Jeremiah 33:3 - Prayer Brings Peace And Power!
Jeremiah 33:3 - Prayer Brings Peace And Power!
Jeremiah 33:3 (HCSB) Call to Me and I will answer you and tell
you great and wondrous things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3 (MsgB) Call to me and I will answer you. I'll
tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure
out on your own.
If God already knows everything, doesn't he know what we need?
What good does it really do to pray? In this verse the Lord instructs
Jeremiah to "ask." In many other places in Scripture, God similarly
instructs his people to pray. Why?
While it's true that God knows our needs and even knows before
we ask what we're going to ask for, he wants us to pray because of
the effect it will have on us. When we go to God in prayer with our
requests, we grow in our trust in him. We acknowledge our need for God,
and we express and build our confidence in God's ability and
willingness to meet our needs.
Prayer is not a way for us to control God, as if he is some
cosmic grandfather, ready to give us whatever we want. Instead, prayer
puts us under God's control when we humbly submit our concerns and
requests to him. Prayer is a gift from God giving us the opportunity to
draw close to him as we rely on him to do and provide what's best for
us. [The One Year Bible for New Believers re Jer. 33:3]
The prophet Jeremiah was not a popular man. When he declared
the truth God had given him--that Judah would soon start seventy long
years in captivity--the people threw him into prison.
Yet in such dire circumstances, Jeremiah learned something
profound about prayer. Jeremiah 33:1-3 says: "The word of the Lord came
to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court
of the prison, saying, 'Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord
who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): "Call to Me,
and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which
you do not know."'"
Prayer is a very real part of a vital relationship with God.
It is not for some special spiritual elite; it is for you. Three
principles within these verses can transform your old notions about prayer
into something fresh and new.
First, God says, "Call to Me." He wants to hear from you. His
all-loving, omnipotent heart desires to hear your innermost thoughts and
feelings. He wants to hear from you in the hard times and when life is
going smoothly. In fact, your sweetest times of prayer happen when you
come before Him simply to praise and worship and give thanks for what
He has done.
Second, God says, "I will answer you." Do you believe that?
Perhaps you once asked God for something He did not give you, and since
then, you have harbored secret worries that He did not hear or did not
care to answer. But God Himself says to you, "I will answer you."
That answer may not take the form you anticipate or come when you
desire, but He will respond. He might say "yes," "no," or "wait." You
may not understand the reasons behind His answer--but you can trust
that they are best for you (Rom. 8:28).
Third, God says, "I will show you great and mighty things,
which you do not know." You have finite wisdom and understanding; God
knows all. He knows the big picture; you see merely a tiny piece. When
you ask Him to guide you, He works to direct you as a part of His
higher vision and calling.
If you take that first step of calling out to Him, prayer can
become an important part of a dynamic relationship with almighty God.
Do it today--He waits to hear your voice. [Life Principles SB By
Charles Stanley re Jer. 33:1-3]
Through nature and revelation, through His providence, and by
the influence of His Spirit, God speaks to us. But these are not
enough; we need also to pour out our hearts to Him. In order to have
spiritual life and energy, we must have actual intercourse with our
heavenly Father....
It is our privilege to drink largely at the fountain of
boundless love. What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready
and willing to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of His
children, and yet there is much manifest reluctance on our part to make
known our wants to God. What can the angels of heaven think of poor
helpless human beings, who are subject to temptation, when God's heart of
infinite love yearns toward them, ready to give them more than they can
ask or think, and yet they pray so little and have so little faith?
The angels love to bow before God; they love to be near Him. They
regard communion with God as their highest joy; and yet the children of
earth, who need so much the help that God only can give, seem satisfied
to walk without the light of His Spirit, the companionship of His
presence.
The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to
pray. The whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin; and
it is all because they do not make use of the privileges that God
has given them in the divine appointment of prayer. Why should the
sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the
key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse, where are
treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer
and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and of
deviating from the right path. The adversary seeks continually to obstruct
the way to the mercy seat, that we may not by earnest supplication
and faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation....
We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our
thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun.
Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your
fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him....
Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too
great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the
affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is
too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience
too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for
Him to unravel. SC93-104
Worry is blind, and cannot discern the future; but Jesus sees
the end from the beginning. In every difficulty He has His way
prepared to bring relief. Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to
provide for us, of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one
principle of making the service and honor of God supreme will find
perplexities vanish, and a plain path before their feet. (DA330)
www.aBible.com
