Elohim Shama - The God Who Hears

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Bill Smith; Exodus 2:23-24 Elohim Shama - The God Who Hears

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. Just for a quick little introduction,
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Bill is a missionary for Youth for Christ that we do support, and he helps them out in the
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Kalamazoo area. Youth for Christ works with kids in the juvenile home, and he's been with them for quite some time.
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I'm not sure how long, but how long have you been with Youth for Christ? 30 years in November.
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I didn't even know that. That's great. Okay, he's with us this morning in Don's absence, and he's going to go ahead and give us a little introduction.
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And teach. I love God's word. It for sure is my daily bread and, you know, the ultimate revelation of God.
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So I'm excited to share another name of God with y 'all this morning, and I pray that it blesses you as it blessed me.
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I'm studying for it, and so this is my second service of the day.
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I started out at the juvenile home at about 20 minutes to seven, 20 minutes to eight, actually, setting up.
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There we go. Come on, brain, work. So my name is
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William Bruce Smith. How about that? Did you guys know that? Most of my friends call me
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Bill, but my parents named me William Bruce Smith.
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What's the first thing when you meet someone that you want to know? Their name, right?
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Why is that important? A name represents who we are, right? And names have meanings.
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In our culture, we don't always choose names because of the meaning of the name.
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My dad was William Smith, without a middle name, so I'm not a William Jr. My great -grandfather, who lived in Scotland, his name was
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William Smith also. My uncle's name, my mom's brother, who
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I never met. He passed away when I was just a baby. His name was Bruce, so that's where I got the
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Bruce. So you know a little bit more about me just from my name, right? I didn't find out until I was a believer in Jesus what the name
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William means, but you can look up a name. Now, some of them are more tricky when they're a combination of names, which
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I run into all the time in the young people that I minister to. Lots of very interesting names these days.
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But my name means great protector. And you know, it's kind of funny because I, by nature, am a very, very protective person.
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Over my family, over my ministry, I just, that's,
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I don't know if, you know, I, once I learned what my name means, that, you know, it influenced me, maybe.
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I think it's just my nature. It's interesting, though, that some people call me Billy, but I wouldn't recommend that, please.
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Okay, all right. So to my sisters and my, one of my best friends who
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I've known since kindergarten, he still calls me Billy. And when they call me that, it feels natural because my dad was
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Bill and I was Billy growing up. And so, you know, to, for them to call me
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Billy, it has a meaning. Like they've known me my whole life. That's what I, now my wife, she's the only one that calls me
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William. And I really like that. I like it when she calls me William because I actually do like that name.
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All the young people that I work with call me Bible Bill. And that's kind of descriptive, isn't it?
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I love the Word of God and I teach it and I give away lots and lots of Bibles to kids. So they nickname me
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Bible Bill. One of my co -workers calls, he calls me Bibes, short for Bible Bill.
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He's like, hey, Bibes, how you doing? So, and each name kind of has a different connotation to it, doesn't it?
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Where am I going with this? Like, Bill, what are you, you know, I didn't come here to learn about your name, all right?
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Names are so important because to know someone, you need to know their name.
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In the Bible culture, names were very important. Names were carefully chosen.
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And lots of times they had to do with circumstances that maybe were surrounding the birth.
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Characteristics that maybe the parent wanted that child to, you know, develop in their life.
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Ultimately, this book is the revelation of God's name. And I love
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His Word and I've read through this book so many times in the last 38 years.
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What I love about it the most is the names and the titles of God.
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Because each name and each title teaches us a different aspect of who our
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Heavenly Father is. And I just love it. I have a journal that I just started in my
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Bible reading, writing down every name and title that I come across from the Word. And I have pages and pages and pages.
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And I haven't read that much scripture since I started this journal around Christmas time.
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And just to read through those and reflect on them is so powerful. Turn with me for a moment, just by way of reminder of a name that we looked at the last time
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I got to teach. Turn with me to Genesis 16. Genesis 16.
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So I don't know if anybody remembers the name that I taught on. I don't know, it was three, four weeks ago.
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We find it actually in Genesis chapter 16. Look at verse 13 with me.
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So Hagar was a runaway former slave girl who became a servant to Abram and Sarai.
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She was used. She was mistreated. She was pregnant. She was young.
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She was a foreigner. She was confused. She ran away into the wilderness. She was going to die.
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I mean, there was no way she could survive in the area that they lived in where she was going.
