Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of an unknown singer singing… You Hear Our Prayers … poignantly singing the truth that Jesus ALWAYS hears the prayers of any desperate believer.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Nehemiah 2:4-5 … [NLT] …
4 The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” … With a prayer to the God of heaven, 5 I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.”
… God hears even the smallest prayer from those who believe in Him.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Nehemiah 2:1-9 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Nehemiah, in desperation, whispers a brief prayer; and God was listening.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Psalm 116:1-2, 145:18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God shows that He ALWAYS bends down to listen to even the smallest voice of a true believer.
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … Matthew 7: 7-8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus promises that God ALWAYS HEARS those who keep on asking.
Reference Passage #3 [NKJV] : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul teaching on the fruitlessness of worry and our ability to take our needs to God ... anytime, … anywhere.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, used a personal story to show the difference between our ability to shut down communication and God’s willingness to ALWAYS hear our prayers. The ODB author wrote: Dad was a man of few words. He had hearing damage due to years of military duty and wore hearing aids. One afternoon when Mom and I were talking a little longer than he thought necessary, he responded playfully, “Whenever I want peace and quiet, all I have to do is this.” Lifting both hands in a single motion, he turned off both hearing aids, folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes in a serene smile.
We laughed. As far as he was concerned, the conversation was over!
Yeah, we can shut down and refuse to listen almost anytime we wan’t, can’t we? Well, maybe not by shutting off our hearing aid; but mostly just by attending to something else, we can shut out others. And that is becoming all too prevalent in our fast-paced, high-tech informational age, isn’t it? We all too often would rather pay attention to a smart-phone screen than to really hear the needs of others.
But as we see from God’s truth and promises today above, … our Lord ALWAYS hears the pleas and prayers of any/all who believe on Him and bring their needs to Him. Yes, He may say “NO” or “WAIT,” but as the song linked above reminds us, Jesus always listens. In fact, according to the image I love in Psalm 116:1-2, our God bends down to hear even the quiet pleas of someone with the smallest voice (as He did with Nehemiah in today’s highlight passage).
And if we come to Him today, … even right now[!] … we need not worry about anything (see Phil. 4:6-7) because He will hear our prayers.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … dear Lord, … thank You for hearing me even today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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