He’s All Ears

God Hears, So Why Not Ask

PREVIEW: What would you do if you worshipped a god who never heard your prayers? Or if you believed in no god at all? How sad, scary, and frustrating that would be! And yet billions of people on this planet live that way. But we have a God who hears us when we pray! How blessed are we that God has chosen us as his people, has given us the awesome privilege to come into his courts, and has invited us to pour out our hearts to him. And he hears us! But if we don’t take advantage of that privilege, as Phillips Brooks said, “it is an infinitely foolish thing.”

2024-01-15 He's All Ears

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 65:2-4

You, God, answer prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

What would you do if you worshipped a god who never heard your prayers? Or if you believed in no god at all? How sad, scary, and frustrating that would be! And yet billions of people on this planet live that way.

Over the years, it has been my privilege to travel to many places and engage in missionary work, and one of the sobering things I witness wherever I go is a profound sadness and emptiness in the souls of people who don’t know our God.

In the former Soviet Union, I’ve talked with people who had been indoctrinated their entire lives with the communist propaganda that God didn’t exist. That Soviet system promised the Russian people everything, but in the end, it not only didn’t deliver, but it also robbed their souls of the joy, peace, and hope that comes only from being connected to the Creator. What I saw in their eyes was a bleak reminder of what happens to the human spirit when you take God out of the picture.

Russia isn’t the only place where that happens. I’ve witnessed desperate Hindus in Sri Lanka making sacrifices of food to their gods while their emaciated children played in a sewage-infested stream nearby. I’ve seen devout Catholics in Central America pouring out their hearts to icons and animists in Africa worshipping snakes, but none of them walked away from their respective religious rites with any sense that their prayers had been heard. And every day here in America, people worship their stuff, yet they crave more since, in reality, they are giving their worship to a god that cannot hear.

But we have a God who hears us when we pray! And like the psalmist said, how blessed we are that God has chosen us as his people, given us the awesome privilege to come into his courts, and invited us to pour out our hearts to him. And he hears us!

He hears our pleas for forgiveness—and answers: “When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.” (Psalm 65:3)

He hears our prayers for provision—and answers: “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.” (Psalm 65:4)

He hears our request for intervention—and answers: “You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas” (Psalm 65:5)

And even when we don’t ask, he still fuels this global ecosystem with what it requires to keep us alive: “You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it…You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.” (Psalm 65:9,11)

How blessed we are—God hears us when we pray. As the Apostle John said, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

How blessed, indeed, that we are His, and He is ours!

My Offering of Worship: Since God hears and answers the prayers of his people, why not offer up your requests? As Phillips Brooks said, not to is an infinitely foolish thing.

Prayer Therapy — It Really Works

It Will Transform Your Perspective

PREVIEW: As you read through Psalms, you will often see how David was downcast because of the challenges of dire circumstance, difficult people, and personal failure. Just like you and me, he faced the gritty, raw reality of life, and sometimes it seemed that he just couldn’t catch a break. But in those psalms, you will notice that the more David pours out his heart honestly before God the more his spirit begins to lift by the end of the psalm, and before you know it the reality hits David that his life is squarely in the hands of his loving Father — where it has been all along. That will happen for you, too!

Prayer Therapy

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 6:6-9

I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies. Go away, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer.

There are times, to be quite honest, when life stinks. Satan attacks, or people say vicious things, or circumstances threaten to sink your ship, or sin weighs you down, or your body breaks down — or all of the above. It is in times like these that, understandably, you just don’t have a positive outlook on life.

So, the question is, what do you do about it? Well, you can just grit it out. Or you can talk to caring people who will encourage you. You can pay a therapist to listen to how bad life is for you. You can hire a personal coach to walk you through it. Those aren’t necessarily bad options.

But the most effective therapy is prayer! And best of all, it’s free. It won’t cost you a thing, except your time and your honesty before God.

David was in quite a pessimistic state of mind. Something was happening that he couldn’t fight his way through. He was down and he despaired of life itself. He spent sleepless nights and soaked his pillow with tears of anguish, with no relief in sight. But David prayed. That’s what David did — a lot!

As you read through Psalms, you will often see how David was downcast because of the challenges of dire circumstance, difficult people, and personal failure. Just like you and me, he faced the gritty, raw reality of life, and sometimes it seemed that he just couldn’t catch a break. But in those psalms, you will notice that the more David pours out his heart honestly before God the more his spirit begins to lift by the end of the psalm, and before you know it the reality hits David that his life is squarely in the hands of his loving Father — where it has been all along.

