Category: Daily Devotionals

Anyone who has ever tried to organize a church or community event will  realize that  getting multiple people to the same point in space and time is a rather significant thing. Everyone has their own agenda and their own obligations, so the event we seek to schedule has to be one that becomes a priority for all invited for the time suggested. If it is not a priority for them, it’s all but impossible to plan. It becomes exponentially more difficult if just one of the parties invited is completely unaware of the event (as in a surprise party). How much more difficult if many are unaware and at the same time most are indifferent?

Yet it is to God’s great glory that this is exactly what He is doing. Not only with every human soul, but with all created beings. Further, He is doing this while numbers of them are not merely unaware or indifferent, but actively working against Him! God is bringing history to a conclusion. He is bringing the blessing of Himself to lost mankind. Not only that, but He is doing so while all the time having expressly told created beings that He is going to do it. As though to give His enemies every possible opportunity to try to thwart Him. But do it He will, as all His prophets have already foreseen the foregone conclusion. 

As N.T. Wright wrote, “The prophets had promised it. Ezekiel: yhwh himself will come to be the shepherd of Israel. Zechariah: yhwh will come, and all his saints with him. Malachi (with more than a tinge of warning): the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his Temple. And, towering over them all, Isaiah: there will be a highway in the wilderness; the valleys and mountains will be flattened out; the glory of yhwh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” The day will come. God will come to the earth, and His Kingdom will be physically and fully manifested here. What we can only perceive with spiritual sight now we will then see with physical eyes. God’s kingdom will come. 

Then we will no longer have to pray, “your kingdom come,” because it will have already come, as fully and completely as it could ever arrive. God’s kingdom will come. But until it is fully physically manifested on earth, we pray. Not only for its eventual fulfillment, but for ever greater manifestations of it in the here and now. 

We pray that because we long to see more of it during our lifetime. To enjoy more of it, and to see the joy of others as they enjoy more of it. To see more of the purity of His Kingdom. To experience more of the peace of His Kingdom. To know more righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

We have those things now, of course. But not in perfect measure, nor in lasting measure, for at present His Kingdom is not yet fully manifested. When His Kingdom is fully manifested it will be one of complete health and well-being and complete and everlasting provision. One in which we do not see peace come and go, or health fade and sickness reign unto death. One in which we do not see prosperity whither away due to corruption or loss. For, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 

So we pray as Jesus instructed us to pray, “your kingdom come,” that we might see more of more of His rule breaking into our brokenness. That we might see done on earth what is a regular, daily and almost mundane experience in heaven. 

We may say that in the possession of the Spirit we who are in Christ have a foretaste of the blessings of the age to come, and a pledge and guarantee of the resurrection of the body. Yet we have only the firstfruits. We look forward to the final consummation of the kingdom of God, when we shall enjoy these blessings to the full.

Anthony A. Hoekema

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Today, pray for more opportunity to bring the Kingdom of God into your community.

Not everyone has a king, but everyone knows what a kingdom is. You might   call them a prime minister, or a president, or a governor or a sheik instead of a king. You might call the area they rule the country, or province, or state. Whatever you call them and whatever area they rule, the idea of a person having rulership over an area that contains many people is common to everyone on the planet. So when Jesus prays, “your kingdom”, we all know what He means. He is acknowledging that God is King, and He is talking about the rule of God. More than that, in the context of verse 9 (“hallowed be your name”), He is referring to the honor and reverence that is owing to God and to God’s reputation, not merely the respect of God’s laws and commands. 

Of course, God Most High should be respected, revered and honored, and He should be obeyed in all things. Not only because He is Father, and not only because He is above us in heaven, but because He is The King – because His Kingdom includes our entire planet and all who dwell on it. After all, He made it – so it belongs to Him. Quite aside from the creation story in Genesis 1, Psalm 89 affirms, “The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.” Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”  The Lord affirms in Ps 50:12, “the world is mine, and all that is in it.” 

Consequently, we should all recognize God’s Kingship, even when He is not physically present in our line of sight. After all, we recognize the authority, the rights and the will of the political ruler of our country/province/territory. We may disagree with some of what they mandate and we might not ever see them in person. But we cannot disobey without penalty, and even if we do disobey, their rule is not overturned by our disobedience – it is only to our own great loss that we suffer as law-breakers.

