By Nels Angelin
Ellen White, when often going into vision would look up and say, “Glory, Glory, Glory.” I cannot claim the strength of being taken into vision, but I do have a real love of God, to want to give to the Lord praise and love for His glory, that is His alone, what He alone has done with the power of creation available for us each. Life itself is a gift and it is a glory that is evidence of our creation is real in every moment of life with every breath we take.
Think of this, you have a gift of life with the ability to think and to speak. You express yourself in words to communicate with others. What you speak first originates in your mind. It is the same with hearing, hearing does not happen in your ears. Your ears only focus all sounds into the cochlea which are converted to electric signals on nerves directly to the audio-cortex of your brain which is then interpreted as sound and speech. Thus, you can hear and can speak and communicate. Here is a very deep thought too; prayer takes place in your brain to communicate directly to God. Think of it, you can speak out loud in prayer or, completely silently in your mind alone and God hears you personally. That is really a miracle, isn’t it! That is a power of glory that comes only with knowing God personally. To the worldly-wise, prayer is foolishness, like an imaginary friend. No, prayer is totally spiritual but, very, very real. Prayer is the function of spiritual hearing—when your mind is open to God. Prayer is that connection to God in heaven. “…why should the sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse” (Steps to Christ, p. 95).
I enjoy the benefit of communicating by amateur radio every morning with friends around the country. The radio transmits to my antenna and the radio waves reach out to my friends I want to hear me. Most of the time it works very well through the radio waves back and forth. There is one more factor in radio communications. Radio signals bounce off the ionosphere to be received. Atmospheric conditions can modify the bounce of the radio signals, someone may be in a place where the signal is not captured as well. The conditions vary from moment to moment. From that radio, I may get a word or two, a phrase, or nothing at all. It is so nice to be able to hear each friend as part of our Bible study group. Wintertime usually works best for our radios. I have an added advantage for hearing the ham radio. I have a cochlear implant, plus I have a special microphone that transfers the audio directly to the implant to hear what is available very well.
The angels of God are faithful ministering spirits to always bring our prayers directly to God. The only problem that can hinder our prayer is if we regard sin in the heart or choose to be unforgiving of someone else. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). God is always faithful that we can depend on every help needed. Our walk with Jesus is made plain in the light of His presence every step of the way. On my way to work, a message grabbed my attention on a local church marque: “God expects spiritual fruits, not religious nuts.”
Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash