Bending Down to Listen
by Jim Maxim
Psalm 116:1-2 "I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!"
I love the picture of a father bending down to hear his child. How many times have you stooped down to look a child in the face to speak to him or her? We do this because we want them to focus on us or want them to know we are listening to them. We want them to feel and know they are important!
The words in these two verses paint that picture to me. They go deep into my heart and bring healing! I am a child of God. I am important to Him. The Lord wants to hear my needs and requests. He wants to be a part of my life, and I need Him to be my life. I need His life flowing down to me, flowing in me, and flooding my mind, body, and spirit. I need this because I need healing every day.
My mind, body, and spirit are attached every day. Life crowds in and tries to steal my intimacy with God. Busyness leaves us rushing through the day, failing to see those around us, failing to see the needs around us. When we don’t have new strength from the Lord every morning, we don’t want to look and see the needs of others. We can’t! The burden is too great, so we just walk on by.
There is only one way off this merry-go-round, and that is prayer! Time with Him. “I love the Lord because He hears my voice and prayer for mercy”! He hears. He has given me this one life to live. He knows all the people in my life. He knows all the needs of their lives. And He has asked me to care, to intercede for them, to stand in the gap for them, to be a bridge for them to heaven, to stand with them in their fight!
Think and pray
Go to the loving Father who bends down from heaven to hear your cry. Pray in faith that the One who hears your prayers will answer you.
Father, it’s amazing to me that You, the creator of the universe, bend down to listen to me. Thank You for loving me and hearing my prayers. May I enjoy Your presence as I bring my requests to You with thanksgiving. Amen.
Excerpted from 21 Days of Breakthrough Prayer: The Power of Agreement by Jim Maxim, © 2018 by Jim Maxim. Published by Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA. Used with permission. All rights reserved. www.whitakerhouse.com.
Jim Maxim served in the U.S. Marine Corps and created multiple successful companies in the automotive industry before founding Acts413 Ministries with his wife, Cathy, in 2011. The highlight of Acts413 Ministries is city-wide prayer gatherings held throughout the United States, leading Christians from every denomination, socioeconomic background, culture, and color worship to pray through Scripture on many topics, with a special focus on pastors, their families, and churches. Learn more at www.acts413.net.