November 8 – The Offering That Is Due

“Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.  O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.”  Psalm 65:1-2 (ESV)

These verses remind us of several reasons why God's people come to Him.  Just as His people were used to going to Jerusalem to praise God so we have the same desire and opportunity wherever we are.  We can praise Him any time, any place, in our hearts.  It does not matter where we are and we don't have to be at any special place or take any specific posture. There are no required or set words that must be repeated but the words of our prayers should include words of Praise to our God.  As we turn to the Lord we remember the promises we have made to Him.  We don't need to go to the temple or to a church building to fulfill our vows for we can renew our promises as we draw near to Him anyplace, with our supplications and thanksgiving. And, of course we know that we can approach God in prayer because He does hear our prayer.  What a joy it is to remember just as David did in our verse today that our praise is due to God who promises to hear our prayers of praise. 

 

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June 24 – Importance of His Will

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” 1 John 5:14 (ESV)

Knowing that God has promised eternal life when we believed on the name of the Son of God, gives us confidence and certainty in our lives as Christians. We have a wonderful promise today but we need to be careful to understand it rightly. Many these days speak of “praying” for others. People reach out to friends and friends of friends asking for prayer and receive assurances that the “prayers are being sent up.” But can just anyone who prays know for certain that God even hears? Does God answer and deliver on any and all prayers?” Our verse today gives us confidence that God will hear us but consider this very important condition. “…that if we ask anything according to His will...” To pray according to God’s will is to pray in accord with what He has told us He wants, not simply what we decide or desire we need. God may not respond to prayer made by those who do not believe on Him. God does not respond or answer prayers that are contrary to His will. God hears the prayers which are according to His will, not just according to our will only. 

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July 25 – It's True – Hear and Believe

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”  John 5:24 (NASB)

In today's selected verse we have words spoken by Jesus to remind us that He came to make it possible for us to have eternal life.  When we believe His word, we receive that life even while we continue in our bodies and their temporal state.  Jesus reminds us that His teachings, while He was here on earth, are very important in bringing us eternal life and leading us along in faith.  We need to remember what Jesus said in our verse about our position today.  By faith in Jesus we now have eternal life and we have crossed over from death to life.  Let's be sure we live that way today.  If we are alive with eternal life we live for today looking forward to living forever because of the promise of Jesus in our verse.  Read it again and rejoice that if we have believed in His word, we have also passed out of eternal death into eternal life.  

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July 6 – An Ear to Hear

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”   Revelation 3:20 (NASB)

This verse from The Revelation of Jesus Christ is often used as an image that Christ is knocking on a person's heart door, asking to come in. Christ does seek to be invited into our hearts but more accurately in the context, this verse is a lesson in the manner that Christ was seeking to enter the church at Laodicea. That church claimed the name of Christ but did not have a single true believer (Read: Revelation 3:14-22).  It is a reminder of the invitation from our Lord to those who claim to be Christians but have not accepted Jesus as their true Lord and Savior.  In this verse the promise is for the church that this letter was sent to.  If one member would recognize his spiritual bankruptcy and respond in saving faith, He would enter the church.  The promises of God are given to those who are true believers and hear what the Spirit says to them.  Just claiming to be a Christian without knowing Christ as Lord and Savior is not the way to know the promises of God.  

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February 24 – Tuned In

“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.”  Psalm 34:15 (ESV)

We have an encouraging promise in our verse today.  We hope that those who read this are indeed among the righteous because they have believed in Jesus as their Savior and have become righteous by faith in the work God has done in our lives.  We are accepted and adopted into God's family.  We are made righteous not on our own effort but by receiving the righteousness offered to us by Jesus' death and resurrection on our behalf.  We have this close relationship with God by faith.  Our Lord God has His eye on us.  He is watching us and is aware of all that we do, say, and think. He knows all of our needs.  Our Lord God also is attentive to our needs as we express them through thought and prayer.  We are in His thoughts and He is tuned in to us in every way.  Today, let's remember this promise.  Our wonderful God sees us, hears  us and he keeps us in our Christian lives.  

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November 8 – Offering What is Due

“Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.  O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.”  Psalm 65:1-2 (ESV)

These verses remind us of several reasons why God's people come to Him.  Just as His people were used to going to Jerusalem to praise God so we have the same desire and opportunity wherever we are.  We can praise Him anytime in our hearts.  It does not matter where we are and we don't have to be at any special place or take any specific posture.  As we turn to the Lord we remember the promises we have made to Him.  We don't need to go to the temple to fulfill our vows for we can renew our promises as we draw near to Him anyplace. And, of course we know that we can approach God in prayer because He does hear our prayer.  What a joy it is to remember just as David did in our verse today that our praise is due to God who promises to hear our prayers of praise.  

