Chapter 5
HIS EAR FOR YOUR PRAYERS
Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
PSALM 116:2 NIV
42 Communicating with God
Deists believe God reveals Himself only through creation. They believe that natural laws have regulated everything since the beginning. God doesn’t intervene. Miracles don’t happen. They think reading the Bible and praying are useless activities.
By contrast, Christians believe God communicates with humans through the Bible. Humans communicate with Him through prayer.
Furthermore, Christians believe Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate, supernatural intervention in human affairs. He’s the clearest revelation of who God is. He shows what God values. He reveals how humankind can have a relationship with Him.
Jesus said, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17 NIV).
The New Testament records that teaching. Wanting to do God’s will precedes knowing that Jesus’ words are God’s speaking to you.
The phone represents prayer. You can speed-dial God whenever and wherever you want. About whatever you want. You don’t need a PIN to begin a conversation with Him.
It doesn’t have to be a 911 situation. He cherishes His children calling to say, “I love you!” You make Him happy when you say, “Thank you for what you did for me today!”
You can guess how God communicates with you. Texting! He has texted you the answers to your most pressing questions before you even asked them!
Communication is the lifeblood of relationships. I challenge you to spend at least 10 minutes each day calling home.
Tell your Heavenly Father you love Him. Talk with Him about whatever is on your heart. You’ll be reading His texts consistently as you read the New Testament.
How is developing your relationship with God like growing a relationship with a friend? Read Mark 14.
43 Balanced Prayer
Balanced prayer is about becoming more like Jesus rather than convincing God to give you what you want (Romans 8:29). The acrostic PRAYER helps you develop a balanced prayer life. It represents Praise, Rely, Admit, Yield, Expressing Thanks, and Request.
Praise - Praise is words or deeds that honor and exalt God for who He is and what He has done. Knowledge of both comes from the Bible. Like a gushing geyser launched by gratitude, His praise should always be on your lips (Psalm 34:1).
Rely – You rely upon Jesus, His teachings, and His finished work on the cross. You trust in God no matter what. Prayer without faith won’t please God (Hebrews 11:6).
Trust in Jesus to do what is best more than in your wisdom to ask for what’s best. If you don’t get what you ask for, don’t despair. God will give you something better.
Admit - When you confess your sins, God promises to forgive them and purify you from unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Confessing the un-Jesus-like aspects of your behavior and making restitution to those you’ve hurt, are parts of the becoming like Jesus process.
Yield - Prayer demonstrates your dependence on God. He knows what’s best for you. You don’t. You must surrender to Him and His purposes for your life. God opposes those who proudly insist on their way (James 4:6).
Express Thanks - One of the best measuring sticks of spiritual maturity is your gratitude to God for all He has done for you. Enter God’s presence with thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4). Thank Him for His goodness (Psalm 106:1). Thank Him for everything (Ephesians 5:20) and in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Request - God’s Spirit guides your wisest requests for yourself and others. God will give you the wisdom to ask for what you need most if you ask for it (James 1:5).
In which of the six dimensions of prayer are you the weakest? What will you do to strengthen that area? Read Mark 15.
44 Will God Speak to Me?
Through the written word I’m speaking to you now. If you consistently work through this resource, you’ll understand over time what I value and how I think.
Similarly, if you consistently read the Bible and want to do what God says, over time you’ll know much more about how He thinks and what He values. Unlike my words, God’s word is “alive and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NIV).
Fourteen times in the New Testament, Jesus said “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” The issue is not whether God will speak to you but whether you’ll listen and obey when He does.
People think they’ve outgrown the old-fashioned guidance of the Christian faith. It’s so yesterday and no longer relevant.
They reject the truth that God speaks through His word in every age. They don’t listen or obey when God speaks through it.
They play the same intentional deafness card that characterized the children of Israel. “But they didn’t listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts…” (Jeremiah 7:24 NIV).
God sometimes speaks to me through persistent impressions. When I was twenty-one, He communicated His will to my heart. He wanted me to move toward vocational Christian service.
It wasn’t that I didn’t hear what He was saying. I did. I thought I had a better idea. Intermittently, over the following five years, He spoke the same thing. He continued to point me in that direction while I resisted. I finally gave in so I could have peace.