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She was lost. And the God of creation, the God of the universe came to this humble runaway former slave girl named
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Hagar. And God revealed himself to her in a special way.
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And a whole chapter in the Bible is devoted to her story, which to me is amazing. Out of all the things and the revelations that God could have given us, that he devotes a whole chapter to the story of Hagar, basically.
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And in verse 16, we find this new name for God. Actually, chapter 16, verse 13.
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And so after Hagar had this revelation of God, this is what she said to God. Verse 13.
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So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. You are the
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God of seeing. For she said, truly here I have seen him who looks on me.
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This name that she gave for God, you are the God of seeing, is El -Ra -E.
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And it means the God who sees. She realized that God saw her.
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God knew who she was. God knew what was going on in her life. And that was an amazing revelation that the creator of the universe had his eye upon her and she called him
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El -Ra -E, the God who sees. And then she made it personal. She said, truly here
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I have seen him who looks after me. I've seen him who sees me.
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And so we looked at this name El -Ra -E, very significant.
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Today, I want to introduce you to a name for God that means God hears.
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So that was the God who sees, El -Ra -E. The name for God sees actually is
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Elohim Shammah. Elohim Shammah. Okay, say that once. Elohim Shammah.
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Elohim Shammah. All right. Okay, very good. And I want to show you the context where I discovered this name.
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This message actually came out of the juvenile home. So Don had asked me some weeks ago if I could teach for today and next
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Sunday. And so I immediately started praying, God, what would you have me to teach on? Because there's so many beautiful things that you can teach on from this word.
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And so I'm praying that prayer. And on a Thursday night when we were doing chapel in the juvenile home, we had a little time at the end for questions.
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And so I said, hey, anybody have a question? You can ask me anything. And Corey raised his hand and he said, how can
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I know if God hears my prayers? And I thought, wow, that is such an important question, right?
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How can I know if God hears my prayers? And so that was Thursday and Sunday was coming and I got to teach again in our juvenile home chapel service.
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And so I was praying about what I should share. And God says, you know, made it clear to me that he wanted me to teach on that how we can know that God hears prayer.
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And when I got done sharing that message in the juvenile home, on the way home, I just knew in my spirit that's what
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I was supposed to share here. That God is the God of hearing.
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God hears. And so I thank Corey from the juvenile home for helping me know
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God's will for this morning. So turn with me, if you would, to Exodus chapter 2.
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So my question in introduction here is, do you believe that God hears you when you pray?
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I think most of you would say, yes, I believe that. But I think that a better gauge of how deeply we believe that is what is your prayer life like, right?
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How much do you pray? How much do you ask God for?
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So if you pray very little, then maybe you don't really believe that.
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Maybe you're struggling with that truth, that reality that he hears. Or maybe you believe with all your heart that he hears prayer, but you're struggling, does he love me enough to hear my prayer?
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Am I important enough that he would listen to what I have to say?
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So if you're struggling in your prayer life, maybe it comes from one of those two things.
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And my prayer has been that as we look at Scripture together to see what
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God has to say about this issue, that your confidence in God hearing your prayers would grow.
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That's my prayer. Even just this last week working on this, and, you know, for the last two, three weeks since I shared it in the juvenile home, this has really been making me think about my own prayer life.
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So look at verse, we'll start in verse 23 of Exodus 2.
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It says, It's interesting when you look, okay, at this statement in verse 24, and God heard, the word
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God there is Elohim, and the word heard is Shama, S -H -A -M -A in English.
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That God heard, and it doesn't say that he heard their prayer, does it?
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Notice what it says that God heard. They're groaning. That's interesting, isn't it?
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I don't know if you've done any groaning this morning or not, but I know we've all grown before.
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Come on, right? And it says that God heard that, just like Hagar.
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God heard her misery. She didn't even pray, God heard her pain. And I want to say in introduction here, as we go into worship, that God not only hears your prayers, but he hears your groaning and your sighing, and he knows your pain.
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And he loves you with a perfect love. So let me pray, and let's ask
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God to give us a deeper revelation of this name today, as we get to dive deeper into this in just a little bit.
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Father in heaven, thank you that you are Elohim Shama, that you are the
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God who hears. And I pray in Jesus' name that you would teach us,
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Father, what that means in a deeper way than we already believe it. That you would speak to us through your
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Holy Spirit this morning, through your precious word, that you would give us revelation. And I thank you that you are
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El Rahi, that you see us even right now. And you see our hearts, and you know what's going on in our lives, and you love us.
