He is Listening

He is longing to hear from us, for His children to speak to Him.

“ ⁶ 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. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” - Matthew 6:6-7

It can be quite intimidating when someone says a prayer using all the big, intelligent words of the English language. Sometimes, it can really help connect you with God, but more often than not, it can be distracting. If someone uses big, fancy words, I accidentally start thinking about what the words mean or how fancy they are rather than what I should focus on: God. I often wonder if the people who use big words in public also use them when they are in their quiet space with God. {Don’t get me wrong, if you are someone who naturally uses fancy words in your everyday speech, then DO NOT change}. Solitude is the freedom to come to God in whatever mood you are in without the pressure of anyone else’s thoughts, in an inconsolable mess or in the happiest mood ever. Our conversation with God in that secret place is whatever we feel at that moment. Sometimes, we have a list of things to ask for, but the Holy Spirit leads us in that conversation instead of on our own understanding. “ ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” - Romans 8:26. I know that I should pray every day, and I do. I certainly don’t always know what to pray for, though. Sometimes, it’s just “Jesus…Jesus…Thank you…Jesus… Amen”. I simply call on His name and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. God wants us to simply love Him completely and fully. ‘³⁷Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38). With that comes placing Him in his rightful place. I want to point out that God’s place never changes. He was, is, and will forever be the King of Kings, the most holy and high ruler seated in the Heavenly places. That is His rightful place, and God certainly doesn’t need reminding of that. When I say, ‘placing Him in His rightful place’, I mean in our hearts. In our souls and minds. We clear and cast out everything else that is taking up space and place God back where He belongs in us. We are not placed below the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but within it, as we are joined with Christ through His blood. We are adopted into Christ’s family as His brothers and sisters. “³³ Who are my mother and my brothers?” he {Jesus} asked. ³⁴ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35). We know that being a Christian literally means being ‘little Christ’, but we must first get rid of everything plaguing us from this world and fill up our hearts with Christ.

Prayer is one of the most powerful tools to connect with our Heavenly Father. For communication, humility and sincerity, faith and persistence, gratitude and praise. In my last post, I spoke about how fundamental our faith is, and prayer is one of the most prominent ways to maintain and strengthen our faith. It is about trusting that God hears us, listens to us, and can answer us. Prayer used to be quite scary for me. Praying in front of a group would include uncontrollable sweating and shaking. My heart would beat out of my chest and run back home, leaving me to find English words that make sense in a sentence. I could take an educated guess and say that many others probably can relate to that feeling.

Daniel provides a great example of prayer in the Old Testament—a perfect model of the majesty of talking with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is intimate and holy, repentant and full of love. There are no big, scary words, just a humble servant of God kneeling in confession of sin, gratitude, and praise. First and foremost, I want to point out the spiritual context of this prayer.

“ ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.” - Daniel 9:3-5

In these first 3 verses, Daniel readies his mind and heart with the correct attitude to come to the Lord. His humility is prominent as he submits to the Lord’s will and recognises His authority. As Daniel confesses his sins, he reveres God in all His splendour. He comes to God with a heart that is pleasing. He is praying in response to the Word of God, as he sits in sackcloth and ashes, he separates his mind, soul and heart from the teeth of pride.

“ ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God…” - Daniel 9:2-3

Verse 2 tells us that Daniel was well-versed in scripture. He knew God’s words and the messages from the prophets. Through this understanding, his prayer was born. The more we understand scripture, the more foundation we have to birth meaningful and well-guided prayers. We cannot govern our thoughts without understanding God’s mighty purpose and plans. We could pray to God to give us money for a new Ferarri, but when that doesn’t happen, we get mad that God isn’t listening or doesn’t want us to be happy. He is listening, but that certainly is not a part of His great plan, so don’t be surprised when it doesn’t happen. When we know the Word, we know what to pray for. God’s plans are solid and unfailing. Daniel knew the prophecy from Jeremiah about the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. The point of Daniel’s prayer was not to change God’s plans but to get his heart right with God. God doesn’t need our prayers for His plan to work; it will happen regardless, but we must get right with Him and pray according to and in line with His Word. We must identify ourselves with His plans. Daniel knew the Word, so prayed according to it, revering God and coming in humility. We can see how knowing the Word and prayer go hand-in-hand. If you read the Word and it doesn’t drive you into prayer, then I would say that you are not actually listening to what it is telling you. The Word of God should drive us to our knees to confess our sins, praise God, and show our gratitude.