Yet if such is true of an earthly king (though they be ungodly), how much more is it true of our heavenly king, who is not only godly, but God! 

Moreover, even here on earth the upright of the land enjoy the blessing of the rule they abide by. Being a citizen of God’s Kingdom means that independent of circumstance, we can enjoy peace, righteousness and joy. For Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Being a citizen of God’s Kingdom means our lives will be fruitful. Both internal fruitfulness (the fruit of the Spirit) and external fruitfulness (the result of practicing the gifts of the Spirit). It means living the abundant life – the Christ-life – for Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” A life of wonder and adventure. A life of drawing near to God through every season – seasons of lament just as well as seasons of worshipful bliss. It is a life of enjoying the benefits of being a citizen of God’s Kingdom, just as we enjoy the benefits of being a citizen of the earthly ruler of the country we live in. It means joyful fellowship with both fellow saints and the Lord.

Likewise, just as the faithful earthly citizen does not fear parking tickets, fines, arrests, sentencing and jail time on account of their right relationship with their government, the citizen of God’s Kingdom does not fear guilt, fear and condemnation on account of their relationship with God.

God is our King, and we are His people. More than that, He is King AND our Father, so we are even more than citizens! If are princes and princesses. We are heirs. So just as those who belong to earthly countries sing the national anthem with pride, we proclaim God’s Kingdom with much enthusiasm and rejoicing in praying as Jesus prayed, “Your Kingdom come!” 

Amen. 

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

the Westminster Shorter Catechism

APPLICATION: Worship

Praise the Lord for the benefits of being under His rule.

Immediately after the Lord gave Israel the ten commandments, the Lord  said  this to Moses, “Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.” He said that in the context of giving Israel instructions for sacrificial worship, and before the rest of the Law was given. To be sure, this promise of blessing is a promise meant for the tabernacle and the temple. Yet from the context as well as the text, we learn that the blessing of God is given wherever He chooses to manifest His presence, most especially during sacrificial worship. Anyone who’s ever been at a particularly powerful worship time and “felt the presence of God” is describing this very thing. When God is lifted up in praise, His presence is made more tangible. The fabric between our present world and heaven is rendered a little bit thinner. 

Far from a modern experience, this goes back through the millennia. Seeking to express it, David wrote in Psalm 22:3, “Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” Obviously, God is not physically sitting on a pile of music scripts. Nor can we play a worship song and expect Him to magically appear in our living room. This is something He does, and He does it as He Himself inspires. It is not something we can force. But there is something about heartfelt worship – about honoring God’s Name in body, soul and spirit – that He loves. For this reason it is often said, “God inhabits the praise of His people.” 

Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” We “Hallow” God’s Name when we praise Him. We lift up in worship what we know of Him, and we magnify what we’ve experienced of Him by singing of it so other beings can hear – and when we are inspired to do that, God draws close to us. He draws close, we sense the thinness of the space between our physicality and His reality, and we are blessed. Our spirits soar as we drink in His peace, His beauty and the wonder of God. Such experiences seem rare. But they are not meant to be rare. Every prayer should have an element of that. 

Every time we purpose to focus on Him, every time we come before His throne – whether to ask in supplication, or approach Him in thanksgiving, or beseech Him in intercession. Every prayer, and every prayer time, should hallow God’s Name. That’s why Jesus includes this line in His prayer template for us. Every prayer experience we have should be one of at least seeking to encounter His manifest presence in some way. After all, we cannot expect Him to cause His Name to be honored in either meeting us or answering our prayer if we are not actually seeking to bring Him honor. If we are just wanting to use Him as a vending machine, we should not expect Him to bless us with either presence or response. 

But if we approach Him as God. 

As Father. 

As King of all, seated far above. 

As worthy of honor and worthy of sacrifice. 

Well, then we might just find ourselves in His presence.

Amen.

Many of us live as practical deists—acting like God is somewhere else and maybe, if we sing loud enough or pray long enough, He’ll show up. I want to be aware of the God who is right here right now, and because of that, every moment is drenched with divine presence and potential.

Mike Erre

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Have you experienced God’s presence today?