For years, I wasn’t willing to do what He wanted. Obedience is often a struggle.
God will speak to you today through His word. He blesses you when you obey Him and makes you a blessing to others. Read Mark 16.
45 Not So Crazy Dream
I once dreamed someone assigned me to do a short devotional. He told me one hour before I had to do it. I thought that was short notice. I was to focus on a specific topic.
Here is where the dream got crazy. An extremely soft-spoken woman was sitting on my left. She told me the topic I was to address. The background noise in the room was like a rock concert.
I kept telling her I couldn’t hear a word she was saying. But she didn’t speak any louder. She attempted to communicate the message at least four times. I had no idea what she said.
After that, another task distracted me for a time. Later, a man asked me whether I remembered my assignment.
When I looked at the clock, I noticed I was already three minutes late. I didn’t even know where I was supposed to do the devotional. On the surface, that’s a crazy dream.
The morning after the dream I realized it wasn’t so crazy. It’s like life. The unimportant distracts you. You neglect to do the good works God lays before you (Ephesians 2:10).
Further, the details of what you’re supposed to do often aren’t clear. God speaks softly through His word, circumstances, and other people.
The background noise of the “worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things” (Mark 4:19 NIV) drowns out His voice. Our problem is allowing all the background noise.
Jesus did His Father’s will (John 8:29). Withdrawing to lonely places and praying helped Him know what to do (Luke 5:16). Spending quiet time with God significantly increases our hearing ability.
It’ll be interesting when we see God face to face. We’ll discover how much of what we did on earth was what we were supposed to do!
What most distracts you from serving God with all your heart?
Read Luke 1.
46 Prepare and Pray
I’ve had a recurring dream. I’m suddenly horrified to realize I signed up for a college course but didn’t attend classes the whole semester. Tomorrow is the final exam.
That dream reveals I fear failure, and preparation is my go-to strategy to avoid it. Preparation has often brought me success in life.
Although planning and effort alone can bring earthly success, they are only part of bearing much spiritual fruit that will remain (John 15:8). Preparation and prayer are both vital.
What God can do through us (Philippians 4:13) dwarfs what we can do. I water, fertilize, and weed the tomatoes in my garden. I can’t make them grow. Only God can.
Similarly, while only God can bring spiritual growth (1 Corinthians 3:6–7), He expects us to plant, water, and fertilize spiritual seeds. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31 NIV). The warrior gets ready for the conflict, but the Lord delivers victory.
Nehemiah diligently prepared to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. He also prayed and fasted before approaching King Artaxerxes with his request to go to that city (Nehemiah 1:4). He shot an arrow prayer while making his request (Nehemiah 2:4).
He asked for letters for the governors of the lands west of the Euphrates River to pass through their lands safely (Nehemiah 2:7). He wanted a letter to get timber for the project from Asaph (Nehemiah 2:8).
He surveyed the damaged wall before developing his plan (Nehemiah 2:12–15). He prepared to defend Jerusalem while the wall was constructed (Nehemiah 4:13).
Nehemiah also prayed for God to move, planned for it, and prayed all along the way.
Prepare as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on God! Read Luke 2.
47 Does Jesus Still Heal?
Paul, a missionary in Asia shared the story of Prem, a man Jesus transformed. Prem’s problems started when he broke one of his toes. His feet became numb. While doctors were treating him at the local hospital, they discovered no blood flow in his leg. They directed him to another hospital in the city.
When he arrived there, his leg had become gangrenous and black. The doctors wanted to remove it.
He didn’t want to lose his leg or face the difficulties that would bring. He put up with the pain for months even though it made him miserable. His family members treated him like an outcast.
He spent money on witch doctors, but they didn’t help. The gangrene continued to spread. He eventually decided to return to the hospital.
The doctors decided to amputate his leg and put him in a waiting room while they prepared for the operation. Sadness overwhelmed him.
He was lying in his hospital bed when Paul, a Christian relative came to visit. Paul shared the Gospel with him and read Matthew 4:23–25: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him” (NIV).
Paul encouraged Prem to believe in Jesus. Prem surrendered his life to Christ. Paul prayed for Jesus to heal him. Immediately, the pain lessened. Within an hour, it had completely disappeared.