Had David’s circumstances suddenly changed? Not necessarily. What had changed was David’s perspective. That’s what honest prayer does. David had suddenly come to the realization yet again that through the therapy of prayer, he had received a perspective better than the one he had brought to God at the beginning of his prayer. He had received the healing gift of being in the very presence of God.

That’s always the gift of prayer, by the way: Just spending time in God’s presence. And it is always the best answer to prayer: Prayer itself.

That’s what prayer will do for you, too. It’s the best therapy!

My Offering of Worship: If you are under duress, feeling overwhelmed and alone, depressed, even despairing of life, go to God. Pour out your heart. Tell him everything … and don’t leave anything out, even your disappointment with he is handling your life. I have a feeling after you wrestle with him for a while, you will see that your wrestling is really being help in his strong, capable, loving arms.

Guess Who’s Praying For You

Your Unceasing Prayer Partner

UNSHAKEABLE: The Holy Spirit is actively engaged, even at this very moment, interceding within you and through you, taking your case before the throne of the Heavenly Father and praying the Father’s perfect will for your life. God, who knows all things, knows exactly what you’re up against in this world, which from a human perspective, looks pretty overwhelming much of the time. But God knows his plans for you (“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11), and both Father and Spirit are in continual dialogue, strategizing how to turn the circumstances of your life, both good and bad, into that which will bring the greatest glory to Him and produce the greatest good in you.

Father, Son, and Spirit are in a continual dialogue, strategizing how to turn your circumstances, both good and bad, into that which will glorify God and produce good in you. —Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 8:26-27

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Need some encouraging news today? How about this: You’ve got quite a team praying for you!

Paul says the Holy Spirit is actively engaged, even at this very moment, interceding within you and through you, taking your case before the throne of the Heavenly Father and praying the Father’s perfect will for your life. God, who knows all things, knows exactly what you’re up against in this world, which from a human perspective, looks pretty overwhelming much of the time (just read the context of this verse, Romans 8:17-27 and you’ll see what I mean). But God knows his plans for you (a perfect plan by the way, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” according to Jeremiah 29:11), and both Father and Spirit are in continual dialogue, strategizing how to turn the circumstances of your life, both good and bad, into that which will bring the greatest glory to Him and produce the greatest good in you.

The best part of God’s plan, Paul says, is that through those very circumstances, God is working to conform you to the image of the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” (Rom 8:28-29)

But that’s not all. Not only are Father and Spirit in a constant conversation about you, the Son is in on the discussion as well. Paul writes in Romans 8:34, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Hebrews 7:24-25 tells us that “Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Did you catch that? Jesus’ job description now that he is the resurrected Lord is to be your personal high priest. That means he stands night and day before the Father representing your case. And he intends not just to help you get through whatever you are going through, his mission is to save you completely! Of course, you are already saved if you have placed faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—that part of your salvation is complete. What Jesus is also doing is bringing to bear all of heaven’s resources to enable your salvation to be practical and powerful in your moment-by-moment life right here and right now!

Furthermore, The Triune God is willing and able to then bring both your positional salvation (when you received Christ) and your practical salvation (your daily walk with Christ) to the finish line in glorious fashion (Philippians 1:6, Jude 24) in the next life. In other words, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are actively engaged on your behalf at this very moment, and they won’t stop until they see that the Father’s perfect plan is fully worked out in you, for you, and through you both in time and for eternity.

That’s quite a prayer team you got, isn’t it? And I’ll bet you had even realized that. So dwell on that a little bit, and you’ll walk through this day with a lot more confidence and purpose, knowing that the eternal God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has invaded your gritty reality with the best of heaven.

Get Rooted: Read Romans 8:1-39 then memorize verses 38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Be Careful What You Ask For

Make Prayer Your Steering Wheel, Not Your Spare Tire

SYNOPSIS: Corrie ten Boom asked, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” Make it the former; use prayer to let the Holy Spirit steer you to where God desires to take you. Believe me, it will be far better, infinitely so, than any place you could dream up in your own mind.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 8:19-20

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Here’s a scary thought: God may actually give us what we demand.

I don’t know about you, but as I review the things I have asked the Lord to give me over my life, there are plenty of things in hindsight that I am totally grateful he withheld. There are times that God didn’t answer prayer—at least not in the way I demanded. There were times when he said “no”, there were times when he said, “not now”, there were times when he said, “maybe”, and there were times when he was silent, but in his silence I got the picture: he was clearly saying, “just trust me.”

