The Invitation Of Prayer Series

To really understand this promise you need to understand the verse before it that declares who it is that is making that promise;

Jer 33:2 This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it -- the LORD is his name:

The God who invites us to call on him and promises to answer us is the almighty infinite creator of the universe. There is nothing that is too hard for Him, nothing to difficult for Him to accomplish. Jeremiah understood this. In speaking to God in the chapter before this he said;

Jer 32:17 Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

Remember the old song based on this verse?

Ah Lord God, Thou has made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power.

Ah Lord God, Thou has made the heavens and the earth by Thine out-stretched arm.

Nothing is too difficult for Thee, nothing is too difficult for Thee

Great and mighty God, great in counsel and mighty in deed

Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing. Nothing is too difficult for Thee

Do you believe that? I mean, do you REALLY believe that? You have probably sung that song many times in the past. Did you really believe the words that you were singing? God can do anything. There is nothing that is too difficult for Him. If we really believe that, then why is it so often that we do not live like it?

I think we often do not live like it because we are more interested in God doing what we want Him to do then in doing what God wants us to do. So often we misinterpret prayer to be “My kingdom come, my will be done.” The truth is that often God does not answer our prayers in the way that we expect Him to. This should not surprise us. We are limited finite created beings. We do not have all the facts. God may not always answer us in the way that we expect or the way that we would have chosen, but the promise is that He always hears us and will always answer us in the way that is best.

I read about a Gospel singing group that went to Northern Ireland to do a series of concerts. This was during the time that the Catholics and Protestants were fighting. The group was scheduled one afternoon to do a concert outside a department store in downtown Londonderry. The weather looked menacing, so they all prayed that there would be no rain. They were expectant that God would do a miracle. An hour before the concert it started to rain. The team was devastated. They had prayed in faith, so why didn’t God keep the rain away? At the last moment their tour guide found another indoor venue around the corner, where we could set up and sing. The concert started as the rain continued to pour outside. Then, in the middle of our concert, BOOM! A car bomb had gone off outside the department store where the team would have been if God had answered their prayers.

God prompts us and invites us to call on Him and promises us that He will answer us when we do.

3. The Provision - revelation

God says to Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” We are invited to call out to God. He promises to answer us. The result is revelation. God reveals Himself to us.