God hears your prayer. He delights when we come to him and ask him to help us. He wants to give us the things we need, not the things we think we need. Sometimes the answers we get to prayers aren’t what we want or expect or they take longer than we think they should. But, none of that is the absence of answers.

God hears every prayer no matter what method of praying you use: speaking, singing, or thinking. Even our actions can be a prayer to God.

God is waiting to hear from us. Psalm 34:15 reminds us, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.

He never sleeps and is always available to hear our prayer. We must humble ourselves and seek Him.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers of the people offered in this place. (II Chronicles 7:14-15)

In I Chronicles 5:20, we are told that God answered the prayers of the people because they trusted in Him.

Believing that God will answer our prayers, trusting in His ability to hear and answer is important.

The book of Psalms is full of David’s petitions to God and his thoughts on prayer.

In the sixth chapter he says, “the Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.”

Many places in the Bible site similar conditions for prayers to be heard: living well, trusting in God, being humble.

In other words, the prayers that are heard are those that come from a person who has a relationship with God, someone who believes that his or her prayers will be answered by a loving heavenly Father.

How do you develop a relationship with God? Just like you do with friends and coworkers.

By getting to know them, spending time with them, talking to them. So it is with God.

Spend time with Him and get to know Him and you won’t have to ask this question anymore. You’ll know without a doubt that He is there.

Protestants can name at-least four of the ten commandments compared to their Catholic counterparts, according to a poll conducted by Newsweek magazine.

According to this magazine, only 49 percent of all Protestants and 44 percent of all Catholics could name even four of the Ten Commandments.

In Exodus 20:2, God said, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

God had already redeemed His people and brought them out of slavery. And now that they were out there on their own, He was giving them the rules that would govern their lives.

Since the Garden of Eden, man has rebelled against God. To help free humanity from this propensity to sin and help each of us to lead our best lives, God handed down the Ten Commandments as a code of moral laws for us to live by.

The Ten Commandments — also called the Decalogue — represent God’s personal interest in bringing out the best in His children so that we may live life to the fullest (John 10:10).

The Commandments set God’s people apart, identify right from wrong, and uphold the ultimate importance of love for God and neighbor in promoting peace in this life and salvation after.

The First Commandment

“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3; Matthew 4:10; 1 Timothy 2:5). This instruction makes clear that God is the one true God and that we are to worship Him only.

In ancient times, this law steered people away from the many false gods worshipped by various cultures.

In modern times, this Commandment is a warning against elevating money or other worldly things to god-like status in our lives.

The Second Commandment

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4; 1 John 5:21; Acts 17:29). This is a prohibition against worshiping or bowing down to anything instead of God.

The Third Commandment

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:7; James 5:12; 1 Timothy 6:1). The proscription here is against using the name of God disrespectfully or in disregard of its holy nature. We are to speak and use God’s name only with the highest reverence.

The Fourth Commandment

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Scripture is clear that we’re to observe the Sabbath as God’s holy day of rest from work and as a day of “sacred assembly” (Exodus 20:8-10; Genesis 2:2; Leviticus 23:3).

This Commandment is not explicitly reiterated in the New Testament, but the Sabbath’s existence at the time of Jesus is referenced (Luke 4:16; 23:55-56).

Despite this, we know that the Christian faith is communal in nature, as evident in Jesus’ teaching us to pray to “our Father,” and not individually to “my” Father, and at Jesus’ assertion that where two or three gather in His name, there is He with them ((Matthew 6:9; Matthew 18:20).

The Fifth Commandment “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2-3; Luke 18:20).

This Commandment tells believers to respect and obey their father and mother. In return, the Commandment promises that if children respect their parents, the children will enjoy a long, successful life.

The Sixth Commandment “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13; 1 John 3:15; Romans 13:9). The word “murder” is operative here, as the Commandment forbids the taking of another’s life unlawfully. Scripture makes a distinction between murder and killing as seen in Paul’s discussion on the right of the government to kill evildoers (Romans 13:1-4).

The Seventh Commandment “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 13:9).

Starting with Adam and Eve, the Bible teaches that once a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24) joined together before God (Mark 10:7-9). Committing adultery adds a third person to the marriage and, thereby, violates the sanctity of the holy union.

The Eighth Commandment

“You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15; Ephesians 4:28; Romans 13:9). This is a prohibition against taking something that isn’t rightfully yours.

The purpose behind this Commandment is not so much to protect our possessions but to safeguard the stability of our society. When theft goes unpunished, people become fearful and resort to potentially violent means to secure and retrieve what belongs to them.

The Ninth Commandment “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16; Colossians 3:9-10; Revelation 21:8). To give false testimony against a neighbor is to knowingly lie about that person in a way that will cause him or her harm, such as in a legal proceeding. The importance of truthful testimony is seen in our modern judicial system, which punishes as perjury false testimony in a legal matter.

The Tenth Commandment “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17; Colossians 3:5; Romans 13:9). This Commandment calls for us to control any longing we may have for the belongings of others. This can include a desire for a neighbor’s physical possessions or a longing for people that form part of our neighbor’s life.

In other words, we are not to desire or set our sights on anything that rightfully belongs to someone else.

This particular Commandment stands out because it deals with taking control of our inappropriate feelings.

As Jesus sagely pointed out, sin often originates with a covetous feeling that can lead a person to break one of the other Commandments, such as that against murder, adultery, or theft (Matthew 5:28; Luke 6:45).

Reports from neighbouring Uganda  have it that the House of Bishops has upheld the suspension of former Archbishop Stanley Ntagali from all priestly duties over his marital indiscretions.

Former Archbishop Stanley Ntagali was caught pants down feasting on a married woman contrary to rules of the church.

According to a letter dated Wednesday, January 13, authored by the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Reverend Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu notes that his predecessor betrayed the Office of Archbishop, his ordination vows, and the moral commitments he championed.

He stated Ntagali would not be allowed to perform duties such as preaching, offering sacraments or represent the Church of Uganda in any way until further notice.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my predecessor, retired Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, has been involved in an extra-marital affair with a married woman, which he has acknowledged. This adultery is a grievous betrayal on many levels. Retired Archbishop Ntagali has betrayed his Lord and Saviour, his wife and their marriage vows, as well as the faith of many Ugandans and global Christians who looked to him to live the faith he proclaimed.”

Mugalu argued none of its members was “clean” but noted church leaders who went astray must be punished as they were expected to uphold high moral standards.

The Archbishop says that Church of Uganda continues to uphold marriage as a lifelong, exclusive union between one man and one woman and that adultery is as immoral as homosexuality and that they will not shy away from their commitment to this moral standard.

Kaziimba further warns that if there are any church structures that have enabled such behaviour to be covered up, they are committed to identifying them and repenting of systems that protect abusers and harm victims.

“No one is above God’s law. We call on all who have fallen short of this standard to go before the Lord in prayer and confess your sin, repent of your ways, and make restitution to those you have hurt,” Kaziimba advises.

Ntagali, 65, served as 8th Archbishop of the Church of Uganda and handed over the office to Kaziimba on March 1, 2020 after clocking the retirement age. While serving as Archbishop, Ntagali was also the Bishop of Kampala and earlier served as Bishop of Masindi-Kitara Diocese from 2004 to 2012.