Becky was speaking on the subject of prayer at Alpha recently. What was interesting was that, whilst most of the guests didn’t have a problem with the idea of prayer and of a God who hears prayer, they were surprised when Becky told them stories about direct answers to prayer that she had personally received. They were even more surprised by the fact that she could testify to times when God had actually spoken to her.

We should not be surprised that God actually wants to communicate with those whom he loves. When I was speaking on Nehemiah we noted that the prophet not only asked God to listen to him but recognised that God could actually see him (Nehemiah 1:6). I guess if you are like me the idea of someone seeing what you get up too can be a bit unnerving – to say the least! We immediately think of all the things we do that we would not necessarily want others to know about, things that we are ashamed of or embarrassed about. I remember holding my new born son for the first time and looking down on him with complete amazement and love. As he grew he did things wrong and I witnessed some things that he would have rather that I had not seen. But I have never stopped looking on him with love.

That’s the astonishing and amazing thing about our Father God. When he looks down on you, because of Jesus, he does not see your sin, he sees someone whom he loves and would do anything for. In fact he already has. It should not surprise us that a loving God would want to speak to those whom he loves. I have to conclude that those who don’t expect to hear God speak don’t really understand how much they are loved by him. That is a challenge to us on so many levels.