God Sees Us And Hears Us

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again dear radio friends. How in the world are you? Doin’ all right? I trust so. For many of you this is Thanksgiving Day, and we have so much to be thankful for, don’t we? I’m thankful for a happy home, and dear Christian children, grandchildren, and 54 years with my better half — the Lord spared us to each other; that’s something to be grateful isn’t it? So many people have had their hearts broken by losing a loved one. And I realize that and I thank God for it.

I had a Christian mother and father, Christian upbringing. And then for all the many things the Lord has done through the passing years, where He’s guided and protected and provided, from the days when I would be praying for enough to buy food for one meal when I was starving my way through Wheaton College (Laughs). I would actually pray, “Lord get me enough so I can get somethin’ to eat tonight.” And He never failed, never failed.

I didn’t always get money from what I was working because I had an arrangement with the, with the boss at that time. I worked in, in a garage in those, in those early years of college life. And he had an arrangement that he had to pass the breakeven point so far as income was concerned, every day, before I got anything. (Laughs) That wasn’t bad for him, but it was rough on me sometimes I’ll tell you (Laughs) Oh, but God answered prayer in those days and in the years that have followed. How precious, how wonderful our Lord is. Bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Lots to be thankful for, even when we’re in trouble or sorrow or, or distress or need, we still have a lot for which we need to praise the Lord

Small thought here: the next time you’re under pressure, would you look up and, and start praising the Lord? You will be amazed as how it, it changes not only your mood but also the circumstances oftentimes, because praise opens the door to miracle. Praise and obedience opens the door to miracle. And so the next time you’re under pressure of any kind, just look up and just start praising the Lord for the things you know you ought to praise Him for. “In everything,” it says, “Give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you.” Didn’t say ‘for everything’, he says ‘in everything’.

When you’re in a situation where trials are piling around you and the world seems to be falling in on you… — that happens sometimes, I know how it feels, believe me. In those situations you can look up and say, “Lord I love you, I worship you, I praise you for what you are and all you mean to me; for the precious blood that was shed on Calvary, and for salvation by grace through faith, plus nothing; and for the providential care that watches over me; for the angels that are around me; for the Holy Spirit that dwells within me as He dwells within each believer. Thank you blessed Lord, I praise your name. Oh hey, that’s going to make a difference, I promise you.

Well how did I get into all that? That was because I started thinking that some of you are listening on Thanksgiving morning, I guess. My mother and father were, were married on Thanksgiving Day many, many years ago. So I’ve got lots to be thankful for, believe me.

Well, come with me to 1 Peter 3. We’re in this passage where he says, “You are called to inherit a blessing,” and that means ‘get a blessing and be a blessing’. That’s the way I’ve looked at it with you. And what’s involved in the life of being a blessing? Good days, days that are good because God is running them; and a tongue that says the right things, no manipulative words; hate evil; do good; seek peace and pursue it.

All of these things we talked about. A life of blessing involves all these things. Then he says, “It’s the realization that the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous. To realize as you live, that God sees you.” What am I going to do today? I’m going to get in the car, and I’m going here and there and the other place. And as you start your day you look heavenward and say, “Lord I know You see me, and I know that Your eyes are open to me. Now watch over me, and keep your hand on me. Keep me from grieving the Spirit of God who indwells me. And let me be a blessing.”

You live with the solid knowledge that God sees you. And as David Morkan, my dear friend of many years said to me one time as we knelt to pray together. He said, “Bob, God will not make any discoveries about you before you say ‘Amen’.” He knows it all already, God sees me, and so that’s the way I should live. And then I pray with the realization that God hears me, His ears are open under their prayers. How can God run all of this big universe and yet hear the prayer of one individual among six billion people? Nearly six now I guess, used to be four but it’s multiplying so fast that it’s goin’ on up there, isn’t it?

How can God hear the pray, the cry, of one believer out of all of those millions that are calling upon Him? That’s because He’s God. You know, we have no difficulty understanding that one recording tape can have as many as 20, or 30, or 40 inputs to it. That means that many different channels coming in on one tape; we don’t have any trouble on that, do we? So that when the tape is played back it re-, it records faithfully, and reproduces faithfully, all of those many different musical messages that were played into the one recording tape.

We know, that doesn’t upset us any. We know that that’s true. Is it, is it therefore hard for you to realize that the God who built the universe, and who is almighty, and all knowing, and eternal; should He have any difficulty in getting all of the heart cry messages that are sent up through the transmitter of faith, to His heavenly presence? No he has no difficulty at all; His ears are open to their cry.