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July 6 – Listening In

“Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.”  Malachi 3:16 (NIV)

We believe that God hears us when we pray to Him. But is that the only time He hears us? Does he sometimes overhear what we are saying – especially about Him?  We know the answer when we recognize that God know everything because He is omniscient.  But it is more than that and the prophet Malachi addresses this question in our verse today.  Notice that our Lord listens in when we talk to each another.  Our verse tells us that He pays special attention when our conversations honors Him and shows Him the respect He is worthy of and deserves from us. And, He keeps record of what He hears.  Often, we forget that our God is so involved in our activities.  We can honor Him and show due respect to Him by our conversations with each other.  And, when we do, God will know and He will remember it forever. What a wonderful God we have who promises to remember the honor we give Him in our daily conversations with friends and family.  

January 17 – In Any Circumstance

“When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.” Jonah 2:7 (NIV)

Prayer to God is often offered when we find ourselves in dire circumstances – even circumstances that are the result of choices and actions we have taken which are not the best or wisest. Our verse today is from a very unusual prayer which was offered from within the belly of a great fish. It is Jonah, God's prophet, who prayed these words after first refusing and then trying to run from the assignment God had given him. What we learn from this is that God never gives up on us and He will hear us when we pray. It does not matter where we are, in any circumstances we find ourselves in.  At the end of this prayer, God causes the great fish to vomit Jonah out onto dry land.  We do have a wonderful God – the same God to whom Jonah had prayed. He promises to listen to our prayers and is ready to respond. When our circumstances turnout to be threatening and serious, be like Jonah, don't give up,  no matter where you find yourselves, God is there as well.  

August 28 – Able to Overcome

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”  Revelation 2:7  (NIV)

This promise was given by our Lord Jesus through the Apostle John to be passed on to Christians and we believe it is a promise for us. Jesus knows that life here on this earth is not an easy life. He knows that we face difficulties, discouragements, problems, and even hostilities as we live the Christian life here. He want us to overcome these difficulties and has offered to help us. Jesus knows too, that with His help we can overcome. That is why He promises to reward us when we get to heaven. Yes, we have the prospect of eating from the tree of life and we'll keep  on doing that forever because that how long we'll be there. If we have ears, let's hear and let's believe the promise. 

May 11 – Listen, Know, Follow

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (NIV)

When Jesus was on this earth walking among the people he used familiar words to describe Himself – one of them was when he described Himself as the Good Shepherd. He called His followers His sheep. Here we read that followers of Jesus listen to His voice. That means, of course, that Jesus is speaking to His followers. We believe that He does this in various ways. We hear his voice as we read the Bible or as we listen to others reading from it. He has so much to tell us. When we read in the Old Testament we can sense Him speaking to us. He speaks to us in the New Testament too.  We can hear Him in the record of His teaching to the disciples and the people. We can hear his voice in the letters written to the churches. Jesus also speaks to us in our hearts through our consciences and He uses the Bible to confirm what he says. Let's be sure we're listening, and when we hear his voice, let's follow.

March 25 – God Hears Our Call

“As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” Psalm 55:16-17 (NIV)

The words in this Psalm, written by King David were a prayer of praise and cry for help to God, who is the same as our God for there is only one God. There are many things in this world that have changed since David wrote this song but our God in heaven has not changed. God heard when David called out to Him. He also hears when we cry out in our distress. God hears our voice just as David knew that his voice was heard by God. David also knew that God did not keep office hours. Evening, morning and noon we can turn to him to save us. All day and all night God can and will hear our prayers. We do not have to watch the clock and we do not have to keep appointed hours for prayer. Whenever we have a need of fellowship or even have a need to praise and offer thanksgiving we can pray.

May 30

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”  1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)

These are probably well-known verses, but we need to be reminded of this truth. The important factor in getting answers to our prayers is asking according to God’s will. How can we know what God’s will is? One way is to read His Word.  God tells us in the Bible what he wants to do in this world – what His will is. Another way is to depend on God’s Holy Spirit to guide us as to what to pray for. If He leads us in our thinking and praying then we can be sure He is listening and will answer. Has God given you something specific to pray for? Pray for it according to His will.