A LISTENING FATHER
Verse for Today: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Psalms 66:19 - But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
It is very refreshing and comforting to know from experience that all our utterances of prayer, supplications, cries and requests have reached the ears of our God. When we pray, we normally close our eyes so that we will not see any other object around us and that our attention will not be distracted by any one or any thing around us. As we close our eyes, we focus on the Lord and see Him in front of us, keenly listening to our prayers. While we pray, we see the Lord as a person in front of us by faith and submit all our prayers to Him knowing fully well that He is listening to the voice of our cries. His ears are always open to our prayers. He listens to us even though He is the one who helps us to pray through His Spirit who indwells in us. He knows all the emotions behind each word we utter in His presence. Interestingly, He already knows all about the prayer we submit to Him and start acting on those requests of ours. Some times, it is puzzling to us whether the Lord has heard our prayers or not, largely because we wait for a long time for answers from Him. But we need to understand that when we submit our prayers to the Lord, our part is over and the rest is His, even though He would have started working on our requests even before we started to pray. As we pray, He fills our hearts with His peace and love and gives us the assurance that He has heard our prayers. This is why when we pray, we get a deep comfort and peace in our hearts that we have unburdened ourselves to the One who is able to do exceedingly more than we would ever anticipate or deserve. This truth is proved time and again in our lives and the lives of His other children of God around us. We can read about all that He has been doing for His children down through the centuries in the Bible and in the biographies of His children who have gone before us. We also listen to it in the testimonies of His people.
Dear friend, do you get the reassurance at each time you pray that the Lord is hearing your prayers? Is your heart filled with the peace that passes all understanding that when you prayed, He has heard your prayers and that the answer will come at the right time? When you go to the presence of the Lord in a prayer meeting, you are actually meeting with others like you who also look to the Lord and receive reassurances that their prayers are heard. We keep going to His presence with other believers to pray together because we have the testimony of each other that He hears our prayers. We also know that all prayers are answered one way or another. It is like little children asking their parents for various things in life. The parents know what is best for them and what is not expedient, and give them what the wisdom of the parents would suggest. If our earthly parents know what to give at what time to our children, how much more does the Heavenly Father know what His children need at what rate and at what time? This is the reason why He gives us what we have received so far in life, and at the same time not granted some of our requests. Are we not grateful that He has not given some things that we had asked amiss? Elijah was surely happy that the Lord did not end his life at the shade of a broom tree, as he had prayed. The Lord had better and greater plans for Elijah and was not ready to end His life, but to extend it so that he could accomplish what God had planned for Him. This is true in the lives of all His children. God gives them what they need in His eyes in order to accomplish His purpose for them in this world. This is the basis of answering our prayers by the Lord. So, dear friend, don't be discouraged if you have not got answers to all your prayers exactly as you have desired, but be content with the way He leads you in spite of your utterances before the Lord. He has His best for you in His mind and will give it to you at His best time for your greatest blessing. As you wait for His answers, He keeps giving you the reassurance that He is listening to your prayers and the answers are on their way, and eventually you will know how kind He is in giving you what He wants for you.
Psalms 66:20 - Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor His loving kindness from me.
Thought for Today
Heaven has a record of every prayer we make, and eternity will reveal how and why God's answers far exceeded our mundane requests.
Verse for Today: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Psalms 66:19 - But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
It is very refreshing and comforting to know from experience that all our utterances of prayer, supplications, cries and requests have reached the ears of our God. When we pray, we normally close our eyes so that we will not see any other object around us and that our attention will not be distracted by any one or any thing around us. As we close our eyes, we focus on the Lord and see Him in front of us, keenly listening to our prayers. While we pray, we see the Lord as a person in front of us by faith and submit all our prayers to Him knowing fully well that He is listening to the voice of our cries. His ears are always open to our prayers. He listens to us even though He is the one who helps us to pray through His Spirit who indwells in us. He knows all the emotions behind each word we utter in His presence. Interestingly, He already knows all about the prayer we submit to Him and start acting on those requests of ours. Some times, it is puzzling to us whether the Lord has heard our prayers or not, largely because we wait for a long time for answers from Him. But we need to understand that when we submit our prayers to the Lord, our part is over and the rest is His, even though He would have started working on our requests even before we started to pray. As we pray, He fills our hearts with His peace and love and gives us the assurance that He has heard our prayers. This is why when we pray, we get a deep comfort and peace in our hearts that we have unburdened ourselves to the One who is able to do exceedingly more than we would ever anticipate or deserve. This truth is proved time and again in our lives and the lives of His other children of God around us. We can read about all that He has been doing for His children down through the centuries in the Bible and in the biographies of His children who have gone before us. We also listen to it in the testimonies of His people.
Dear friend, do you get the reassurance at each time you pray that the Lord is hearing your prayers? Is your heart filled with the peace that passes all understanding that when you prayed, He has heard your prayers and that the answer will come at the right time? When you go to the presence of the Lord in a prayer meeting, you are actually meeting with others like you who also look to the Lord and receive reassurances that their prayers are heard. We keep going to His presence with other believers to pray together because we have the testimony of each other that He hears our prayers. We also know that all prayers are answered one way or another. It is like little children asking their parents for various things in life. The parents know what is best for them and what is not expedient, and give them what the wisdom of the parents would suggest. If our earthly parents know what to give at what time to our children, how much more does the Heavenly Father know what His children need at what rate and at what time? This is the reason why He gives us what we have received so far in life, and at the same time not granted some of our requests. Are we not grateful that He has not given some things that we had asked amiss? Elijah was surely happy that the Lord did not end his life at the shade of a broom tree, as he had prayed. The Lord had better and greater plans for Elijah and was not ready to end His life, but to extend it so that he could accomplish what God had planned for Him. This is true in the lives of all His children. God gives them what they need in His eyes in order to accomplish His purpose for them in this world. This is the basis of answering our prayers by the Lord. So, dear friend, don't be discouraged if you have not got answers to all your prayers exactly as you have desired, but be content with the way He leads you in spite of your utterances before the Lord. He has His best for you in His mind and will give it to you at His best time for your greatest blessing. As you wait for His answers, He keeps giving you the reassurance that He is listening to your prayers and the answers are on their way, and eventually you will know how kind He is in giving you what He wants for you.
Psalms 66:20 - Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor His loving kindness from me.
Thought for Today
Heaven has a record of every prayer we make, and eternity will reveal how and why God's answers far exceeded our mundane requests.
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