God is flawless in his wisdom, unassailable in his kindness, and often beyond understanding in his timing. And over the years, I have learned to trust him with the things I am praying for. I am also learning to ask him for what he wants more than what I want. I have learned to be suspicious of the desires of my heart, realizing that on my best day, my heart is still the most deceitful part of me, and yes, desperately wicked. Though I think I do, I really don’t know how bad it is. Jeremiah lamented similarly,

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

For that reason alone, we should be quite circumspect in our asking. Israel wasn’t. They wanted a king—desperately. They wanted to be like other nations, wanting a physical representation of leadership rather than an unseen God. And even though they were warned what a king would demand of them, they were unswayable. This broke Samuel’s heart, but God reminded him that it wasn’t an indictment of the failure of his leadership, it was an indictment of the Israelites’ incomplete trust in God.

At the end of the day, God said to the childish demands of Israel, “Okay, have it your way.” And while the first hundred years of the monarchy was by and large a pleasant thing for Israel, the next several hundred years were not so great. Like the psalmist said of the Israelites in the wilderness,

They soon forgot what God had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them. (Psalm 105: 13-15)

Other translations say that God sent leanness to their souls. How sad that God would give into what we persistently and foolishly demand, but in getting what we ask for, we lose what God wants for us. Now this is not to say that we should not feel free to ask of God for the things we need and even the things we want. It is the clear promise of scripture that our Father longs to provide both:

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. (Psalm 37: 4)

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. (Matthew 6:33)

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

What we should be very careful of, however, is not submitting our desires to him first; not allowing him to sanctify our wishes. In the verses above, the operative idea is that we put the business of God first in our lives, then subordinate our wants and dreams to that. When we do that, we will get what God wants, which is always infinitely better that what we can imagine.

So go ahead and ask, but ask for what God wants above all else—may your kingdom come, may your will be done—and you will get a little heaven on earth.

Going Deeper With God: Today would be a good day to pray the Lord’s Prayer. If you need to, look it up and pray it directly from the pages of scripture—Matthew 6:9-13.

Direct Access

New House Rules for Coming To God

SYNOPSIS: Jesus is our access card to the very throne room of the Father, where we can boldly and confidently use the authority of his name to let God know our needs. And when we ask in his name, Jesus promises both answers to our requests and a complete sense of satisfaction in gaining the Father’s provision (“and your joy will be complete”). But asking in his name implies two interconnected things: First, it implies that we are living under his authority. By that I mean we are giving his rule first place in our lives. Second, it implies we are asking in his authority. That is, we are under his rule, we are serving his cause, and we are acting as agents of his Kingdom interests. Asking in that sense is both the believer’s highest privilege and most powerful resource. With that in mind, let’s start asking!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // John 16:24

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

What Jesus revealed to his disciples about prayer was a completely new thing in Israel. Under the old “house rules,” people had to go through a priest to contact the Almighty. They had to bring a sacrifice—depending on the need, there were a variety of sacrifices required—which had to be offered in a proscribed way. There was no direct contact between God and people.

But a new day had dawned, and by Jesus’ once-for-all sacrificial death on the cross, complete, free, unlimited, direct and easy access had been opened up between people and God.  The writer of Hebrews so beautifully described it this way:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

Jesus is our access card to the very throne room of the Father, where we can boldly and confidently use the authority of Jesus’ name to let God know our needs.  And when we ask in his name, Jesus promises both answers to our requests (“ask and you will receive”) and a complete sense of satisfaction in gaining the Father’s provision (“your joy will be complete”).

Now asking in his name implies two interconnected things.  First, it implies that we are living under his authority. By that I mean we are giving his rule first place in our lives, we are learning to look at things through his perspective and we are considering our needs and wants in the light of their relationship to the Kingdom life. Truly living under his authority is the best guard against the selfish asking some would take this verse to legitimize.

Second, it implies we are asking in his authority. That is, we are under his rule, we are serving his cause and we are acting as agents of his Kingdom’s interests. We know who we are and who he is, which leads to a bold and unabashed confidence in coming before the Father to request the release of Divine resources to fulfill the needs of his ever-expanding Kingdom.

No wonder Jesus assured us that this kind of praying works, for in essence, as C.S. Lewis so cleverly wrote,

“Our prayers are really His prayers;
He speaks to himself through us.”

Asking in that sense is both the believer’s highest privilege and most powerful resource.  With that in mind, let’s start asking!

