Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From one of Pastor John’s Old Testament classes, June 27, 2004.
The Lord let me understand years ago that what we say to Him matters to Him. When I knelt in prayer one evening in 1981, the Lord let me feel how important the words of my mouth were to Him. I was stunned. It was overwhelming to me, the importance that God put on my words. And I knew in my soul that He felt that way about each one of His children’s prayers.
If our prayers meant as much to us as they do to our heavenly Father, we would talk to Him more often. I think Jesus understood this. Sometimes he stayed up all night talking to his heavenly Father. I believe that God never once tired of His Son’s sincere prayer, and after my experience in 1981, I had to believe that He has never tired of the sincere, earnest prayers of anyone else humbly seeking Him.
What His children say to Him matters in the extreme to God. Why else are we so often called to prayer by the Spirit? My own experience with God convinced me that He puts such enormous importance on our prayers that when one of God’s children are crying out to Him, angels may well shut their mouths in fear of God and respect for His sons on earth.