“Is God Listening?”
Prayer is the means by which we take our perplexities to the Father. But do you get the feeling that some people have God’s listening ear better than you do? I love the letter the little boy wrote to God in which he admitted he knew God heard prayers, but he wanted to know when God would be listening especially hard to prayers. In other words he was asking God is there a certain day that you handle prayer for different situations?
I think one of the problems we encounter in praying is that we are inclined to dictate to God what our preferences are. If we have already made up our minds, we may not hear Him when He speak!
As Mark 4: 23 -24 says, “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear…Take heed what ye hear.”
“Listen to what you hear,” He is saying, “You think there is a shortage of my messages, my answers to your prayers? Unplug your ears!”
Perhaps our biggest problem is not that we haven’t and don’t hear; if we will be honest we might have to confess that we aren’t always ready to listen! We may have heard but we just do not want to obey. The think God may have made a mistake. In other words we are saying, “God are you sure?”
Catherine Marshall in her classic Adventures in Prayer speaks of “The Prayer of Relinquishment.” She say, ” A demanding spirit, with self-will as its rudder, blocks prayer….Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, I come to see, is the pattern for us. Christ could have avoided the cross…. Christ used His free will to turn the decision over to His Father. He said, “Dear Father…all things are possible to you. Let me not have to drink this cup! Yet it is not what I want but what you want.’ She emphasizes that there is no resignation in Prayer of Relinquishment. This kind of praying doesn’t slam the door on hope. It’s called “the pliability of an obedient heart.”
Sometimes you as I also maybe faced with the problem, Lord, I just do not know how to pray about this problem.
Praise God, that is not a problem to God. Thanks to the Holy Spirit everybody is equal before God in prayer. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, in our improper understanding, and conveys from our hearts to God’s heart what is really there, that which is impossible for us to put into words anyway!”
Friends, God knows our needs before we ever bring them to Him. He is just waiting for us to see if we are ready to turn our life situations over to Him completely.
In other words, “Lord, here I am, I am yours, and I am willing to follow your ways for my life.
Sending to You and Your Family,
Blessings, Love and Prayers,
Pastor Pat Aman
Devotion Written March 30, 2011- By: Pastor Pat Aman Book © 1996/2015 Coffee With Pat Daily Devotionals”
Study Notes: The New King James Bible