That the Lord is holy is beyond questioning. God is apart from all created  things and all  created beings. He is unique in perfection, unique in beauty, and most especially unique in sacredness. There is absolutely nothing ordinary about God at all. It is this quality – no doubt a quality that is far beyond human ability to fully grasp, let alone communicate – that God not only enjoys, but revels in. God is holy. He is pleased in being holy. He is passionate about being holy. The reader of Scripture soon learns that the Lord is also passionate about being known as holy. His Name – His reputation, His rule and His way – is one of holiness. Holiness is not only His character, it is how His Kingdom works, how He choses to govern and How His fame is spread. 

For this reason the greatest of created beings – the four living creatures that hover around God’s throne day and night – are covered in eyes so that they might see God from every possible angle. They constantly look on Him and unceasingly prove His character and His actions. Writing in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, John saw these creatures in a vision, “In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.” Watching Him all the time, the creatures are filled with an inescapable conclusion, “Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” 

God’s children are all made in His likeness. It is our purpose to reflect Him in all we are and all we do. To be holy. To act holy. More than that, to cause all creation to be in wonder at the holiness of God. This is His constant encouragement to us. “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” 

We glorify God by focusing on His holiness, and we discredit both ourselves and Him if we are not holy. “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” To not be holy is to fail at the purpose of bearing His image. But to not be holy as His people is to also profane the reputation of God, for as His people we also bear His Holy Name. This is who we are supposed to be – a holy people, made holy by focusing on God’s holiness and reflecting that holiness in all we do and say. 

It is to that point the first petition in the Lord’s prayer is, “hallowed be your name”. In other words – Lord, because You are our Father, because You are above us in heaven (above us in position and in power and in glory), make your Name holy through us. Increase Your reputation through us. Increase Your rule and Kingdom through us. Manifest Your way through us. Cause Your children to reflect You all the more because Lord, You are our Holy Father. 

Amen. May He do that today.

You can talk about the infinitude of God and not feel yourself a worm. But when you talk about the holiness of God, you have not only the problem of an intellectual grasp, but also a sense of personal vileness, which is almost too much to bear.

A.W. Tozer

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Are you reflecting God’s holiness?

Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven’…” From that   opening line of the Lord’s prayer we can learn much, including that God – our Father – is in heaven. 

Heaven is a real place. It is not earth as we know it, where we dwell. It is a different place. The Bible relates to heaven as a place that is up from where we are, but no rocketship – not even a starship – could go high enough to reach the edge of heaven. Exactly where it is, what it is made of and how it relates to where we presently are, is unknowable. That doesn’t mean it is geographically or spatially far away. It just means it is unseen and unreachable by means developed by mankind. It is something we have to understand through eyes of faith. Trying to do so with scientific method is like mining the material physicists call “dark matter” – we simply lack the tools, and nothing we can touch or create out of regular matter is ever going to do the job. But by faith and the revelation of Scripture, we can know quite a bit about heaven. 

For starters, it is the abode of God. It is a place He made (Gen 1:1) for Himself. That means that God is greater than heaven, as an earthly father as greater than the house he builds. It means that what happens in heaven is exactly as God wants it to be, as what happens in a man’s house is as he wants it to be. Heaven is where God lives, where God rules, where God is honored as Head over all. In fact, Moses wrote, “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.” Heaven the place is heaven the experience because of that – because those who abide in heaven with God are those who live as God designed them to live, and not differently. Like a man who doesn’t put up with an unruly houseguest, God will not permit to have the disobedient in His home.  

God is in heaven. That does not necessarily mean that God is restricted to heaven. Not anymore than an earthly man is restricted to his own home. God can come and go from heaven as He sees fit. He can even decide to live elsewhere, and Scripture affords that one day, God our Father will make earth His home. The apostle John prophetically saw that day, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 

On that day, heaven will be here on earth. But until that day, we will have to be content to know that though He is in heaven, He is still our Father. That while in heaven, He is well able to see, to protect and to provide for His children. That while in heaven, He yet hears our prayers. 

Praise God.

APPLICATION: Worship

God is in heaven, but also with the humble and contrite. Worship Him today. 

Patēr. Father. Parent. Forefather. Abba.   

Whatever word you use, the image that comes to mind is largely dependent on your memory. For some, it is a memory of a loving parent. A caring man who provided all the family needed and still made time to play, teach and have fun with you during your childhood. For others, it is a memory of a drunken tyrant, a manipulative bully or a distant authority figure. For others, there is no memory at all. Neglect, abandonment or simple circumstance meant they grew up entirely without a male parent. For most, it is a very complex mix of good and not-so-good. But at the word “father”, how they (or the lack of them) made you feel comes rushing back. 

