Countryman - God listens: praying with passion and power

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God Listens

2013 by Jack Countryman

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.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-2230-5

Printed in China

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For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.... Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

JEREMIAH 29:1113

CONTENTS

SPECIFIC PRAYERS
LOVE

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,

And the LORD listened and heard them;

So a book of remembrance was written before Him

For those who fear the LORD

And who meditate on His name.

They shall be Mine, says the LORD of hosts, On the day that I make them My jewels.

And I will spare them

As a man spares his own son who serves him.

MALACHI 3:1617

Wherever you are, whatever youre doing,

Every minute, day or night,

I WILL LISTENwhen you speak to Me.

Come to Me with a soft heart, a humbled heart,

An expectant heart, a heart alert for My voice.

I WILL LISTENto everything you say.

Speak to Me of your hearts desires, your dreams, your hopes;

Share your concerns and your fears.

I WILL LISTEN, for I have chosen you to walk with Me,

And I will give you guidance and hope, peace and rest.

Remember to start each day with Me,

And remember that I walk beside you as the day unfolds.

I WILL LISTENto you whenever you speak.

Know that no concern of yours is too small for Me to care about,

And know that no mountain is too high for Me to help you climbor for Me to remove.

I WILL LISTENas you talk to Me

About both the little and the large in your life.

Keep in mind that nothing about you is hidden from Me;

You need not carry a load of guilt and regret.

I WILL LISTENwhen you confess,

And I will forgive you.

I will redeem the missteps and their consequences.

Open My Word and hear My voice.

Read My Word to reinforce your heart with My truth.

Meditate on My Word, and use them freely in your prayers.

I WILL LISTENfor you to call.

I wait for you with open arms of love and care.

Never hesitate to start a conversation,

To pick up where we left off,

Or to simply tell Me Thank You or I love You.

I WILL LISTEN.

P rayerthe freedom to talk with the Almighty God, Creator and King, Shepherd and Fatheris beyond question the greatest privilege bestowed upon the human soul. God invites us to turn to Him and talk to Him as we do with our closest human friend. This approach to prayer, however, can be very uncomfortable, if not very difficult, for many believers.

Communication with God is vital for our spiritual health and growth as well as for maintaining a strong walk with God. Furthermore, it has been said that each one of us stands tallest when we are on our knees. No wonder, then, that we often find ourselves sidetracked or distracted: the enemy works hard to introduce errors into our understanding of and commitment to a passionate and powerful prayer life.

Prayer is indeed the noblest activity of the human soul, and it also reveals much about an individuals spiritual condition. Are we spending time alone with God? And when we do, are we all there, ever present in the moment and focused on hearing His voice as well as sharing our heart? Or is prayer way too often merely a rote exercise, a mechanical playing out of what we know is good to do? May every one of us Christ-followers be so focused on God that communion with Him is natural, continuous, and life giving.

God longs for us to spend time with Him in prayer. He patiently waits for us to go to Him, and He listens attentively to our prayers. He blesses these times by lifting our eyes beyond our little world and selfish desires, by tuning our heart to the realities of His sovereignty, righteousness, and majesty. God also blesses our prayer time by conforming our desires and purposes to His will for His glory. No wonder prayer brings power and passion to our daily lives!

The Lord has also given His peopleincluding you and meprayer as a weapon for the spiritual war being waged 24/7. Prayer is to be our drawn sword as we battle against the power of darkness. We keep that sword sharp by continually communicating with God, and this ongoing conversation happens when we let everything we see and experience become a matter of prayer. This ongoing conversation also enables us to be more keenly aware of and more fully surrendered to our heavenly Father. When we are tempted, we can bring the temptation before God and ask for His help. When we experience something wonderful and good, we can thank God for blessing us with that gift. When all of lifes circumstances and all of our thoughts and deeds become our opportunity to commune with our loving heavenly Father, we are leading a nourishing and God-glorifying life of prayer.

And the right attitude is essential for that kind of life. Our Father knows the thoughts we have in the privacy of our hearts without our even putting them into words. When He sees that He is the true focus of our prayers, we will receive a certain peace that only He can give. Our sincere and humble approach to our heavenly Father pleases Him.

One of the beautiful things about our gracious God is that He listens to us when we go to Him with an open heart, when we are sincerely seeking His will and direction for our lives. Many times in todays secular culture, we are easily drawn away from God. But when we stay close to Godwe will live in His presencewhen we talk with Him about every thought, event, question, feeling, and decision in our days. Prayer always draws us closer to our heavenly Father.

The holy Scripture is the spiritual food that nourishes and strengthens our relationship with God. When we choose to make Scripture a key element of our prayers, Gods Word comes alive with relevance, significance, and truth. We receive the very breath of God as we communicate with our heavenly Father in prayer and through His Word.