The Promise of Prayer (2)

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4.9-11

A glorious din!
Heaven is a very noisy place. Spiritually noisy, to be sure, but noisy nonetheless.

David notes that in the place where God dwells on His throne, with Jesus at His right hand, “everyone says, ‘Glory’” (Ps. 29.9). The book of Revelation amplifies that brief summary by reporting on the continuous tumult of singing, prayers, and celebrations on the part of saints, angels, and wondrous creatures before the throne of God. John reports that the “living creatures” continuously, night and day, cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4.8). And whenever they do that, which is all the time, the rest of heaven’s population erupts in praise to God, in declaring the worthiness of Christ and His power to advance His Kingdom (Rev. 5.9), and in celebrating the calling of His people as a Kingdom and priests (Rev. 5.10). Which then cues angels by “ten thousand times then thousand, and thousands of thousands” (Rev. 5.11), to join the continuous chorus in celebrating the greatness of the Lamb King. That, in turn, opens some kind of amplification system into the heavenly throne room, through which pour the praises and blessings of “every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea” (Rev. 5.13).

Imagine the glory and excitement of all this heavenly din! Nothing you’ve ever experienced in terms of noise and celebration and singing and praising comes anywhere close to what is continuously going on in the throne room of glory to which we have access as friends of Jesus Christ.

So what hope do we have, in the midst of all that, of having our prayers be heard by God?

Much indeed, because in the midst of all that glorious din, all that holy spiritual noise, Jesus takes you by the hand, presents you to the Father in glory, and says, “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me” (Heb. 2.13). Whereupon, with Jesus presenting you, vouching for you, interceding for you (Heb. 7.25), and seating you with Him at the Father’s right hand (Eph. 2.6), God the Father of glory turns His ear specifically toward you, and grants you audience, according to His promise through Jeremiah, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33.3).

It’s one thing to have access to the glorious throne room of our King and God. It’s another thing altogether to know you have His attention.

The joy of audience
David understood just how precious this promise of audience is. In Psalm 28.1 he wrote, “To You I will cry, O LORDmy Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.” His very life depended on knowing that God hears His prayers!  In Psalm 86.1-3, David shows that our hope of knowing more of our salvation, of receiving mercy from the Lord, of knowing joy in Him and His forgiveness, depend on the Lord bowing His ear toward us, and hearing our prayers. In verse 7 David wrote confidently, “In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me.”

This assurance of knowing that God would have mercy and show grace in hearing his prayers was a source of great joy and rejoicing for David. It made him bold to plead with God to teach and lead him in the truth, to increase fear of the Lord in him, and to enable him to glorify God in every area of His life (Ps. 86.11-13). He knew that God’s mercy toward him would issue in strength for his daily trials (vv. 14-16), protect him against every threat or in the midst of every trial, and be a sign of more good things to come from the Lord of glory (v. 17).

Knowing God would hear his prayers, David was bold to seek access to Him, according to His Word.

Do you know that God hears your cries for mercy and grace? And does knowing you have an audience with Him embolden you to seek His glory, strength, and goodness for all your walk with and work for Him?

Dead or alive?
For David, if God would not hear his prayers, he might just as well have been dead (Ps. 28.1). Life would not be worth living apart from the mercy and grace he needed each day, and which he could only obtain from the Lord through prayer.

Too many of us, I suspect, are not convinced, like David was, that God actually hears our prayers. Not only are we small and insignificant, and unskilled in the discipline of prayer, but the clamoring of so many angels, saints, and creatures of all kinds must surely drown out any puny effort we might make to catch the ear of our sovereign God and heavenly Father. We might as well be dead as hope that God will hear our prayers.

But as you abide in Jesus and seek His Kingdom through prayer, Jesus escorts you into God’s presence, where you can be fully assured that your prayers will be heard. The promise of audience comes to the friends of Jesus as they, abiding in Him and seeking His Kingdom, come boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help, in whatever their time of need.

For reflection
1.  When you pray, are you certain that God hears your prayers? Are there any conditions under which He might not hear your prayers? Explain.

2.  How aware are you of the glorious din of heaven, when you come before the Lord in prayer? Should the contents and tone of their singing and prayers influence your prayers? Explain.

3.  Review the prayers offered in heaven, cited in this article from Revelation 4 and 5. How much of this kind of praying factors into your prayers?

Next steps – Preparation: Meditate on Revelation 4 and 5. Try incorporating into your prayers the prayers you read about there. How can this help to bolster your confidence that God will actually hear your prayers?

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.