God Will Answer

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading titled, God Will Answer, was written by Patricia Rabin. When Pastor Timothy wears his preacher collar while traveling, he often gets stopped by strangers. Pray for me, please, people in the airport say, when they see the clerical band atop his simple dark suit. On a recent flight, a woman knelt by his seat when she noticed him, pleading, Are you a pastor?

Would you pray for me? And Pastor Timothy prayed. A passage in the Book of Jeremiah sheds light on why we perceive that God hears and answers prayer.

God cares. He assured his beloved but sinful exiled people, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. God anticipated a time when they would return to him. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, he said, and I will listen to you.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. The prophet learned this and more about prayer while confined to prison. God assured him, Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jesus also urges us to pray. Your father knows what you need before you ask him, he said in Matthew chapter six. So ask, seek and knock in prayer. Every petition we make draws us closer to the one who answers. We don't have to be a stranger to God in prayer. He knows us and wants to hear from us.

We can take our concerns to him right now. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 10 through 14. This is what the Lord says. When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the invitation to come to you in prayer and your promise to hear us and answer. Open our hearts to seek you earnestly and help us to trust that you know our deepest needs and will provide. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Joyce Dinkins, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.