Our prayers are heard

Today I saw a picture of millions of light rays extending down from God to everyone on earth - in the sense of over all time. Meanwhile our prayers are going up to Him as light. From my experience, non believers are often happy to accept the offer of prayer when they are in a seemingly negative situation out of their control but they are uncomfortable if I say I am praying for them in general. They feel that it is an indication of something specifically wrong in their life. The first time someone prayed out loud for me, as I was going through a tragedy in my life, on one hand I was very appreciative of their care but on the other hand I felt very awkward. This is all understandable. Praying is a very personal communication with God and until we experience it for ourselves we are uncomfortable at the thought of it. God hears and acts on all our prayers in line with His Word. God promises that His word "will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire" (Isaiah 55:11). God desires everyone to have a direct line of communication with Him. In the last book of the bible, Revelation, we read what God's Kingdom is like and where He wants us ultimately to be. "And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel" (Revelation 8:3-4). Let us trust that all our prayers are heard and being acted upon. We are saints in the sense that God sees us without sin, as His son Jesus has taken them. We just need to continue saying and believing that our prayers are being answered. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).