PRAYER BECAUSE HE CARES

The simplest way to think about prayer is to realize that it is talking to God. Talk to him and believe that he is listening. That is the key. There’s nothing he cannot do and there is no good thing that he will withhold from those who love him (Psalm 84:11).

That does not mean that he will grant us everything that we desire. It means that he will give us what we need. He knows what we need, and because he cares about us, he answers and works in accordance with what he knows.

We matter to him. He controls everything in the universe, and yet he is willing to listen to us. He is not only willing to, he wants to.

When you spend time in prayer, you spend time in communion with God. That means that you are focused on him and he is focused on you. Think about that for a moment. Almighty God is focused on you. Of course, you have his attention, even when you are not praying. He created you and he desires to help you. He is the best friend he will ever have.

The eyes of the Lord are on his people (1 Peter 3:12). All the time. The attention of the Lord is ours. That is the kind of God we are talking about. The kind who cares about us. The kind who loves us so much, “he can’t take his eyes off of us.”

The rest of 1 Peter 3:12 tells us that his ears are open to our prayers. The eyes of the Lord are upon us—we have his attention all the time—and his ears are listening when we pray. So we have the attention of God all the time, and we should think of prayer as having his attention in communion. In intimacy. In a very special way.

So setting aside time to talk to him is more than just a religious duty or something with which to pass the time. It is communion with God. We are one with God when we pray.

In the Christian life, we are one with him at all times if we have a relationship with Christ. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17). But there is a unique communion that occurs when the Christian takes time to meditate upon God and talk to him.

That is the key to Christian living. God is listening when we talk. Because he cares. You have had conversations with people before and you knew they were not listening. What does it say when someone is not listening when you are talking to them? It says that they do not care.

But God cares. God listens because he cares. He tells us to pray because he cares. The command to pray comes forth from the heart of a concerned God. And his concern never dies. He was concerned about you before you were born. And he is concerned about you now.

How did we become so blessed? What did we do to obtain the favor of God? What did we do to make God love us? Where does God’s intense interest in our lives come from?

There is no explanation for it to be found in anything that has to do with us. It is totally from God’s side. It is true because God wants it to be true. He cares because he cares. That’s it.

Every day that you have lived on this earth, God has been concerned about you. You may judge him by your circumstances and not believe that that is true. But when you make your assessment based on the cross of Christ, then your perspective will change. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God says all that needs to be said about God’s love for you.

So when you are praying, realize that you are talking to the one who loved you enough to die for you. The life and death of Jesus for our sins is an historical reality. It really happened. And it is accomplished now. When you pray, you are talking to the one who actually did it. Who actually went to that cross to save your soul.

You will be excited to talk to him when you embrace his love, the real love of Jesus. The love that changes lives and brings hope to humanity. To everyone who is sincere. He is the God who is listening to anyone who is talking to him with a sincere heart.

Your spiritual life is going nowhere until you fall in love with Jesus. That is simply an expression, of course. You do not “fall in” lasting love with a man, a woman, or God. Love is a choice. You love someone because you choose to love them.

Love and relationship go together. And what we want is a deeper relationship with Jesus. One that dominates our lives. One that controls everything that we do. And prayer is the way to get there.

Nothing will get you there faster than talking to him and thinking about him. Those are two sides to the same coin. Let him be the focus of your thinking, and of your words. Pray. Pray without ceasing.

Talk to him throughout the day, and talk about him as you have the opportunity. The more you think about him, the more you will talk to him, and about him to others. When the heart is full of Jesus, the lips have something to talk about. Whatever is on your mind, that is what you talk about.

Think about him and talk to him. Pour out your heart to him. Believe that he is listening. Everything that matters to you, matters to him—because you matter to him.

Prayer is one of the greatest blessings that God has given us. The privilege to have the ear of the one who controls everything. There is nothing like it. And we are very foolish when we do not spend time talking to the one who wants to hear from us. The God who loves us.

Would you rather worry or pray? Which do you do more of? You cannot do them both at the same time. The answer to worry is prayer. “Do not worry about anything, but pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6).

He tells us to pray because he cares. He created the world, and he lived in the world, and he knows what the world is like. He knows that the trials and tribulations of life are more than we can bear on our own. That is why he wants to be involved.

When people care, they want to be involved. It is not that he needs us, he loves us. He cares about us. And when we pray, we express appreciation for his care. We acknowledge that we believe he cares about us. And that we matter. And we are saying to him that he matters to us.

We will never grow as Christians without spending time in prayer. You don’t need to learn more about it, you need to do it. This is simply a reminder to you that prayer is something to do.

So get started. Start talking to him. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Start a life of prayer. Start talking to him and don’t stop. Our lives are to be lived in constant, intimate prayer. You can talk to him any time. You can talk to him all the time.

Think about God and talk to God. Make Jesus the center of your thoughts and communicate with him. That’s when your spiritual life will grow. You will become the person that you desire to be in Christ more and more every day if you keep up a life of prayer.

Dewayne Dunaway