HE HEARS AND HE CARES
BREAD
12 “Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 (NIV)
20 They were helped in fighting them, and God handed the Hagrites and all their allies over to them, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him. 1 Chronicles 5:20 (NIV)
17 Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. 18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. 19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. Psalm 94:17-19 (NIV)
22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Psalm 55:22 (NIV)
7 The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. Nahum 1:7 (NIV)
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11:9-10 (NIV)
7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Revelation 8:3-4 (NIV)
BUTTER
“It is natural for us to wish and to plan, and it is merciful of the Lord to disappoint our plans and to cross our wishes. For we cannot be safe or happy until we are weaned from our own wills and made simply desirous of being directed by His guidance. Although we understand this we seldom learn to put it into practice without being trained for a while in the school of disappointment. The schemes we form look so plausible and convenient that when they are broken we are ready to say, ‘What a pity!’ We try again, and with no better success; we are grieved, and perhaps angry, and plan another, and so on; eventually, in the course of time, experience and observation begin to convince us that we are no more able than we are worthy to choose correctly for ourselves. The Lord’s invitation to cast our cares upon Him, and His promise to take care of us, appear valuable; and when we have done planning, His plan in our favor gradually opens, and He does more and better for us than we could either ask or think. I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, which if it had taken place in the time and the way I wanted would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin; or at least would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me. We judge things by their present appearance; but the Lord sees them in their consequences. If we could do the same we would be perfectly of His mind; but since we can’t, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is regarded as one of His heaviest judgments when He gives any person up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk according to their own wisdom.” John Newton
“The fact of Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.” William Barclay
“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in His bosom. Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God……Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes, or longings, under any pretext.” St. Francis de Sales
“Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.” John R W. Stott
“Abandon the worries….and Abide in the Word. Abandon the fears…and Abide in the Father. Abandon the hurts…and Abide in His heart. Abandon the cares…because Christ will never abandon you. It’s what I self-preach again and again to the fearful sinner who is me: Abandon and Abide.” Ann Voskamp
“He was the most balanced and perhaps the most beloved being ever to enter the society of men. Though born amid most disgusting surroundings, the member of a modest working family, He bore Himself always with great dignity and assurance. Though He enjoyed no special advantages as a child, either in education or employment, His entire philosophy and outlook on life were the highest standards of human conduct ever set before mankind. Though He had no vast economic assets, political power or military might, no other person ever made such an enormous impact on the world’s history. Because of Him……..people have come into a life of decency and honor and noble conduct………He came to set men free from their own sins, their own selves, their own fears. Those so liberated loved Him with fierce loyalty. It is this One who insists that He was the Good Shepherd, the understanding Shepherd, the concerned Shepherd who cares enough to seek out and save and restore lost men and women.” Phillip Keller
“What we feed our minds and hearts on will determine whether we live a life of faith or a life of fear. …The more time we spend with God and His Word, the more our faith develops and our fear diminishes….Faith in God conquers fear every time. The God who has redeemed us and cares for us is trustworthy. Our Creator God will never abandon us, and He has our best interests at heart. ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging’(Psalm 46:1-3).” Michael Youssef
“Inauspiciously, a prayer meeting in Antioch in Acts 13:1-3 became one of the most important moments in the history of the world. With their prayers and fasting, the church leaders said, God, we want your provision, not our small plans. We want your abundance, not our small-mindedness. We want more than we know how to ask, more than we can think, more than we could expect, more than we can dream. We want you, God. We’re not satisfied with abilities and experience and what we can plan on our own and do apart from you. We want you and your leading. We don’t want to lean on our own understanding.” David Mathis
“All we love is in his hands. He hears our prayers and our tears when there are no words. He counts them as liquid intercession, which is precious to him (Ps. 56:8a). He is our Mighty Warrior and contends with those forces that are contending with us (Isa. 42:13; Ps. 35:1). Sylvia Gunter
“Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“If you love someone, will you want to make him miserable? Will you go out of your way to punish him if he doesn’t do exactly what you tell him to? No, of course not – not if you really love him. The same is true with God. God loves you, and because He loves you, He cares what happens to you. He loves you too much to let you wander aimlessly through life, without meaning or purpose. The Bible says, ‘You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy’ (Psalms 16:11). Covet God’s will for your life more than anything else. To know God’s will – and to do it – is life’s greatest joy.” Billy Graham
“My life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors He weaveth steadily. Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow; and I in foolish pride forget He sees the upper and I the underside. Not ‘til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly will God unroll the canvas and reveal the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned. He knows, He loves, He cares; Nothing this truth can dim. He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him.” Corrie ten Boom
“Wait upon Me. Let your life be as a deep, quiet pool. Let your heart rest in My hand as a bird in a nest. Let your eyes be still. Let your hands be free. For then I shall fill all your vision, and then I shall take your hands into Mine and My power shall flow forth into you….Only be still before Me. Never let the toils and cares of the day rob you of this sweet fellowship with Me….I am actively engaged in working for you in ways you cannot see, to make your path clear, and to bring about things you could never accomplish, and which would otherwise absorb your energies and wear out your patience….O Lord, what shame that You should need to beg us thus! Better that others might find us unavailable because of our occupation with You, rather than for us to be so slow to come, so dull to hear, so cold of heart, so indolent of soul….Grant this one prayer more, O Lord, that You would give us all that is lacking in us; intensify our hunger and fire our devotion; take the indifference from our spirits; and have within us Your wonderful way and perfect will, O God, we pray. Amen.” Frances J. Roberts
“Keep bringing your prayers to God. If you think your request is legitimate, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. God wants to teach us through persistent praying to wait on Him and to watch. While we’re praying and waiting for God to answer our prayers, do you know what He’s doing? He’s working on us, conforming us more and more to the image of Christ. And when we’re ready, the answer will surely come.” David Jeremiah
“Walk on the path of integrity with confidence, and show that you are invincibly strong in the strength that confidence in God alone confers. In this way you will be delivered from anxious care; you will be untroubled by evil tidings, and your heart will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along on the stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living than a life of dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We do not need to worry because He cares for us; we do not need to carry burdens because He invites us to cast them upon Him.” Charles H. Spurgeon
HEART SAVOR
• God both hears our prayers and cares.
• What He allows in our lives is used to conform us into the image of His precious Son – and that my dear friends is the most excellent way for our life.
• Cease anxiety and “pray without ceasing”.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 