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I just pray that together we could all be drawn closer to you today as a result of being here together, of singing your praises and hearing your praises.
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And Father, diving into your word together and fellowshipping together, that Lord, you know there's some discouraged hearts here this morning.
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You know there's some struggling people, and we need your touch.
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We need to hear from you today. And so we're asking you together in a special way to come and meet with us this morning.
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And Father, just a special prayer for Don and his family. And thank you so much for Pastor Don and all of the hard work,
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Father, that he does shepherding this church. And just pray that their time away, their vacation could be safe, that your protective hand would be over them, and that it would be refreshing,
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Father, and that it would be a rich family time. So bless them, we pray. We love you, and thank you for loving us in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Let's show our appreciation. That was really nice.
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It was really nice. So I don't know if you heard about the little boy came home from Sunday school class, super excited, you know.
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He had learned something he'd never learned before. And you know, Mom kind of picked up on it.
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And she's like, you know, how was Sunday school class this morning? And, oh, it's great,
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Mom, it's great. She's like, what did you learn? He said, well, I learned what
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God's name is. And Mom's like, yeah, that's great.
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So, you know, what name did you learn about? Harold.
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Mom's like, what? God's name is Harold. I assure you his name isn't
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Harold, honey. Yeah, yeah, the teacher taught us, you know, God's name is Harold.
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And, you know, Mom was kind of upset. Like, man, what are they teaching these kids in Sunday school class, right?
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That's kind of disrespectful to call God Harold. You know, she's like, well, tell me a little bit about it.
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Yeah, she shared a prayer with us in the Bible. And it said, our Father who art in heaven, Harold be thy name.
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And, oh, honey, no, no, that's hollow would be your name. God's name isn't. It's kind of important that we get
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God's names right, right? You know, so much, there's so much trouble in our world because of the wrong conception of who
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God is. Not knowing his true nature, his true being, who he really is.
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Even within the Christian church, we can struggle with that. You can grow up with the impression that God is a harsh
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God. And that he's just waiting for you to step out of line. He's going to beat you over the head.
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And, boy, if you're not careful, he's going to cast you into hell for sure. And we can just so easily get off on our belief of who
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God is. And it's so important that we learn his names together. And again,
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I just want to focus on this name that comes out of Exodus. And I just want to go ahead and read our text once more together.
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So I'm going to start out in Exodus chapter 2 with verse 23.
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Just to kind of set the setting here now, Israel has been living in Egypt for almost 400 years.
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You know the story of Joseph coming there, sold into slavery by his brothers, and ended up becoming the second in command in Egypt.
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And ended up saving many lives through the revelations that God gave him.
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And so at first, Joseph's family had favor with the Egyptian kings.
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But eventually, more kings came along. And they became fearful of the Hebrew people because they were multiplying and they were prospering.
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And they ended up making the Hebrews slaves. And things got really rough for them.
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You know the story. To the point where the king made a law that said any baby boy is to be executed.
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Cast into the river, drown them. There's too many Hebrew men right now. If we were attacked by our enemies, they might rise up and fight against us.
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Could you imagine your baby boy being ripped from your arms and cast into the
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Nile River? Being forced into labor and lashed, you know, whipped and a slave in Egypt.
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And so we find them, verse 23, during those many days the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of the slavery and cried out for help.
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Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. You know, I wonder if you, you know, if we could go back in time during that time of slavery and ask, you know, when, you know, through the village or whatever, at the end of the workday and say, do you think
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God hears your prayers? And I could just see them looking down at the ground.
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Like God isn't hearing our prayers. Here we are, slaves in Egypt.
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Look where our prayers have gotten us. But the reality is, is that their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant.
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So here we have that name Elohim Shammah, which means
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God hears. The reality is, is that God hears every word that we speak.
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And I kind of want to explore and go into this a little bit deeper this morning as far as what is the meaning of God hears.
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And so Elohim, you probably may have heard that.
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That's how you would say God's name in Hebrew. And when the word G -O -D is in the
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Old Testament with capital G and little o -d, that's the word for Elohim or sometimes
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El, the shortened form of God. Basically, that name speaks of God as creator, as sovereign, as this great spirit over all creation.
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So it speaks of God's creative power. And then Shammah, this is a word that doesn't mean just to hear, but it means in the
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Hebrew, it means to hear intelligently. It means to hear with understanding, with the implication of paying attention to and on our part, obedience.
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So how many times, parents, have you said to your child, do you hear what
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I, did you hear what I said? Do you? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I don't think you're hearing me.
