Prayer

Easy Listening

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But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.             James 3:17 ASV

If you asked our sons who they liked going hiking with, they would have pointed to me; but if you asked them who they talked to when they were in trouble; that would have been their mom. It’s not so much that Nancy went easy on them, but, she made them feel welcome to tell her their problems. She was easy to be entreated.

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James tells us that we need to ask God for wisdom and that among its qualities is being easy to be entreated. Maybe some of us struggle with making others feel welcome to share their troubles; because we don’t believe that God will listen to ours. But the amazing truth is that God welcomes us when we come with problems or even just small stuff that we struggle with.

 

Always remember that God never asks us to do anything that He hasn’t already done Himself. He is easy to be entreated; willing to listen and ready to teach us to listen to others, when we ask.

The Secret Place

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But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  Matthew 6:6

In  the year 1800 John Adams and his wife moved into the residence today known as the White House. The building was reconstructed after the British burned it down, and remodeled many times. Through all the history that had passed it has never been a secret where it is and that it is the home of the president of the United States. But if we want our president to listen to our request the trick is to get an appointment to meet him there.

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Photo by Aaron Kittredge on Pexels.com

The same is true with our place of prayer. When Jesus told us to go into the “secret place with God”, He wasn’t referring to some mystical hidden location. We don’t need to find some place that no one knows about where we can hide while we pray. We pray simply must be sure that the words we say are intended for God’s ears alone. We must be careful to not try and impress others either by the way we pray or how often. God’s appointment calendar will always open for us if we come in honesty and humility. In fact the most important part of our prayer is not the words we use, but in the answer God gives. When our hearts are right we will discover that God’s ears are always open and that He is prepared to listen to anyone who comes into His secret place. P1010570

Knock – Knock

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Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 ESV

“Knock knock – who’s there?” go the opening lines of some of my favorite childhood jokes but I almost never could guess what the person asking me was going to say. In the Bible Jesus says two things about knocking that leave me scratching our heads for answers.

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He begins talking about prayer as if it were like a visit to a friend’s house. It all sounds great in the Bible; that all I have to do is ask, or go looking for something or knock on a door and boom…I get what I want. But what about those times when we asked and nobody answered. What is God telling us when we sometimes seek for years and still don’t find. Or does he even hear me when I have struggled just to find the door and when I got there it seemed to be locked?

But the teaching of Jesus is true. God always listens to His children, but His pause before the answer is usually longer than we like. He has been watching as we looking in all the wrong places; waiting patiently for us to come to Him. He has not locked us out, and in fact He has left His own home and stands outside our door knocking. He has made it our choice to open to invite Him in to stay.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20 KJV