There are not a lot of truly positive father figures in the Bible. They had flaws. Many seem conspicuously absent from their progeny – their children are mentioned almost as a side note, not a highlight. Not a few male Bible characters would be charged with neglect or child abuse if they lived in our time and space. But such things only go to stand in contrast with who God reveals Himself to be.   

God is our Father. Not just our creator, though He is that. Not just our King, though He is that too. Not just our healer, though He is that also. Not just our provider, though He is very much that. God is our Father. He is always available, always forgiving when we admit our fault, always gracious. Even when we are not. He is present no matter where we go. He is powerful, no matter what obstacle we face. He is peaceful and loving and kind. These are the character traits that Father wants us to know Him for. He reveals all this and more about Himself in the Scripture, and then sends us both Jesus and the Holy Spirit to affirm and confirm that He is, and that He is Father. 

Everyone can read that in the pages of Scripture. Yet there is not a man, woman or child on this earth who doesn’t find the personal discovery of God as their Father to be as profound as anything they could ever discover. It is not a secret – for here it is in the most popular prayer in the history of the world. Yet it is a secret. It is the greatest OF secrets – and always will be – until you discover Him as Father for yourself. 

It is as profound as finding out that God is 0- that God exists. As profound as realizing that God cares. As profound as hearing Him speak. As profound as recognizing that He is actively doing something, and made you specifically to come alongside Him in what He is doing. It is the most profound thing any human being could ever grasp. Such things are beyond words. God Most High – God who was, and is, and will be, wants you to know Him as your Father. Not like your earthly father, who was limited and faulty. But as your heavenly Father, unlimited and perfect.

If you haven’t done that, rest assured. He is waiting for you to discover that for yourself. Go meet Him. He’s our Father. He always has time for us, for speaking to His children. 

Why, He’s waiting for you right now. Amen.

If your experience with your earthly father has been unpleasant, you may need to reverse your thinking. Rather than trying to fit God into your image of what a father is like, realize that God is the pattern for earthly fathers to follow. God loves his children perfectly. He’s never too busy or too preoccupied or too self-centered to care about you.

Henry & Richard Blackaby

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

Spend some time meditating on who God reveals Himself to be. You will be thankful.

It has been sarcastically said that most prayer meetings are organ recitals.  People come  together and pray for themselves and those they love, each lifting up a particular hurt or medical condition. Prayers for relief and healing are heard for all manner of body parts and functions (thus the play on words). But not many are answered. We wonder why that is, even as the number of those gathered dwindles, and the mean sum of their age increases. Surely it cannot be that prayers go unanswered because God does not care, for the Bible encourages us, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” So He does care, and it is not wrong to pray for relief from physical pain anymore than it is wrong to pray for basic human needs. God cares for individuals. Nevertheless, praying for myself is helpful to me only. Praying for others is helpful to them, and therefore is more closely aligned to God’s “other-centered” character.

Yet is is not just us and our friends & family that God cares for. It must be observed that God cares deeply for whole people groups. Although He doesn’t forget the one, He most often works to answer prayer in view of the greater group. History itself makes it clear that His purposes for the whole far eclipse a selfish focus. In fact, if we learn anything from the history of Israel in the Old Testament, it is that He will even suffer the hurt of large numbers if it means the people group as a whole can be saved, even if only through a remnant. God is focused on the whole, “For God so loved the world.” It is His ultimate plan to restore the whole world back to Himself by bringing the blessing of Himself to the whole world. 

This is the fundamental lesson of the cross. The cross is worth the sacrifice and the pain. The one suffering ultimately triumphs, and the many suffered for benefit enormously. God is glorified when we have the same focus Jesus did. When we are willing to suffer for His sake, so that the other can benefit. If that be so with something as tangible as personal pain, how much more so with something as intangible as our conversation with Him?

Jesus wants us to start praying from a position of intercession, not a position of personal want. When we start our prayers from the vantage point of ‘Our’, we immediately set ourselves up to pray for the other. This then the better way to pray:

Not me, but my house. 

Not my house, but my greater family. 

Not my greater family, but my neighborhood. 

Not my neighborhood, but my community. 

Not my community, but my city. 

Not my city, but the nation. 

