Charles R. Swindoll - Hear Me When I Call: Learning to Connect with a God Who Cares

Hear Me when I CALL

Connecting with a God Who Cares

CHARLES R. SWINDOLL

Copyright 2013 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.

Published by Worthy Publishing, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., 134 Franklin Road, Suite 200, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027.

H ELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF G OD

eBook available wherever digital books are sold.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-936034-93-2 (hardcover w/ jacket)

ISBN: 978-1-936034-85-7 (international edition)

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Other Scripture quotations are taken from the following sources: The Holy Bible, New International Version ( NIV ), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The Message by Eugene H. Peterson ( MSG ). 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Good News Translation ( GNT ), Todays English Version, second edition, 1992 by American Bible Society. All rights reserved. J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. The King James Version of the Bible ( KJV ). Public domain.

Quote from J. Oswald Sanders in the introduction is taken from J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago: Moody, 1980), 103.

A portion of this book was derived from the previously published The Prayers of Charles R. Swindoll, Volumes 1 and 2.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com

For foreign and subsidiary rights, contact Riggins International Rights Services, Inc.; rigginsrights.com

Cover and Interior Design: Susan Browne Design

Cover Image: Getty Images; AVTG and JayneBurfordPhotography

Printed in the United States of America

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It is with great gratitude I dedicate this book to the congregation of Stonebriar Community Church with whom I pray each time we gather to worship our awesome God.

After more than five decades of ministry, Ive come to the conclusion that prayer is the easiest and, at the same time, the most difficult discipline a follower of Christ can engage in. Its easy because it involves something we do every day: talking. Thats what prayer is, talking with God. J. Oswald Sanders, in his wonderful book Spiritual Leadership, wrote, Prayer is the most ancient, most universal, most intensive expression of the religious instinct. It touches infinite extremes, for it is at once the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try and the sublimest strains that reach the Majesty on high. It is indeed the Christians vital breath and native air.

But prayer is also difficult. Why do we find it hard to breathe? Perhaps some of us are too lazy or impatient. Others of us are too embarrassed or ashamed to speak to God, thinking our petty problems too insignificant to bother the Lord of the universe. For many, and lets be honest here, prayer seems like were only talking into thin air or whispering in an empty room. We know God is present and hears our prayers, yet we have a strange feeling of distance and isolation.

Theres a near-truism among Christians that reveals much about our view and practice of prayer: When all else fails, try God. We make a reliable habit of praying as a last resort when life turns to chaos. Otherwise, prayer remains a sporadic and occasional exercise. But why? We know that through prayer we have access to the source of power. We know that God intervenes. We know that God honors it when we pause from our work, turn our hearts heavenward, and say, Lord, You take over. Why is it, then, that we pray only when were seized with panic or when we come to the end of our own resources?

I confess that the longer I live, the more rebuked I am over my own prayerlessness. I would love to tell you that I am a model of continued, constant, faithful prayer. I am a man of prayer. I do believe in prayer. But I am no different from anyone else. Many times, prayer is what I try only when everything else has failed. So I understand. We all need help, myself included. Sometimes its just hard to articulate what is within the depths of our hearts.

My hope is that this volume will help you put into words what your heart and soul are trying to say to the Lord. This collection of ninety prayers, selected from my years of ministry experience, is offered not because I consider myself eloquent but in hopes that they might minister to you in your needas if were praying them together. I encourage you to do more than just read these prayersmake them your own. To help you do that, I have included a devotional following each prayer to stimulate your thinking. I am extremely grateful to Wayne Stiles for his excellent assistance in helping me shape these devotionals into more meaningful and personal statements. It is our hope that these prayers and devotionals encourage you to make your entire life a prayer to God.

As you spend time in these pages, may you find the lungs of your prayer life beginning to fill with ever deepening and refreshing air. So breathe breathe deeply, as you spend time in the fresh air surrounding those all-important, intimate moments with God.

Chuck Swindoll

Frisco, Texas

S EEK FIRST H IS KINGDOM AND H IS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED TO YOU . M ATTHEW 6:33

How faithful you have been, our Father, over the many weeks of this past year. We pause to commit our lives to Your Son, Jesus Christ, afresh and anew, as if for the first time. We are thankful for the joy of knowing You and for those occasions during this past year when we have met You in unexpected ways. As we stand on the threshold of a new year, we thank You in advance for the fifty-two weeks that stretch out before us. Knowing that You are in charge, we accept whatever they may include.

We will seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness this year, knowing that all the other things we need will be added to these. Help us throughout the new year to stay focused on the eternal, rather than becoming distracted by and anxious over the temporal. As You meet our needsnot our greedsteach us contentment, joy, happiness, and fulfillment in the realities of life that only You make possible. As opportunities and privileges unfold before us this year, we pray You would find us faithful. After all, our lives are Yours and so it is right that we commit them to You.