Oh to hear your Prayer

Oh, to hear your prayer...

“Behold, he is praying.” Acts 9:11 ESV 

In heaven, prayers are instantly noticed. The moment Saul began to pray, the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor, brokenhearted person bends the knee but can only utter a prayer in the language of sighs and tears. Yet that groan makes all the harps of heaven thrill with music; your weeping has been captured by God and treasured in the depository of heaven. “You have collected all my tears in your bottle” (Psalm 56:8 NLT) implies that they are caught as they flow. Even if fear prevents our praying in words, we will be well understood by the Most High. We may only look up with misty eyes, but prayer is “the falling of a tear,” as James Montgomery wrote. Tears are the diamonds of heaven, and sighs are part of the music of Jehovah’s court, numbered with “the sublimest strains that reach the majesty on high.” Never think that your prayer, however weak or trembling, will go unheard. Jacob’s ladder is high, but our prayers will hang on the angel of the covenant, climbing with him on his starry rounds. Our God not only hears prayer, He loves to hear prayer: “He does not forget the cry of the afflicted” (Psalm 9:12 ESV). True, He does not pay attention to high looks and lofty words; He doesn’t care for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He disregards the swell of martial music; He does not respect the triumph and pride of humanity. But wherever there is a heart full of sorrow, a lip quivering with agony, a deep groan, or a repentant sigh, the heart of Jehovah is open. He marks us down in His registry of memory. He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of His book of remembrance; when that volume is finally opened, a precious fragrance will spring up from it. Faith asks no signal from the skies, To show that prayers accepted rise; Our Priest is in His holy place, And answers from the throne of grace. “O God, Who Didst Thy Will Unfold,” Josiah Conder (1836) - C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening 

My friend, please do not be disappointed nor discouraged by your efforts at praying to the Most High God of the Scriptures. 

We have several in our lives that take to discouraging us in our lives.  Our sin nature, obviously Satan's minions, and those in the world.  

Yet every spoken or unspoken prayer instantly finds itself heard in Heaven at the Throne of God. 

But why hasn't He answered? You may ask.  I ask you to turn your attention to the book of Daniel.  Read what is said of the battles that rage concerning answering prayer.  Battles rage, even though Satan is a defeated foe.  He has lost, yet is also a sore loser, who will try to use discouragement to disable believers. 

Oh how this is a truth in my life.  I have heard many a man and woman pray in their own way towards the God of Heaven. 

I have prayed on and off again about the same things and the big picture is God's working on it. The small picture that I often see is nothing is moving.  I continue to pray because that's what I have to do. Daniel didn't stop praying because he didn't get an answer.  

What is grandly difficult for believers to comprehend is that our understanding of an answer to prayer isn't always going to be what God does in response to prayer. 

I have heard many Godly men speak on the ways that God answers prayer. 

To put it all together, He answers in one of a few ways. 

No.

Yes.

Not right now. 

Wait, I have something better in mind. 

Prayer isn't a one-way list of needs and wants handed off to Jesus. 

Prayer is a change. A what? Yes, a change. 

When Jacob prayed an honest prayer about his brother Esau, God changed the attitude of his brother, but He also changed Jacob.

Saul, in all his misdirected zeal against Christianity in its infancy, was indeed praying to God throughout his life. On the road to Damascus, God changed Saul forever.  

Even Samson was changed by his last prayer.  He finally let go of himself and prayed the way he should have and God used his death to glorify God.

There is no small or great way to pray.

The honest and pure of heart is the one who prays the best.  Be it a child or an adult. Matters not.  

I still have things that stress me in life.  I have learned to pray conversationally more than any other way.  Look at Moses and David.  Moses was known as a friend of God. David was knownas as a man after God's own heart.  How did they get to be that way?  By being honest with themselves and with God.  Realizing there is nothing hidden in their hearts that Jesus doesn't see.

I have read of people describing our letting Christ into our hearts and lives as opening the door of our hearts and He comes in.  

Some believe He sits in that entryway and only goes into the rooms of our hearts as we let Him.  

My friend, Jesus isn't your Butler. He isn't your servant to only do as your heart desires. He is in your heart for to change it.  He will and has gone into every single room of your heart. Knows every secret. Knows every careless thought. Knows every intention behind your every action or thought.  He is God and we are not. 

Prayer is your heart speaking to His. Prayer is going to bring change because that's what prayer does. 

Prayer can be a thought, a word or a tear.

Prayer connects us to Jesus when all around us says it's impossible. 

I am still a work in progress.  My conversations with Jesus aren't with big words or grand thoughts.  They are probably the most disconnected things that have come out of me, but He understands.