The Bible expressly states in John 9:31 that God does not listen to sinners but to godly persons who do his will. Listening to Dr Abel Damina few weeks ago got me a bit confused when he said God answers the prayer of all men even if the prayer is coming from the shrine. He quoted Psalms 65:2 which states, “You who answer prayer, to you ALL people will come” .

The two Bible passages above are kind of contradictory to me because the practical life experiences that I have seen want to make me agree with Dr Damina’s teaching. And to explain why I am somehow in agreement with him, I will share a true life story.

Over a decade ago, I met a reggae artist in a studio in Akure who fell in love with my techniques on guitar and in his way to get to know me better, he invited me to come and play in a bar he was running at that time. On getting to his bar in the evening, he quickly invited me to a round table of men and some ladies smoking and drinking alcohol on sighting me at the gate.

Of course, as a boy raised in a Christian home, I was a bit uncomfortable in that setting but I felt safe because I knew some of the people at the round table, only that I never knew they smoke and drink. Most distinguished out of the persons at that round table was a middle-aged man who I found very interesting because he sounded highly knowledgeable and well-schooled. I became very much drawn to his stories but one thing was obvious about him, he was not born again. I knew because he verbally confirmed that he wasn’t, that he stopped going to church a long time ago. Not just that, he smoked cigars throughout my stay with them and he came to the bar with a lady I can tell wasn’t his wife. He was typically someone we Yorubas will call “Baba Alaye”.

As he was in a very high spirit, he gave a shocking testimony that got me very confused even till now. A story that makes me want to ask if God truly does not answer the prayer of a sinner. What was the story? As we were talking about religion and how people were being brainwashed in churches, he emphasized that one does not need to go to church to know God and that one can build a relationship with God and get answers from Him without submitting to any pastor.

To further drive home his point, he said he had an asthmatic daughter and the whole family goes into total disarray whenever she gets her asthma attack. He said he spent a lot of money to get her a solution both medically and traditionally but her condition grew worse as her episodes became even more frequent. So one fateful night, his daughter got another attack and his wife and other members of the family were about to rush her to the hospital as usual. He said he became so fed up that night that he ordered that his daughter be handed to him.

According to him, he said he didn’t know whin came over him, he just carried his daughter to his room and locked the door. On getting inside the room, he laid his daughter on the floor while she was still struggling. Out of frustration, he said he told God, “God, you are the one that gave me this daughter, I didn’t beg for her. If you want her to die, then let her die now but if you don’t want her to die then heal her now” . That was all he said that surprisingly stabilized and healed his daughter from that very moment. True story!

Even nine months after that experience, he said he became afraid that he had to go and buy her daughter an inhaler in case she gets an attack while in school but his daughter told him that she won’t be needing an inhaler anymore because she knows she is healed.

Now to my question, does God only answer the prayer of a believer? Practically, do you truly believe that God does not answer the prayer of sinners? If yes, preach! If not, what are your experiences?

Written by Ifedayo Oyewumi