When the doctor examined Prem again, he was shocked. He asked him what he’d done. The gangrene had improved, and his blood circulation was perfect. The doctor insisted Prem’s recovery was impossible. He packed his leg with gauze and discharged him.
Prem’s serious leg infection, which had lasted for a year, healed in one week. Today, he works in his local church, praises God, and tells everyone he knows about the miracle Jesus performed.1
How have you experienced Jesus’s healing? Read Luke 3.
48 Effective Evangelism and Prayer
Most churches in America pray for healing from physical ailments. Is that where you feel the greatest need for God’s intervention? Such praying is fine. But the spiritual needs of those without Christ are even more important.
You can’t snap your fingers to create spiritual life or renewal in yourself or others. By comparison, brain surgery is a cinch! You need to depend on God moment by moment to make a lasting spiritual impact.
Dr. Thom Rainer, the author of Effective Evangelistic Churches, studied 576 churches. Each had twenty-six or more conversions per year.
Over 98 percent of their leaders agreed that prayer is foundational to effective evangelism. So, how should you pray for your friends, relatives, and neighbors who don’t yet know Jesus personally?
Claim 2 Peter 3:9. God isn’t willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Believe God wants to save them because He’s laying them in your heart.
Ask God to prepare them to hear, understand, and receive Christ and become good soil that produces an exceptional harvest.
Pray they’ll find satisfaction in nothing outside a relationship with God.
Pray God will give them dissatisfaction so strong that they’ll want to change and live God’s way instead of their own.
Pray the Holy Spirit will pull them toward a relationship with Jesus.
Pray the Holy Spirit will convict them of sin and the need for a Savior.
Pray for them to understand the impossibility of a right relationship with God through good works.
Pray for answers to the questions that are blocking a relationship with God.
Ask for people to communicate the gospel to them through word and deed.
Ask for God’s power to live a Christ-filled life before them.
Pray for boldness to speak about Christ, sensitivity to keep quiet when appropriate, and wisdom to know the difference. Read Luke 4.
49 Pray-giarism
Plagiarism is taking someone else's work or ideas & passing them off as yours. Pray-giarism is taking God’s ideas, words, and will and turning them into your prayers.
That’s a life-quake-proof foundation on which to build your life. God promises that if you ask anything in harmony with His will, He hears you and will answer your prayers (1 John 5:14–15).
I’ll illustrate pray-giarism using Psalm 100. “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 100:1 NIV). Here are examples of shouting for joy to the Lord:
“Lord, I’m yours! I’m a sheep in your flock! You’re my shepherd. I shall not want (Psalm 23)! You’ve forgiven my sins (1 John 2:12)! You credited Christ’s righteousness to my account (2 Corinthians 5:21)! I’m an heir and a co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17)!
Nothing can separate me from your love” (Romans 8:38–39)! “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs” (Psalm 100:2 NIV).
Prayer includes singing. The Psalms were Israel’s hymn book and prayer book.
Spiritual passion accompanies spiritual health. True worship is offered happily and cheerfully.
A joyful song from my childhood was, “Joy in My Heart.” If you know it, sing it through twice wholeheartedly to the Lord. I am guessing that lifted your spirit.
“Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3 NIV). We sometimes live as if someone or something other than God were God.
Confess that. “Lord, Sometimes I treat other people & things as if they were God. I value them more than I value You. I confess my foolishness. May You alone be my defining passion. I’m Your sheep. I need Your constant attention and supervision. You’ve taken responsibility for my welfare. Thank you!”
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:4 NIV). “I thank you for your overflowing goodness. As I focus on that goodness, may I overflow with thanksgiving.
Thank you for….” (Name at least ten things for which you’re thankful).
“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5 NIV). “You’re good and Your love prevails from vanishing point past to vanishing point future.
Your faithfulness never takes a vacation. I can’t escape it and don’t want to. When seas and mountains pass away, Your faithfulness will endure.
You don’t have to pray-giarize all your prayers. But they’re most intelligent when you do!
Pray-giarize your daily Bible reading today. Use it as a launching pad for your prayers. Read Luke 5.