You know, God’s attention to you can be likened to the way a mother listens for her child. Mother can be in the kitchen, by an ironing board, ironing. And the baby is in the other room. Let say the, the youngster is — oh let’s say he’s one-and-a-half maybe, or two, playing. And every now and again he’ll call, “Mama,” and she’ll say, “Ha-ha,” or, “Hoo-hoo,” you know. And that call means, “I’m here, and everything’s all right.”

Then all of a sudden there’s a crash and you hear a different kind of a, a cry. The baby’s wail now is different. It’s got stress and, and fright and maybe hurt in it. She lays the iron carefully down on the ironing board, and she goes on into the other room quickly to find out what happened. He maybe knocked a vase over or something. But she, she was listening for the cry. As, as long as she was in contact, she was listening. And the minute the cry took on a strident, stressful tone, she was there on the job.

Well all of you mothers and grandmas, and maybe some of the grandpas, know about that. Your heavenly Father is listening for the cry. Now sometimes we pray not to say ideally, but casually. Is that a good word to use there? We pray casually like the little baby saying, “Hoo-hoo.” And mother says, “Hoo-hoo.” Huh? We pray casually sometimes, and that’s no sin particularly, except that it, it doesn’t really get much of an answer because it doesn’t ask for one.

But then sometimes, beloved, the pressures of life get to us and we come down on our knees and we pray, “Oh God I’ve got to have an answer on this.” And we pray earnestly. “The effectual-fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” says James. ‘Effectual-fervent’ is one word that means ‘boiling and bubbling and, and bubbling over’. Oh, the prayer that boils up from a heart that is deathly in earnest! Huh? He says, “His ears are open unto their cry. God is listening to hear you when you really call on Him.

Have you learnt to pray with that kind of intensity? It certainly does not depend upon how loud the prayer is. Some people think if they pray louder, God will hear. No, that isn’t it. And Jesus cautioned us against vain repetitions such as the heathens use. We have a lot of, of, of meaningless expression with which we interlard our prayers, many times. Lot of people use, use, ‘Dear heavenly fathers’ and, and ‘O Lords’, and the, the catch-all verb ‘bless’, so that a lot of the things we pray about are couched in language that isn’t particularly resultful.

And the reason being that we haven’t put much thought into it. It’s a, some of our praying at least — I hope I’m not being too hard on us, am I? I, I guess I just look at myself and figure maybe I’m a little bit like you. (Laughs) Some of our praying doesn’t have the, the desperate tone of earnestness to it. And some of it is interlarded with expressions that are there just to fill up the sentence with a paragraph, you follow me? But when we really get down to business with God…

Billy McCarroll, of loving memory now — he’s with the Lord a good many years — he used to be Pastor there in Cicero Bible Church. He used to say, “You get definite with God, He’ll get definite with you.” You remember that, you people who live in the Chicago area? “You get definite with God, He’ll get definite with you.” What’s he saying? He said, “Get down to business and really pray. You’re going to get your answer. His ears are open to their prayers.”

Let’s get away from casual praying; let’s really mean business with God when we pray. Now I know some of you will write me and say, “Brother Cook I’ve been praying, and nothin’s working.” Somebody’s terribly lonely and you’ve been praying for somebody to share your life, and nothing shows up. Somebody’s broke, and you’ve been praying for money and there doesn’t seem to be anything except too much month at end of the money. And you say to me, “Brother Cook, you talk about really praying in earnest. I’ve been praying.” I know. But Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Don’t give up.

Most of the times when I have been complaining to God about the way things were not working the way I wish they would, He was getting ready really to bless me in a great way. Do remember that God hasn’t quit working with you simply because you don’t see things happening the way you want them. Keep on praying. There used to be a little chorus we sang, ‘Just keep on praying till the light breaks through. Our God will answer, He’ll answer you. He keeps His promise. His word is true. So just keep on praying, till the light breaks through’.

I have to tell you, I have never been in a situation where I waited on God until I got through, so to speak, to Him, but that I got results. If you’ll pray through — it’s the old-time holiness expression, praying through; if you’ll pray until the Holy Spirit of God who indwells the believer, witnesses with your Spirit, that God is sending an answer back from the blue, you’re going to get results. Well, we’ll talk about this some more the next time we get together. God bless you. Keep praying.

Dear Jesus, we’re yours. Today we give ourselves to thee, asking that the Holy Spirit of God may help us pray according to the will of God, and get results. In Jesus name. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!