God Hears Us

Posted on by korgrocker

“So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!””
John 11:41-44 NLT

What happened next in the account of Lazarus was amazingly unequivocal. Jesus prayed out loud about His Father in Heaven hearing Him, not because it was necessary for what was about to happen, but so that the people around Him would make the connection between an amazing miracle, Jesus, and God Himself. After this there would be no doubts about where Jesus had come from and why He was there in Israel. With such a demonstration of His God-given power, how could anyone not believe in Jesus?

Jesus of course didn’t have to remind everyone through a verbal prayer. He was always in constant communication with His Father, Spirit to Spirit, mind to mind, thought to thought, Son to Father. Jesus as we know was and is part of the Godhead, the Trinity, and for a brief time, was willing to become human for the sake of mankind. There was never going to be another opportunity for people everywhere to believe in Him. Greater miracles were not ever going to happen. 

Ever since the devil assumed control of the world, introducing wickedness and evil, mankind has been in self-destruct mode. The last thing the devil wanted was to see people come to a faith in Jesus, because by doing so they would be released from his clutches. Through faith in God, people ever since have had the ability to live in a different way, able to communicate with their loving Heavenly Father, because He always hears us. The Holy Spirit now resides within us, those of us who are believing pilgrims on their way to the fruition of their faith, eternal life. 

Psalm 139:1-4, “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord”. The Psalmist David, who wrote these words many years ago, knew from his relationship with God that He heard everything he thought, not just prayed. He went on to say, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!” (Psalm 139:7). And he finished the Psalm with, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! …  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:7, 23-24).

God hears us, even when we perhaps think otherwise. Apart from the obvious outcome regarding our thought life and behaviour, we have the assurance that the relationship we have with God is alive and real, and it enables us to check in with Him at every opportunity. Because of our humanity we are prone to sinful thoughts but through Jesus we have a remedy that allows us to maintain our relationship with God. So what are we thinking today? God is listening in as well, don’t forget.

Dear Father God. As Your children we are grateful for Your presence in our lives. Please help us to live in a way that is worthy of You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Is Always Ready to Hear

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.””
John 9:28-33 NLT

Mr Blind-no-more wasn’t afraid to stand up to the Pharisees, unlike his parents. The Pharisees argued that because they didn’t know where Jesus had come from, then His miraculous act of healing lacked validity. They maintained that it couldn’t have been God, or anyone representing Him, who performed the miracle, because whoever did it should have first checked things out with them and obtained their seal of approval. The Pharisees’ view of God was boxed in by their interpretation of the Law of Moses. But Mr Blind-no-more had a different logic. He said that regardless of the Pharisees’ opinion, which was, “If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” He went further by turning the Pharisees’ logic around and said that regardless of where Jesus had come from, He must have come from God to perform such a miraculous healing. 

In the middle of the exchange, Mr Blind-no-more said that “God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will”. Such a view was commonplace in the legalistic environment of those days, that God listened to those who were for Him, and He didn’t listen to those who were against Him. So according to the Pharisees, if Jesus was a sinner, the miracle, if it happened, couldn’t have been from God. 

Does God only listen to the prayers of a righteous person? If we believe that then we are doing what the Pharisees did – we have put God in a box. God is compassionate, loving, and gracious, and He will do what He considers to be right. And if He answers the prayers of someone who doesn’t believe in Him, then that is His prerogative. Quite why such a person would pray to Him is perhaps academic, because there are unbelievers’ prayers heard by God in the Old Testament. In Genesis 21 we can read the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael. Or the people of Nineveh in Jonah 3. In times past, desperate people have cried out to God for relief from their situation. Sometimes He answered. In. 1 John 5:14, we read, “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.” Perhaps that verse also applies to anyone, believers or not, who pray in accordance with His will. 

Sadly today we in the UK are living in an increasingly secular society. And the names of God and His Son are only used in expletive phrases. People fail to believe that he exists, their minds blinded by the enemy and his servants who come up with all sorts of theories (for example, evolution?) that try and explain the world around us. And instead of turning to God when circumstances dictate, they even turn their back on Him and some even go to occultism for a remedy. It must break God’s heart to see such happenings, as it did in Genesis 6:6, “So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart”. But there will come a day when God will be universally acknowledged. Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

We pilgrims love the Lord. We are His children and we know that He listens to our prayers. Of course, every cry for help will not always be answered in the way we desire, because we live in a fallen and sinful world, but God is always there for us in our times of trouble. And by faith in Him, we are overcomers, rising above our circumstances. 

Dear God. We thank You that You always hear our prayers. And whatever our circumstances we acknowledge that You have our interests at heart. We praise You today. Amen.