Here’s an astonishing thought… our prayers are instantly noticed in Heaven.
In today’s world of instant information and connected people, we can never match the degree to which God has made Himself accessible to us through the simple act of a humble prayer.
There are no busy signals or jumps to voicemail. No ‘signal lost’ messages or alerts that we have run out of minutes. We never find Him away at meetings or too occupied with some emergency to give us His attention.
Prayer gains an audience with heaven in the dead of night, in the midst of work, in the heat of noonday, in the shades of evening. In every condition, whether in guilt, or poverty, or sickness, or obscurity, or slander, or doubt, your God who calls you His friend will welcome your prayer. Your prayer is never futile.
Too often, the impediment is on our end. We neglect, ignore, and doubt prayer’s power. Just as tragically, there are times when we feel we are too unworthy or unprepared to approach His immense Throne.
We may reason: ‘Surely, God has seen my hypocrisy… my repeated failures… my deliberate disobedience. How could I dare to approach a Holy God when I'm like this?’
There’s an amazing account in the book of Acts; after Saul encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, we see how the Lord appeared to Ananias with a remarkable announcement – “Saul is praying” (Acts 9:11).
Saul had been a cruel and proud man who persecuted, imprisoned, and killed Jesus’ followers. If there was ever a man who didn’t deserve for God to hear him, it was this man. Yet, we see the opposite – God was listening to Saul in his darkest hour.
To paraphrase some of Charles Spurgeon’s words: ‘The poor, spiritually impoverished, and broken-hearted soul who bends his knee may only cry to God in the language of sighs and tears, yet that groaning makes all the harps of heaven ring with the music of God’s stirred heart.’
“Tears are the diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's court, and are numbered with the sublimest strains that reach the majesty on high." ~ C. Spurgeon
Never think that your prayers, though they may be weak and trembling, are ever unregarded.
"He forgets not the cry of the humble." Psalm 9:12
It is, instead, the proud and lofty prayer that God ignores. He is unimpressed by the pomp and pageantry of kings or the triumphs of proud men and women.
Yet wherever there is a soul swollen with sorrow, a lip quivering with agony, a deep groan, or a penitential sigh, then you can be sure that God’s heart is deeply moved by it.
“He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of his book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom.”
Prayer is our strongest defense.
“Prayer is an open door which none can shut. Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open…” ~Spurgeon
We may not often get exactly what we ask for when we pray, but we always get what we need, which is often a more incredible blessing than we expected. God is not obliged to answer his children according to the words of their prayer. He answers according to the needs of their spirit. When we are seeking physical healing, can we complain when He instead provides an even more profound spiritual healing through our sickness?
In eternity, we will be more grateful for the crosses that sanctified us than for the ones He removed.
When you think about it, prayer is a privilege beyond anything we deserve, or could ever hope for...
"Their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven." — 2 Chronicles 30:27
Inspired by C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, November 3rd
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