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Are you listening? Of course, they're hearing your voice, right? But they're not obeying.
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They're not really hearing what you're saying. This word means to hear and to understand, to hear intelligently.
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So let's look up some scriptures today together. Hopefully, you have a Bible or you can look scripture up on your phone now, right?
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Okay, if anybody needs a Bible and would like, you know, you don't have the Bible on your phone, you'd like to read scripture.
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If you raise your hand, somebody will bring you a Bible. Anybody this morning? Okay, really want you to see these verses with me.
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I just want to let the word of God talk. And so I have some scripture that we're going to kind of be flying back and forth through the word of God, okay?
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So the first scripture I want to look at is Proverbs 20, verse 12. So in the midst of these wise sayings,
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Proverbs is really an interesting book of the Bible, full of nuggets and of wisdom.
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And in chapter 20, we find this interesting statement that just seems to jump out of nowhere.
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Verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the
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Lord has made them both. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the
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Lord has made them both. What does that imply? That our hearing and our seeing is a gift from God.
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Because God wants us to hear and to be able to see. Ultimately, we were,
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Genesis says we were created in the image and likeness of God. God is a
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God of hearing, and he is a God of seeing. And so this is helping us to understand that these faculties are for a purpose.
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That God blessed us with these abilities ultimately because he wants to have a personal relationship with us.
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So if you can't see and you can't hear, that's going to make it difficult to form a relationship, isn't it?
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Not that it would be impossible because there are babies who are born with those disabilities.
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But it's going to be very difficult in that child's life for people to be able to get to know them.
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And that because seeing and hearing help us form relationships.
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They help us connect with people. And ultimately, God created us that way because the deepest purpose of our being is to be in a loving relationship with God.
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And when that is missing, our life is definitely out of kilter. Turn with me to Psalm 94 verse 9 for a similar statement.
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Psalm 94 verse 9 says in verse 9,
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He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?
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Kind of similar to Proverbs, right? I like that. He planted the ear.
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You know, think of your ears, right? Okay. And your eye, what an amazing piece of technology your eye is and sight and hearing.
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And, you know, so I googled this question. I just simply googled what is hearing?
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Okay. Hey, you know, we take it for granted, don't we? Right? Okay. But I love hearing.
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One of my favorite sounds at night is laying in bed and listening to the rain. I mean, that to me is like, oh, that's so peaceful.
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Just the beautiful sounds of worship and music and all the amazing things.
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So here's what I got. It took me to Wikipedia for a definition of hearing.
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And it said the faculty of perceiving sounds. Okay. So hearing is being able to hear sounds.
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It also said auditory perception, the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations.
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So I just shot you sound waves, right?
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And they go in here in these openings. And somehow God created you to be able to discern sounds.
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And you think of speech like, wow, that's amazing. Like, you know, I'm talking and hopefully you're understanding me, that I'm making sense.
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But I'm just passing sound through my vocal cords. And I'm moving my tongue in a certain way. And it forms words.
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Amazing, right? I mean, right?
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Like, wow, that was a cat. That was a dog. No, that's Bill making a very sorry impression of animal sounds.
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Okay. But it sent vibrations through the air, really through the spirit of God.
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Your voice, when you, those sound waves. I remember going to rock concerts when
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I was in high school at Wing Stadium. And you could feel the sound waves. Anybody ever experienced that?
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Like, you can actually feel the bass hitting you. And that's why I have a constant ringing in my ears to this day, is from abusing my gift of hearing.
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Hearing is amazing. It's a gift from God. It comes from the creator because God is the
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God of hearing. I want to kind of look at the extent of God's hearing, okay?
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Let's see how good of a listener God is. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 12.
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I remember the first time as a new believer and I read this scripture, I thought, uh -oh, uh -oh,
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I got to change some things. Matthew chapter 12.
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And we want to look at verse 36 and 37. This is
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Jesus speaking to us. And he says this about, you know, that we're going to have to give in an account of our lives.
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Look at verse 36 of Matthew chapter 12. Jesus says this,
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I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak.
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Whoa, that one, when I read that for the first time, I was already, you know, I was learning to talk differently.
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Because before I came to Christ, I had a foul mouth. And I was learning, I was asking
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God to change my speech. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.
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It says that we're going to have to give an account for every careless word.
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That's, wow, okay, what does that then teach? It teaches this, that God hears every word that you speak, everything.