Not the nation, but all nations. 

Not us the created, but You the creator.

Having a focus outside of ourselves points more clearly to Him who made us. Ultimately that is the greater help to us also – for we are always blessed when we look, sound and act a bit more like Him.  Amen.

There is nothing whatsoever anywhere in the Bible that suggests that man is the victim of an irretrievable circumstance. The whole concept of redemption argues against that. Christ’s coming and reversing the power of death—transforming the future by His resurrection—is in itself a statement that nothing is irredeemable. But His action is also a statement that says though things may be redeemed, they are not redeemed without someone stepping in.

Stormie Omartian & Jack Hayford

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations.” Knowing He lives in us and that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, how much of our prayers are for the nations?

“Our.” The first word of the Lord’s Prayer. A word which tells us that it isn’t  about us as  individuals. It is about us as a group. It calls to mind the other, and immediately puts us outside of ourselves. 

Each of us is unique. We look different from each other, we have different memories, different personalities and different skills and passions. Each reflects their creator in a particular way, a way which is designed to bring value to the rest. Likewise each family. Every family has its own place, its own circle of influence, its own calling. Same for every church. Each is a unique expression of His Kingdom. Each has strengths, each has weaknesses. No single church can reach a community, but the collective group of different churches working together can easily do so in less than a generation – if only they would work together as God meant them to!

Likewise, each people group reflects our King in a particular way. Each has a unique culture, each speaks a particular language. Even before God’s eternal throne, the Bible tells us there will be before Him “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” God has purposes that each particular group identity carries forward into eternity. Groups of people are important to the Lord.

In much of the world today we focus on the individual, not the group. In western society – especially North American society – the individual has rights, the group not so much. There are exceptions of course, but even in those we see a small number having rights over the larger number. Think of corporate boards exercising control over a company, or the small number of elected officials exercising control over a city. Our societies may be based on the idea of “we”, but in real life it is much more the idea of “me”. That’s not an unimportant fact. It affects virtually every aspect of our lives. How we make decisions about where to live, how to live, what we eat and what we wear are made in light of personal preference. The greater whole – how that decision will impact the family whole, or the city whole, or the whole of global society – is most often a lessor consideration, if it is considered at all. 

God does consider the impact we make on each other, and He longs that we would too.  Each of us are surrounded by fellow countrymen and women who are not yet in the Kingdom of God. Most of us are surrounded by neighbours and family members who are not yet in the Kingdom of God. Moreover, there are still roughly 9000 people groups around the globe without a viable expression of Christ’s Kingdom in their own culture. The only way they will hear of Jesus is if someone intercedes for them. If someone takes it upon themselves to enter the heavenly court in prayer and plead for mercy. If someone asks God to raise up workers to go. If someone in prayer hears God telling them to go. None of that will happen unless someone prays. Unless we as His people pause from our self-absorption long enough to hear His passion for the collective whole of mankind. Unless we think of “Our Father” even more than we think of “my Father”.

Amen.

The Bible … is a long story of progressive revelation in which God’s concern for the nations is present from the start.

Craig Ott and Stephen J.Strauss

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How many of your neighbours do you know? How much of your community do you engage in?

It is no secret that if you glide your hand along the edge of a great table – even though it   be a dozen meters long and the most beautifully polished wood – if you gain so much as a one-millimetre long sliver your only lasting memory of it will be the splinter. That’s because humankind was made for perfection, so we tend to pick up on deviations more than met expectation.

That principle translates into our prayer life. There are those who would be so discouraged by the negative examples and negative experience of prayer with others that they can hardly pray at all. The memory of them sticks – like a sliver in their mind. The mere thought of prayer brings it back up, like the pain of a splinter we got from a beautiful table.

Jesus does not want us to give up on prayer, no matter how how atrocious the examples we’ve heard have been. True, some have used prayer as a tool to intimidate others. True, some have used prayer to show off their vocabulary or their knowledge of Scripture. Some have even used prayer as opportunity to promote idolatrous and gnostic ideologies. Yet Jesus doesn’t want us to give up. He acknowledges our poor learning environment, encourages us to do better, and then does not leave the subject before giving us a better example:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This, then, is how you should pray…”

The model Jesus subsequently reveals is in light of everything He has just told us. That God is our Father, and that He knows what we need. Therefore. Because. “This, then…” In other words, now that we know that He is our Father and now that we know that He knows our need, we can and should pray. These two things form the foundation on upon which the Lord’s Prayer is built. 

