How well do you hear God’s voice?

If Jesus promised that His sheep will hear His voice, and recognize that it’s Him (John 10:4-5). This should be our experience today. He doesn’t speak audibly to most of us, but He does speak clearly to our heart—if we’re listening.

When Jesus began to teach His disciples about prayer, He told them to go into a room (Matthew 6:6), the word He used was tameion which is sometimes translated “closet.” In the Greek of His day, tameion referred to a bedroom, the most private room of a home where intimacy developed between husband and wife. Jesus didn’t mean we must go into a bedroom or closet, but that we should follow His example and find time to be alone, in solitude with God (Matthew 14:23). By using the word tameion, Jesus is telling us that when we find such uninterrupted time to be alone with God, we can develop a relationship of intimacy with Him, intimacy of the heart and soul.

Quiet time alone with God provides an atmosphere in which we can best hear His voice, most often as we are prayerfully reading His Word. It doesn’t matter where or when we have this time, but we must make it a daily priority if we want to develop the communion of an intimate personal relationship with Him. Our service for Him, no matter how energetic and demanding, is no substitute. There is no substitute.

Does God hear every prayer?

“Help us to live with clean hands and pure hearts.” (James 4:8)

We would like to think God hears every prayer, but the Bible makes plain that’s not always so. There are times when God may choose not to listen, when He pays no attention to our prayers. Isaiah tells us our iniquities (unconfessed sins) separate us from God so that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:2). David says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened….” (Psalm 66:18) Unconfessed sins, sins that we cherish or hold onto, separate us from close, personal fellowship with God.

James puts it this way: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts….” (James 4:8) Isaiah, David, and James all address the impact of unconfessed sins on our prayer lives. We must take initiative to confess our sins and be forgiven (1 John 1:9), to wash our hands and purify our hearts if we want God to hear our prayers and have personal fellowship with us.

That’s why this is such a significant verse to pray. Can anything be more important to us than having our prayers heard (Psalm 65:1) and walking in close fellowship with God (1 John 1:3)?

Do you have any needs in your life?

“May we seek Your kingdom and righteousness first in our lives.” (Matthew 6:33)

Why, with so many practical, material needs always present in our lives, would we choose to suggest we pray this verse for each other, about seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness rather than His provision?

What makes this one simple verse a powerful and effective prayer?

Apart from the fact that this is the way we should all be living, the last half of this verse is a wonderful promise. It says when we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first in our lives “all these things will be given” to us as well.

What things? In the context of this passage, in Matthew 6:25-32 Jesus is saying we should not worry about the basic necessities of life—what we’ll eat, what we’ll wear. Instead, we should seek God’s kingdom and righteousness before everything else, and what we need to meet our needs will be given to us.

If you want to strengthen this brief prayer even more, add “May they seek You and Your kingdom and righteousness first in our lives,” because those who seek the LORD lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10, italics added).