The Principles of Prayer XXV

 Jeremiah 23:23-24, ‘“Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord.”

There is nowhere you can go that God does not see you. There are no words you can whisper that God does not hear. There are no prayers and supplications you can bring before the altar that God is not aware of, or that He does not acknowledge. This is His promise. He sees, He hears, for the whole earth is filled with His glory, and not one among us is deemed insignificant by Him, even if the world might deem us as such. You are not just a part of His creation, but a cherished individual in His eyes.

The lowliest son or daughter of God has the same access to Him as the most renowned preacher, teacher, or evangelist. Nobody gets privileged access because of their calling, or the size of their church or ministry. Nobody gets to cut to the head of the line, or claim exclusivity when it comes to spending time with God and in His presence, because of how much money they give, or how influential they are. God doesn’t have a Patreon. You don’t get special treatment the more you increase your monthly pledge, financially speaking. It’s in the time you spend with Him, and the burning desire of your heart to know more of Him, that God responds to and acts in kind.

One of the most frequent complaints you hear from individuals attending mega churches is that they feel invisible. Even though they’ve been attending the church for years, they never once got to shake the pastor’s hand or speak two words to him. Every time they tried, security got in the way, insisting that they needed to be vetted, because we can’t just have anybody come up and shake the man of God’s hand.

There are no barriers to entry when it comes to spending time with God. There is no security to manhandle you, you will never be told that His schedule is full by a bubbly, overly cheerful secretary, and you will never feel ignored by Him if you come before Him in faith and humility. God is ever present, ever aware, and ever desirous to have fellowship with you. He has no hidden agenda or vested interest. He won’t run your credit score before He agrees to take the meeting, and He will not despise small faith or discordant prayers. You are free to approach Him at any time, in any state, and He will always be there for you.

You don’t have to be perfect to come before God, just perfectible. If the desire of your heart is to be more like Jesus, God will take you through the process of sanctification, of dying to self, of mortifying the flesh, all to His glory. It’s when men resist the molding, the pruning, the sifting, and the transforming of God that progress ceases to be made. It’s when men prioritize this present life, their comfort, their reputations, or their aspirations over the will of God that there is discordance and stalled growth.

When Isaiah recounts the vision he had of the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and that he heard the Seraphim crying out, “holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory,” it wasn’t hyperbole or exaggeration. The glory of God is the manifest presence of God Himself that envelops the earth and fills it. How can we, for a second, consider that God does not hear the cries of our hearts when the earth in its entirety is filled with His glory? If anything can give us boldness to press in and come to the throne of grace, it is this irrefutable truth: He is present, he is engaged, and He hears you!

There is only one requirement when it comes to worshipping God: that we do so in spirit and truth. We don’t have to be in a certain place at a certain time in a certain position. Wherever you are, God is there. Whenever you speak, He hears. That we would rather spend our days arguing needlessly with people we’ve never met than commit to spending time with God is not only telling but indictable.

We can’t go around insisting that God doesn’t hear us when we don’t take the time to speak to Him. We can’t throw up our hands in frustration and insist that we don’t feel His presence when there is no desire to be in His presence. It’s not about feeling your feelings or being compelled to approach Him due to untenable circumstances; it’s about desiring to worship Him in spirit and truth, prioritizing Him above all else, and making Him our everything.

God wants more for you than He does from you. Everywhere you turn, someone’s trying to get something from you. Whether it’s your attention, your time, or your money, everyone’s presenting themselves as the one thing you can’t do without. You need this vitamin! You need this supplement! You need to buy this course, this kitchen utensil, this form-fitting shirt, or this beard trimmer.

The only thing God wants from you is your heart, and even that one thing is not out of selfish motives, but rather because He knows that once you surrender your heart, what He will do for you is incomparable to what He demanded from you.

It's an astounding realization. Dare I say, a life-altering, reality-shattering, realization. Before God ever asked for your heart, He gave His only begotten Son. Before God ever asked for your time, He promised that whenever you came before Him, there would never be a ‘temporarily out of the office’ sign on His door, nor a reprimand for not coming before Him during business hours.

Even with all that He has done and all that He promised He would do in us and through us, we remain fickle and faithless, swayed to and from by the merest of breezes. We yearn for the melons, the onions, the leeks, and the garlic of Egypt, forgetting that we were slaves, beaten, abused, and broken, with no hope, no joy, and no future. Think on that the next time someone says God is not as forbearing and long-suffering as they would like Him to be. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 14 May 2025 | 11:34 am