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That's why that's in here. And he's just saying, be careful what you speak, because your words can hurt people, they can build people up.
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And God hears every word that we speak, even if it's not a prayer.
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Look at what God has called in Psalm 65 verse 2. Psalm 65 verse 2 just simply says this,
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O you, talking about God, O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
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What is God called there? O you who hear prayer.
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My Bible, I put a star next to that. Anytime I find a name of God, or a title of God, or a attribute of God, I put a star right next to that verse.
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Because it's so important, it's so significant. God is described as the God who hears prayer.
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The word for hear in this verse is our word from Exodus, which means to hear intelligently.
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It's the word Shammah. He is Elohim Shammah. He is the God who hears.
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He heard the groaning of the slaves. Not only did he hear his cries for deliverance, and they maybe thought our prayers are going nowhere.
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Lots of times, not lots of times, every instance, answered prayer is a matter of timing.
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I prayed for my dad's salvation for over 20 years.
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That he would come to Christ. That he would change, that he would be set free. And my dad would not even let me talk to him about the
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Lord. He would change the subject. If I brought it up, he would let me know that he was angry, and he did not want to talk about it.
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But I prayed, and I prayed, and I never gave up. And my dad, at the age of 78 years old, came to know
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Christ. And he was changed, and he was set free. And he lived another two years on this earth before God called him to heaven.
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And I remember the night he received Christ. We were coming back from the hospital. He had been given some bad news by the doctor.
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But it was in this room in Bronson Hospital that my dad prayed and received
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Christ in his life. And I remember that drive, taking him home. The doctors told him, Bill, you know, there's nothing we can do for you.
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You know, when your heart goes, it's gonna go. Just, you know, whatever time you have left, just try to make the best of it.
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And my dad had just prayed to receive Christ. And we're on the way home, and my dad is like, oh, it's such a beautiful night.
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It's such a beautiful night. You know what? I'm ready. Anytime God calls me, I'm ready.
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And that was not my old dad, you know. Sometimes it takes a while. It's all a matter of timing as far as God, his answers to prayer.
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And the wise father, the wise mom, the wise dad, sometimes an answer to a child's request is no.
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Because ultimately, it's not best for them, right? Okay. Sometimes God actually has to say no to us also for our own good.
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So let's continue to look at who God will hear. Turn with me now back to the
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Psalms. Actually, we're still in the Psalms, aren't we? If you left your Bible open. Psalm 69 verse 33.
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There's so many beautiful scriptures on this. I had to be selective as far as what we could look at this morning.
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But this theme of God hearing us through the entire word of God. Psalm 69 verse 33.
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For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
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Who does this say that God hears? He hears the needy.
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That's us. I mean, really, let's be honest. Come on, right? I'm needy.
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I need lots of help in my life. I still need a lot of healing and transformation. That's a lifelong process.
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And man, the life on this earth is crazy, isn't it? What's going on in our world? So it's scary.
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It really is. But God, he hears the cries of the needy.
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He hears the prayer of the destitute. He cares about all people of all nations.
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Look at Psalm 38 verse 9 with me. I'm trying to let you keep up with me on your phone.
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I don't know if it's quicker to turn to it in a Bible or to punch it in. I'd like to, you know, have that race sometime with somebody and see.
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Look at Psalm 38 verse 9. Oh, Lord, all my longing is before you.
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My sighing is not hidden from you. My sighing.
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How close do you have to be to someone to catch a sigh? Pretty close, right?
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You ever heard somebody like, and then you're like, what was that for? Right. Anybody ask you why you sigh before?
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Like, what's wrong? They heard that sigh, right? It means something, doesn't it?
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When you sigh, it means something. And God knows what it means. He hears it.
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So not only does he hear every word that you speak, but he hears the quietness of a sigh and he knows what it means.
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Now look at this one. This one's kind of interesting. Psalm 147 verse 9. 147 verse 9.
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He, speaking of God, gives the beasts their food and to the young ravens that cry.
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You find some interesting scripture, don't you? Like, okay. So yeah,
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God feeds the animals. I get that. And to the young ravens that cry.
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Now, under the old covenant, a raven was an unclean bird. It was like, you weren't allowed to eat a raven if, you know, you happen to shoot it with your bow or whatever.
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They're big birds. Think of a crow, right? Big black bird, raven. They were considered unclean animals.
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And it says that God hears the cry of a young raven. Like, when that raven is crying out for food, that's what this is saying.
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Like, do ravens pray? I think we're going to be surprised about the animal kingdom, you know?
