God Hears Us

This morning as I walked Percy I listened to a sermon on my iPad by Matt Chandler from Village Church. He has preached a whole series on the book of Habbakuk, and I was listening to the 2nd sermon in the series.
The message was simple and profound. God hears us when we pray, and He responds.

Such a simple message, but one that I haven't really heard deep down in my soul.

I have always known that God hears prayer. I have memorized the BIble verses that talk about it, most recently these verses from I John 5:
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

But I have still wondered if He hears my prayers. I feel at times like my prayers don't make it farther than my own bedroom. I must not have enough faith, or know enough about God, or are good enough, or maybe I'm not praying the right things or spending enough time praying.

Matt Chandler showed me from scripture that it really doesn't have anything to do with me. It's all about God. (And really, all of life is really all about God!)

Matt talked about Habbakuk, who was wondering why God was allowing things to happen. And God responds. Matt shared other examples from scripture - God heard baby Ishmael's cries and responds. He heard the cries of His people in the wilderness, even though they didn't believe He was taking care of them. There are lots of examples in the Bible - or normal, human, sinful people who cried out to God, and He heard them. He heard them, and responded.

Because He is God.

Do you hear the message for you and me?

God hears my prayers, and He hears yours. The Bible says he knows our thoughts, He knows how many hairs we have on our heads, He knows us intimately. And He loves us. So He hears our prayers and responds.

Are we listening for His response?

Or are we only listening for the answer we want to hear?

Rest today in the knowledge that you don't need to be a theologian, or a pastor, or a missionary, or some super spiritual person in order for God to hear your prayers.

He hears every prayer you pray. And He responds!