventually, leading to the Scriptures themselves and his full understanding of them.  

 

For more on this topic, tune into the podcast on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to Verity in our prayer series.  

Last week in Bible in a Year Club, we opened Leviticus—and if you’re feeling the shift in pace, you’re not alone. It’s often the place where good intentions stall out. The laws feel repetitive, the sacrifices feel distant, and we’re tempted to skim. But Leviticus is showing us something essential about God’s holiness, the seriousness of sin, and the beauty of atonement—themes that find their fulfillment in Christ. 

 

If you’re struggling to stay engaged, I wrote a guide to help you read it well.

 

And if you’re ready to go deeper, our verse-by-verse study through Leviticus—along with our full line of in-depth Bible studies—is available in the Every Woman a Theologian Shop!