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I mean, if you have a donkey that is suddenly given the ability to talk. And that donkey's like, you know, hey,
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I've been serving you all these years, you know? Why were you beating me? I was trying to save your life.
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There's an angel with a sword right there. Like, that donkey was thinking that all along, right?
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I mean, interesting thought. Do the animals pray? I mean, it talks about them giving praise to God.
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Okay, but here's the truth. You are more value than many ravens. Oh, wait, sparrows, right?
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That's what Jesus said. He said, don't fear. Look at the sparrows.
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You can get two of them for a penny if you get a good deal. He said, but not one of them can land to the ground without your father seeing it and knowing.
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And then he says, don't fear. Your life is of more value than many sparrows.
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If he hears the cry of a raven, certainly he hears you when you cry out to him.
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He is the God of hearing. He hears every prayer. He hears every word that you speak.
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One of my favorite psalms, 139. It seems like every time I get to teach, I always want to come to this psalm.
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But it's so important. Look at Psalm 139 with me to see the extent of God's seeing and God's hearing.
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Psalm 139, verse 1. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me.
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You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar.
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You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
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Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all together.
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This is teaching us that he sees every move that we make. That he hears and understands every thought that we think.
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And that he knows what we're going to say before we even say it. Does he hear your prayer?
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Yes. Does he hear the prayers of the pagans? He hears them because he hears every word of every human being.
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You pray to a tree, God hears that. He's not pleased with it. His heart of compassion is, no, that tree is not
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God. I am God. I'm your creator. I love you. My son died for you on the cross. You can be my child.
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You can know me, true and living God. Look at this a couple more on as far as, okay.
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So I like to try to practice mental prayer or maybe a better word for that is inward prayer.
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Because it's so important because there's places where it's not a good thing to pray out loud.
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Okay. Work being one of them, you know, unless you work at Youth for Christ. I mean, we pray out loud all the time.
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Okay, but Pfizer might be a little bit different. Like you can't go around praying out loud all day in your workplace or maybe, you know, at your school.
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But you can talk to God in your heart. And he hears that just as much as if you were to shout it as loud as you can.
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Look at 1 Chronicles 28 verse 9. We'll just look at a couple more on this.
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1 Chronicles 28 verse 9. And you
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Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind.
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For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.
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Notice what that said. For the Lord searches all hearts.
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That means every human being. God knows our hearts. He's searching.
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He's aware of our inner thought life, our heart, every plan.
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He knows our motives, even our thought. He knows why we do what we do. He understands us completely.
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And he is so ready to help transform us because the reality is that only true transformation comes through his power and his spirit.
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That's where it comes from. He searches all hearts. Look at 1
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Samuel 16, 7. He knows us inside and out.
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Look at 1 Kings chapter 8. 1
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Kings 8 verse 39. So they were dedicating the temple, you know, as a place of worship.
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And this is the revelation that came from that. Verse 39. Yeah, so this is a prayer to God.
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It says, For you, you only know the hearts of all the children of mankind.
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Not just the Jews at that time who knew who the true God was. It says that he knows the hearts of all the children of mankind.
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Every one of us. He is fully aware. So the next logical question then would be,
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How can God have this kind of knowledge of us? And I want to just look at a couple scriptures on this one.
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Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4. This verse has helped me a lot.
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Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13. It's talking about God and his knowledge of his creation.
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It says in verse 13, And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
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So I looked up this word creature in the Greek. Enopeon is,
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I think, how you say it. You know, I simply looked it up in my Strong's Concordance.
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Great tool if you want to see what original, you know, Greek or Hebrew word was.
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And basically, it said one of the definitions was created being a creature.
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And so creature is a good translation. So do you think that God has a sense of humor?
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I mean, think of laughter. Who created that? God did, right? I remember hearing your kids laugh for the first time, right?
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Okay, that's how awesome our God is. He is the creator of laughter. And I think God really has a good sense of humor because when
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I read that definition, I immediately thought of the bugs, right? Like, okay, so God sees the bugs, right?
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So this is saying he sees every bug. He's fully aware of every bug, right? Right as I'm thinking this,
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I feel something crawling on my back. I kid you not. I'm like, and I reach into my shirt.
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And sure enough, there's a bug and I pull it out. And I open my hand and it's one of those stink bugs, you know what
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I mean? The back looks like a little shield, right? Okay, our building on Crosstown Parkway, I think it's a breeding zone for stink bugs, all right?