It is impossible to understand God as OUR Father if we don’t first recognize that He is MY Father. If all we know of God is that the is “the man in the sky” or some nebulous but benevolent force, it will be impossible to meaningfully pray the Lord’s Prayer, or to effectively use it as a template for our own prayer. If you only know Him as impersonal deity, the Lord’s Prayer is just a form. It is nothing more than an incantation.

Let us never mistake prayer for a magic formula. Prayer is communion with Father. The One who created you, loves you and is intimately familiar with who you are. 

Some have thought that it is only in the first line of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus reveals God as our Father. But Jesus has spoken to us of God as our Father seven times already. In 5:16, 45, 48, 6:1, 4, 6 and again here in verse 8. Perhaps just as well. It often needs to be repeated, because the idea of God Most High wanting such an intimate relationship with His fallen creation is staggering. It is not the kind of thing someone can tell you once and fully communicate. Like the Gospel itself, the God of the Gospel needs to be thought of over and over, communicated to you over and over, before the full truth of who He is and how relentlessly He loves you can even begin to sink in. That is a truth we’ll need a more than lifetime – perhaps all of eternity – to fully appreciate.

The beautiful relationship that exists between the Father and the Son is a picture of the relationship God desires to have with us.

Daniel L. Akin

APPLICATION: Intentionality

God is your Father. He knows what you need. Therefore, pray!

There is an art to listening. Listening is an active activity. It is not only  hearing, which  merely ranges in degrees of passivity – listening is active. Sometimes it is even strenuous. Many times it is not, but we cannot liken it to walking, or running, or even swimming. Those things we can do by ourselves. Listening is more like a team sport. It takes one plus more, it takes practice, and it takes intentional focus. Like exercise, those who practice it a great deal get better at it. At some point they get so good that all the effort they are putting into it appears effortless. That is when listening crosses into art. Like an Olympian going for the gold or a master painter, they make it look easy to understand others. 

The thing about listening well is that it is of tremendous help to the one being listened to. Even if no words are said at all. Like a good friend who comes to share in your grief, they sit in silence. You say nothing, but they hear all your pain. Listening entirely without words, they somehow pick up that pain. They absorb it into their own soul – their listening is a gift to you. A sacrificial and almost sacred thing. Or like the best of parents, sitting in the back of the school auditorium with a mile wide grin at your school play. Other people fill the room, and they hear everything you say. But your parents did not come to hear. They came to listen. Their presence is noted, their joy in you almost tangible. They soak in your words. They remember every line you speak.

Being heard when you communicate is necessary to joint participation in action. But being listened to results in more than exterior action. It changes you as a person. Always and without exception for the better; for to be listened to is to be loved. This is one of the deep truths about prayer. Even if we hear nothing from God, we know He is listening to us. Really listening. For He loves us. He truly, deeply loves us, more than any parent or the closest of friends. So He hears much more than our words. He hears our emotion behind the words, the inward reflection of our truest personality in even the most mundane of conversation. Even if we have nothing to say because of our grief, or too much to say because of our joy. 

Some would say that prayer is unnecessary, or ought to be unnecessary, because God already knows what we are going to say. But that is like saying that there is no point in speaking to a really good friend. Friends and lovers always have something to say to each other. In listening to each other, one actively demonstrates their love for the other, and one actively experiences love. The words we use are but a tool for communication. We use them because of our own limitation – our own inability to hear the soul apart from words.

That is why Jesus encourages to pray even though, “your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.” The One who loves us deeply and thoroughly is passionate about spending time with us. Even if, like a father with their toddler, the words we say are not likely going to educate, illuminate or better them. Listening is the gift of time, an investment in relationship. It is an investment He makes in us. Whenever, wherever and however we pray. Like art without a brush, prayer opens us as a canvas. It is an opportunity we make for Him to create in us a more beautiful expression of His glory.

The simple act of listening to a person talk it out is sometimes that greatest yet simplest way of loving someone well and deeply. When we listen well, we give our hearts to receive, our minds to process, and our souls to share the journey with a friend in need.

Stephen W. Smith

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Knowing God listens to us so intently, try to listen to Him today with a similar mindfulness.