Welcome back, everyone!  In my last post, “Knowing Our God:  an Intentional Pursuit,” we began our journey together to intentionally pursue a deeper relationship with our God.  

We first studied how we could know Him more through His Word, and I pray that your time in His Word has grown your relationship with Him.  I know being in my Bible more faithfully has brought the sweet fellowship with Him that truly fills my soul.  

This time, we’ll study how we can know Him through prayer.

~You know what?  God desires to hear our prayers!  What an overwhelming thought!  The God of the universe desires to hear our personal prayers.  

But first, we need to acknowledge that we are commanded to pray.  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6). 

Proverbs 15:8 reminds us that our prayers please Him:  The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.  It’s pleasing to the Lord when we obey the command to pray + bring our burdens, requests, and praise to Him.  

And, as we learn in Jeremiah 29: 12-13, our loving Lord promises to hear us if we are following after Him: Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

~As we bring our prayers to Him, we know from scripture that we may rest in His ability to answer prayers. Friends + family may be able to hear our heart’s cry, but they cannot work supernaturally in our lives + answer our prayers.  Only our God can do that!  

Psalm 91:15 declares, I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 

We see other reminders of God’s ability to answer our prayers in Jeremiah 33:3, I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not and I Peter 3:12, For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.

~Finally, in addition to contemplating God’s desire and ability to hear our prayers, it’s exciting for us to remember the blessing of answered prayer.  

What a reminder we find in I John 5: 14, 15, And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

My husband has often reminded our family that “God knows where you are and what you need.”  Our God wants to hear our prayers; He’s more than able to answer our prayers; and He desires that we grow closer to Him through answered prayers.  

As you know, it’s really not enough to just say we want to know God more, is it?  Just like any other endeavor, we have to choose to put action to the goals we talk about. And that’s what we’re doing here . . . we’re purposing to intentionally pursue our God so that we walk with Him daily and grow in His grace. 

If we desire to know God, we must be intentional, intentional in our pursuit to know Him through our Bible reading and our prayer life. I’m reminded of one of my favorite verses – Psalm 46:10 – as I daily pursue my God:  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  

In that stillness, I’m able to hear Him, listen to Him, and better know Him and His love for me.