440. God will hear
Zechariah 13:9b They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say; The Lord is my God.
The Lord God makes many promises to hear our prayers, so that we may have no doubt about it. He also predicts that His people will call on His name. When we pray in the name of Jesus (by faith in Him) to God our Father He will hear us. We never have to doubt or worry that God isn’t paying attention, or slumbering, or ignoring, or just turning us off. He always hears, listens and responds.
Of course, we know that He doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want, when we want, or what we want. But He hears. He cares. He listens. He responds. The reply may come back with a Yes, No, Depends, Later, or in My time. His promise to hear encourages us to pray. It is not a useless waste of time or an empty ritual. Our prayers have meaning, purpose and value. God cares about His children, their needs, their problems and their prayers.
The Spirit in us prompts us to pray for our needs, for people in need, for the Spirit, for His kingdom rule, for His will to be worked out, and for us to be better people who reflect God’s Love. The Spirit also helps us in our prayers and prays for us, even when all we can muster is a grunt or a groan. The Spirit takes our unspoken thoughts and sighs and turns them into articulate prayer according to God’s will.
The Lord says, “These are My people; I will listen to them.” We respond to His caring response by saying, “The Lord is my God.” We may not even be aware of it, but believers are actually praying all the time. The heart is always poised toward God, because He is here, and He hears. We really do “pray without ceasing.” The Psalmist says it literally this way, “I am prayer.” Remember that once you believe and are baptized you always have the Spirit living and active within, and He does not just rest and lie dormant there. He is always speaking to us, through us, and for us. Trust the promise: I will hear you.