Pursue God and He Will Hear Your Prayers

There are a few preachers I like to listen to regularly, one being Matt Chandler. I was listening to a sermon of his this week and he was discussing prayer and whether we are heard by God. There are various verses in the bible discussing why God may or may not hear prayers of people. I thought Chandler's take on John 9:31 was worth posting:

Matt Chandler from "God Hears and Responds" (January 16, 2011):

I’m not saying that you have to be perfect for God to hear your prayers. Even Jesus, when He’s teaching the disciples to pray, says, “And forgive us our trespasses (or sins) as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus is acknowledging, “You’re going to fall short.” So you don’t have to be perfect;you just have to be pursuing. John 9:31 does a great job at this. “We know that God does not listen to sinners. . .” Is anyone in here a sinner? All of us. So the Bible just gave us really bad news. “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” So we know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, a pursuer of God, He hears him. So we’re not perfect; we’re just pursuing. And the Bible says, “In that place, God hears.” So I’m not saying you have to be perfect for God to hear your prayers. If that were the case, no one would be heard. But because of the cross and because of the grace of God,we are actually told in the Scriptures to boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence. We are to pray with confidence, pursue with confidence and chase with confidence.