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They crawl on our ceiling. Right in the midst of me studying this, what's the odds when I'm thinking about a bug?
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One drops down, apparently from the ceiling, down my shirt. I mean, that's got to be a good shot, right?
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I mean, to hit that little opening and I'm like, and then so I put that bug on my desk and I'm just like, wow,
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Father, you are amazing. Like you create, you know this little bug, right?
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Okay, certainly knows what's going on with us. He's fully aware of our lives. No matter what age you are, how old you are, what's going on in your life, how much faith you have in God, he knows you, he loves you.
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And he is the ever -present being, all right? Look with me at Acts chapter 17.
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We're going to start, we're going to read verse 26 and verse 27. Acts 17, verse 26.
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And he, speaking of God, made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined there are a lot of periods in the boundaries of their dwelling place.
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Why did he create us? Verse 27, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.
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Yet he is actually not far from each of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, okay?
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I like that. We're not actually far from him. And then it says, here's how close he is. He's the atmosphere that we live in.
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In him we live and we move and we have our being. Jeremiah 23, 23 says that God's spirit fills the heavens and the earth completely.
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If you kept reading in Psalm 139, verses 7 through 11, you would see that wherever you go, you are surrounded by the very presence of God.
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In fact, when it said in Hebrews 4, 13, that no creature is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes to whom we must give an account.
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The word eyes is the word for presence, face. It says are open to his eyes, to his face, to his presence.
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So his spirit doesn't just surround us, but his attention is upon us.
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He's the all -knowing one. He doesn't have any problem keeping track of the 8 billion people or whatever we're up to now that are on this planet.
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And he knows all about you. Just like a fish, right? What's the atmosphere of a fish?
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Water. They're surrounded by it. They live in it. This says that our atmosphere is the very spirit and presence of God.
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That is how close he is to you. That's how he knows what's going on with us.
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He is Elohim, Shammah, the God who hears. He hears you when you pray.
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He hears you when you sigh. He hears you when you groan. He knows your thoughts.
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He loves you with a perfect love. When you call on him, he will hear you.
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You've ever been in a room full of people, and it's noisy, and someone calls your name? You look, don't you?
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Right? They're calling my name. Or one of your kids. I remember when the kids were little, when we lived in Parchment, Cheryl and I had our bedroom on the first floor.
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The kids were up on the second floor. We had this little attic room thing going on, and a small little 900 -square -foot house.
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I'm telling you, my wife has supersonic hearing when it comes to the kids, because she could hear one of the kids cry up there, or hit the floor, or something like that.
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I'm telling you, she became like Supermom, leaping out of bed, running up there. I'm just like, what's going on?
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She would hear that. God, the perfect father, he hears the cry of his child.
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He hears the sigh of his child. He hears the prayer. And it says in James that the prayers of God's people are powerful and effective.
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You grieve over what's happening in our nation. Pray for our country. Pray for our leaders.
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Man, we need to be praying about this world every day, about the spread of the gospel among the nations.
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We are in desperate times, really. It's scary to see where our world is. But man,
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God can break forth a revival. I mean, he can do it. But we have to step up the prayer.
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We have to be more effective, take more time to cry out to God. He will hear us.
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Here's just a few applications. Jeremiah 33, verse 3, he said,
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Cry out to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you did not know. First application, pray, right?
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Like Nike says, just do it. Best way to learn to pray is to pray. Jeremiah 29, 12 through 14, he said,
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Call upon me, and I will answer you. Seek me with all your heart, and you will find me.
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So we daily cry out to him. We daily seek his face to connect with him in deeper ways.
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Matthew 6, 6, Jesus said, When you go into your room, shut the door and pray to your father who is in the secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
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He says, go in there, shut the door. This is talking about having definite times of prayer, not just like praying on the go or like time, intentional time alone with God.
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I'll never forget Leon, a boy I worked with. I knew him from the juvenile home, man, rough life, involved in gangs here in Kalamazoo, in and out of the juvenile home, learning parts of Jesus' story.
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Then he'd get out, and then he'd get in more trouble, and never made a commitment, never became a child of God.
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One day I get a collect call from the county jail. He's in serious trouble, went back to the gang life, was having beef with some other gang, pulled out his gun, actually fired at somebody and tried to shoot them.
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Fortunately, he missed, put in jail, facing lots of prison time. And I started meeting with Leon on a weekly basis, and he learned the rest of the gospel in a
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Kalamazoo County jail. And he ended up receiving Christ while he was there in the county, and started coming into this child -father relationship with God.