In Ephesians 3, Paul says, “² …The administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, ³ that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. ⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.” - Ephesians 3:2-5. Paul is making it clear that he knows the New Testament understanding of Christ. He then says, “¹⁴ For this reason, I kneel before the Father”. He was driven to his knees in prayer to respond to God’s Word. We are called to respond when we hear the Word, and that response, the prayer we answer with, is us getting right with God, letting the Holy Spirit take action in us. We long to receive words of promise, blessing, life and love. We should hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, and we will be filled. (Matthew 5:6) What’s so awesome about Ephesians is that Paul explains the doctrine of salvation in the context of worship. The order is praise, prayer, preaching, prayer, praise, with the theme of the whole service as the power and purpose of God.

Daniel’s prayer makes me reflect on all the anxiety I used to feel about praying. The reason I felt anxiety was because of the people that were around me. Not the specific people, but people in general. I was so acutely aware of their presence that it impacted my communication with God. Daniel has absolutely no shame or anxiety in his time with God. He dresses in sackcloth, he comes with humility and confesses. He reveres God in all His might, and whether he was alone or surrounded by others, his prayer would not change. God sees all of us as equal. Uniquely and beautifully made. His children. So, why should it matter when there are brothers and sisters in Christ around me when I pray? We are all praying to the same God and have all fallen short of His glory. We all love God with all our hearts and wish to live this life in servitude to Him. So, why the anxiety?… Hello Satan… GOODBYE SATAN!… “In Jesus’ name, we cast out all anxiety that the devil tries to push on us. He has no power here.” That is a powerful prayer. Jesus’ name is SO powerful, beyond understanding, that anything evil will perish at the mention of His name. It’s so important to remember that in the face of anything not of God, especially when it comes to prayer.

If God can hear what we say out loud and in our heads and hearts, why do we have to make specific time for prayer? If we live true, born-again lives, then God knows that we know the Word and that our hearts are right. Surely? Well, like any relationship, it requires communication. If I stopped communicating with my boyfriend because I knew that he could read my mind and heart instead, the relationship would break down. It would become a silent relationship, cold and confused. An “I know you’re thinking it, why won’t you just say it” type of situation. For the record, he definitely cannot read my mind and absolutely requires my communication and honesty. As I do with him. God needs us to profess our love for Him and that Jesus is the King. Not for His benefit but for our benefit so that the Holy Spirit can work and that we may be saved. “⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9. If we cease to pray, then it starts to suggest that God is not a close, personal God who longs to commune with us. If we cease to communicate, then Jesus would have died for a world of sinners who don’t mean to repent. Now, I can pray not by my will alone, but by the Father’s will. In a relationship, we help each other, build each other up and support. God does that better than anyone and sends His Holy Spirit to lead us. Like a mother guides her children and like a father leads the family. So, we pray from God’s Word, grounded in God’s will, with fervency… very important. Praying passionately with determination, fixating our faces on God, and glorifying Him. Daniel is so intentional with his prayer. In verse 3, he writes, “I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes”. He prayed without ceasing with everything he had and more as Jesus poured out His oil of grace into his heart. This society is full of short spurts. Everything is always about how to be quicker, more efficient, time-saving and all the rest. Sitting and spending a long time on something seems like a hard task, but God calls us to give Him our everything. He calls us to take our time and sit in His presence. God misses us when we do not dwell in Him, and He longs for us. We don’t know how long Daniel was praying, but we know that he was fasting, which would suggest a fair while.

Daniel’s prayer inspires me and has made me reflect on how I pray. Maybe I should reevaluate certain aspects of my prayer life. Guess that’s between me and God! Next up: How do we listen to God?

Lord Jesus, thank you for being an accessible, personal and loving God. Thank you for hearing us wherever we are, no matter what we do. You hear the deepest, most intimate parts of our hearts and know what we need before we even realise it ourselves. Please help us to remain faithful in prayer and spend time in your presence. Help us understand your word and sew it into our hearts so we may become more like you every day.

Amen🙏🏼