God loves to hear from you. As you are. God is with you where you are, as you are. God is our Mighty Creator of the heavens and earth, and He also loves to hear from you. When we pray, we can speak with Him sincerely; keeping prayers simple, sharing with Him how you are feeling and what is on your heart. Jesus teaches of the precious value of simple, sincere prayers (Matthew 6: 7-8). God loves you.
God hears us; let us seek Him with all our heart,
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29: 11-13, ESV).
The words “I will hear you” from these beautiful verses that the prophet Jeremiah received from God and recorded, have stood out to me recently. My heart seemed to lighten up with joy, at the reminder of how God hears me, yes even me. There are many people around the world, and He hears each of us. He hears us when we pray alone, and when we pray together.
As South Africans keep praying for South Africa together, God hears from heaven. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God lovingly says, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (ESV).
In looking around us at this fallen world, we could feel discouraged and intimidated. We may wonder if there is any hope for things to get better. You may be facing difficult situations in your personal life, but you can rest because God hears your prayers. I encourage myself to think of it this way, that in asking God for help and guidance, I am inviting Him into the situation with me. I really appreciate God hearing me, when I need to make an important decision. I am dependent on Him for wisdom, guidance and help. In those times, I want to, and need to, hear from God what He thinks I should do. I may have heard what other people have decided for themselves, but I need to decide what is best for me. I trust God, and want to hear from Him what He thinks I should do. I do trust God to speak to me, I know He hears my prayers in His mercy, compassion and grace. He has helped me before, and I believe He will help me again.
God is faithful in keeping His promises, such as, “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him” (Psalm 91:15, ESV). We keep calling on Him in prayer; we need to be “…joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12, NIV). God is close; not distant at all, but close. “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:17-18, NIV). When you love someone, you listen to them; it is a part of loving someone. Maybe you have believed the enemy’s lies that God is distant from you, and does not care about you. Maybe you went looking for love in the wrong places, and got involved in something that ended up hurting you and others. You may have even been deceived to believe it was God leading you there. Let us keep praying for discernment. It does not matter what you have done, God hears a repentant heart, and helps us get back up if we fall. With God’s forgiveness of sins as we repent, “…the righteous falls seven times and rises again,…” (Proverbs 24:16, ESV). Remember that God will not lead you, contrary to His Word. As we spend time with God, studying the Bible, we can apply the truth of what we learn to our situations.
In our circumstances, we sometimes do not understand God’s timing. A delay is not necessarily God saying no, but we need to trust God’s timing- His perfect timing. He will know when you are ready, what is best for you, and what His purpose for you is. God sees the bigger perspective. There are times when we may face challenges that seem to slow things down, and we may perceive these delays as meaning maybe we should no longer continue, but if God has led you to do it, keep going. Keep praying.
God is with you, in bringing the restoration and the new. We can expect new beautiful things: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19, ESV). God is passionate for His plans for you to prevail, and for your unique purpose to be fulfilled. My prayer for myself is that my heart will be passionate for what God’s heart is passionate for. In receiving God’s love, my passion comes back, my heart is passionate again. I am aware of this warning from the Lord (referring to Isaiah 6:9-10) in Matthew 13:15, “For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them” (NLT). I am sure that other fellow believers, as I do, want to allow the Lord to soften our hearts, and to hear what God is saying to us. “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14, ESV). God “…leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:9-10, ESV). Prayer is a beautiful conversation with God. We speak, and we listen. Keep praying, God hears you.
“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry” (Psalm 34:15, ESV). We cry out to God, and He hears us. God is attentive to you and hears your prayers.
Prayer
Dear Father God,
Thank-You for Who You are, and for all You have done. Thank-You for sending Your beloved Son Jesus to reconcile us to You God. Praise Jesus for the righteousness we have received from Him (2 Corinthians 5:21) Who won the victory for us on the cross over sin; such a precious gift!
We give thanks. In Your Word, You encourage us to “… pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances…” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, ESV). Thank-You for Your mercy and grace, and for hearing our prayers.
Thank-You for being so close. We welcome the Holy Spirit; He is our “…Helper…”(John 14:16, ESV), our “…Advocate…” (John 14:16, NLT), our”…Comforter” (John 14:16, KJV); who dwells with us (John 14:17) and is in us. We ask that You lead us Holy Spirit.
You want us to call upon You God. In Psalm 50:15, You say “and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (ESV). Ignite my heart to be passionate for Your kingdom purposes, giving glory to You. Re-ignite those dreams in my life, that seem lost but there is always hope in You as I walk surrendered to You. Guiding me forward into the unique path You have planned for me to walk in, as we enjoy the adventure together.
In Jesus name, Amen.