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And I remember I went up to see him after this had happened, and I could just see the weight of the world on him.
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And they took us into this little room that they will give for pastors and lawyers to visit with inmates.
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And I'm like, Leon, what's wrong? Because I could tell, like, you know, sure, he's depressed being in the jail, but this is extreme.
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And he said, man, I got a letter from my girlfriend. She says she can't wait for me. She broke it off.
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I heard from my mom, she's losing her apartment because she can't pay the rent. If I was out and doing the right thing,
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I could be helping my mom with the rent. And he just named woe after woe after woe.
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And it was like, as he shared, this darkness just kind of came in this room, like you could feel it.
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And I'm like, oh, Father, what do I say to this? Right? Oh, hang in there,
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Leon, it'll be okay. It's not gonna cut it. And in the
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Holy Spirit, just pray, Bill, pray. I'm like, Leon, let me pray for you. And we bowed in that little cement block room, and I started naming one after one of his woes to God and asking
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God to help his mom and to bless his girlfriend and to help her. And his upcoming trial, and, you know, he knew he was going to prison, and we just prayed about everything that he had mentioned.
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And I asked God for help, in Jesus' name, amen. And we both opened our eyes, and he looked at me with this look of awe on his face.
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And it was like the entire room had changed. The entire atmosphere was like this room was full of light.
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And we both felt it. And he said to me, he said, do you feel that? Do you feel that? And I said, yeah, that's
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God's Spirit, Leon. He loves you. He heard your prayer. He's gonna help you no matter what comes.
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Big smile comes on his face. Why? Because the Father, cement can't keep our prayers from the
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Father. He was right there in that county jail with us. He's there with you when you're alone in the bedroom, and it feels like the world is crushing down on you.
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He's there with you in that drive to work or to pick your kids up from school. He knows what you're stressing about and what you're worrying about.
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And he says in his word, cast all your cares upon me because I care for you.
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Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Don't be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication.
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Let your request be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses understanding. We'll guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
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He's inviting us. Come to me, bring your burdens to me. Pray for that loved one who is struggling.
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I can set them free. Don't give up because you don't see any change. Keep praying.
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I'm hearing your prayer. It's all about my timing. Bring your heartaches and your burdens to him.
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Cry out when you need help and deliverance. He is only a prayer away.
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And develop what 1 Thessalonians 5 .17, most simple verse in the
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Bible to memorize. Three words, pray without ceasing. That's 1
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Thessalonians 5 .17. God says, hey, because I'm ever present, because I surround you with my spirit, because I am always listening, because I love you with a perfect love, talk to me all the time.
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Wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, I'll hear you. Whether you say it out loud or you say it in your heart.
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He says, pray without ceasing. Why? Because I am with you every moment. I love you.
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I love you, my child. I hear you. I know your pain. I hear your prayers.
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I honor the prayers of my children. I move through the prayers of my people. It says in James, you have not because you ask not.
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We need to be asking. We need to be praying. We need to be pleading with him. We need to be intercessors.
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We need to go deeper in our prayer lives. It's a lifelong growing process, trust me.
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I mean, and you know, I think the enemy fights us on prayer more than anything else, because the enemy knows that through our prayers, he is defeated.
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Through our prayers, people are set free. Through our prayers, lives are transformed. Because prayer move the heart of God.
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Our prayers move the hand of God. And God is the one who can move mountains. And our prayers move the heart of God and the hand of God.
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Let me pray. And I hope this encouraged you. That was my goal.
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I know that you know that God hears. But you know, this was an awesome, incredible reminder for me.
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And it's helped me in this week to connect with God in deeper levels, just knowing Elohim shalom.
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God hears, right? Father, just thank you so much for your revelation, your word that so clearly shows that you are ever -present, that you surround us wherever we go with your spirit, that you hear every word that we speak, that you know every thought that we think, that you hear our sighs, you know our pain,
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Father. And you are the best dad of all. You're the best parent. You love us with an everlasting love.
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And you are the God of wonders and miracles, and nothing is too hard for you.
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And Father, I'm just praying. Lord, you know that we all struggle in this, really. I know
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I do. Father, that you would help us to learn to pray, teach us to pray, help us to connect with you in deeper ways,
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Father. Help us to have this faith, this assurance that you hear us when we pray.
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Father, just thank you that you are the God who sees, you are El -Ra -Yi, and you are the
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God who hears. You are El Elohim Shema. We love you.