John 16:26-27 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

This directly counters the sadly widespread practice of praying to Mary or various saints, for whatever reason. That practice actually betrays a small concept of God, that He can’t be bothered with all our little prayers. That’s a lie of the devil! Interestingly, it is as we have developed more and more powerful computers that this becomes easier to understand. Current supercomputers can handle an incredible number of diverse inputs, and with parallel processing can deal with each one with speed. Quantum computers, long posited but now coming into reality, can do that with exponentially greater speed. The God who created the universe is greater than all of that put together, so He has no problem hearing each individual prayer, caring about it, and responding with perfect wisdom, love, and holiness. It’s the ultimate in “parallel processing!” He cares about all of mankind, but that doesn’t preclude Him caring about each individual. We can’t do that to anything like that degree, so we have trouble believing that He can. We need to stop casting God in our image, and understand that in His incredible grace and mercy He made us just a little bit like Him. (Genesis 1:27. Incidentally, that verse is the biggest reason the devil is trying to convince people there are more than two genders, because he wants to deny this fundamental fact of creation.) One of the multiple, incredible miracles of Jesus’ ministry was that He opened the way for our direct communion with the Father. It’s all because of Jesus, and it is indeed through Him, but the Father loves us and hears us directly, as Jesus proclaims here.

I have never been one for very formal prayers. I actually think those who switch into “King James English” when they pray don’t have a very close relationship with the One to whom they are praying! I have long been convinced that God hears everything I think, not to mention speak, even if it’s not directly aimed at Him. One of the few times I have heard Him speak in what seemed like an audible voice illustrates that. I was lying in bed, not praying but just thinking, “There are so many things I wish were different.” As clear as it could possibly have been, I “heard” Him say to me, “How do you think I feel?” That not only blew me out of the water, it convinced me of two very important truths. The first is that God’s gift of free will to mankind has produced a lot of “collateral damage” that isn’t pleasing to Him, but that He has a final solution to it all, as expressed in Revelation. The second is that God is indeed aware of us at every moment, and He cares. I was a small child when I was first introduced to 1 Peter 5:7, that I learned (in a mix-mash of translations) as “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” The sad thing was that adults seemed to think that was a verse just for children, that they had to work things out for themselves. I have learned that nothing could be further from the truth, and I am eternally grateful.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the blessed time we had yesterday with our close friend who has returned to Japan after 30 years away. I do pray Your abundant blessings and anointing on him and his ministry, and on our relationship, so that the Body of Christ may be built up in this nation indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!