Reflect & Apply:  If you are like me, understanding prayer this way calls me to evaluate my life to see if I am living under his authority—and all that implies, and asking in his authority—that is, acting as an agent of his Kingdom’s interests. And, if you are like me, there is usually some realigning needed to bring my life—my thoughts, attitudes and practices—back into Kingdom alignment.

A Higher Perspective Helps

Making Life Work
Read: Psalm 12
Focus: Psalm 12:1

“Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.”

“The godly are no more!” Of course, David was using hyperbole here. He wasn’t literally the only godly person left on the planet, although at that moment, he certainly felt like it. We’re not sure what the specific occasion was that led to this outburst, but it was likely that nasty people and impossible circumstances were closing in on David and in this moment he just needed to talk to somebody about how alone he felt. And God was the only one listening.

Which, obviously, is the point of this and many of David’s psalms. At times, there is no one with whom you can share the depth of your despair except God, who is always there and is always the best person with whom to share those things that are on your heart anyway! Even if you are exaggerating the moment, God graciously invites you to pour out your worries to him, the one who truly cares and can actually do something about it.

David’s complaint reminds me of another saint who expressed his feelings similarly: Elijah. You can read the story in I Kings 19. He too, like David, was often on the run from those who wanted to kill him. In this case, Ahab and Jezebel were out to get him, and Elijah was in hiding, depressed, and despairing even of life. So he cries out to God, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (I Kings 19:14)

What is so beautiful about this story is that several times God said to Elijah, “What are you doing here?” (I Kings 19:9,13). That is kind of a curious question for the All-Knowing God to be asking, wouldn’t you say! But really, what God is doing is simply inviting Elijah to pour out his heart, even if the frustrations that spill out are from a wrong perspective.

That is one of the blessings of taking our hurts, frustrations and worries to God. In the process of telling him how we feel, he gives us a fresh and higher perspective. For David, he prays himself into the conclusion that “O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.” (Psalm 12:7) For Elijah, God reminded him that he was not the only one left: “I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (I Kings 19:18)

That sounds like a pretty lop-sided exchange: My problems for God’s perspective. I think I will take that any day!

__________________

“If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing; it is an infinitely foolish thing.” (Phillip Brooks)

 

Making Life Work: That is one of the greatest gifts God gives us in prayer. As we honestly tell him about our problems, he infuses us with a higher perspective, reminding us that he is in control of our lives and has his eye on us at all times.

The First And Last Thing You Do

Read Psalm 5

Featured Verse: Psalm 5:3

“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.”

What is the first thing you do when the alarm clock rings, awakening you to another day full of exciting possibility and challenging demands? Perhaps you are one of those who rolls over and mumbles, “Good Lord, morning!” Or maybe you are the type who pops up with delight and expectation by greeting the One who gave you the gift of yet another day with, “Good morning, Lord!”

Obviously, David was of the latter variety. Not that he was an overly optimistic person—in fact, much of David’s life was lived by keeping just one step ahead of death. But he had come to appreciate the presence and protection of God so much that most of his waking moments were spent connecting with his Lord.

David was a man who had truly learned to practice the presence of God. First thing in the morning, David lifted his voice to God—and before he did anything else, he waited for a reply (that’s what he means when he says, “and will look up”). But that was also the last thing David did when he hit the sheets at night. He prayed in Psalm 119:62, “At midnight I will rise to give you thanks.”

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why David was known as “a man after God’s own heart.” What do you suppose would happen if you and I took on David’s practices? Maybe we would develop that kind of heart after God too!

Let me suggest a 30-day trial—that the last thing you do when you go to bed is to recount as many things as you can think of for which you are grateful, and the first thing you do when you arise in the morning is lift your voice to God with gratitude that he has given you the gift of another day.

To give thanks is one of the highest callings we have and one of the most self-benefiting things we can do. Think about this: Even sitting where you are reading this devotional is a cause for thanksgiving to God. The prophet Jeremiah declared in Lamentations 3:22, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness.”

G. K. Chesterton, who would say at the end of the day, “Here ends another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, and hands [to experience this] great world around me. Tomorrow begins another day. Why am I allowed two?”

Chesterton, Jeremiah and David had the perspective that all of life was a gift from God. Let’s you and I practice that perspective, too, every morning and evening for the next month. I have a feeling that the discipline of thankful prayer will turn into the delight of thankful prayer long after those 30 days are up.

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
—Ambrose, Bishop of Milan