Hotline to Heaven

“Holy Heavenly Hotline, Son of Man.” Remember the TV show Batman? There was a red telephone hotline connecting the commissioner to the super-hero. We may not have any earth-bound champions wearing tights and masks, yet God’s Son came to earth to bear our sins to restore our relationship with God through Him. Now all of us have access to the Throne of Grace by prayer (Heb. 4:15,16). In times of trouble we can come boldly to God.

In his book, Hope Again, Charles Swindoll speaks of a pseudo Psychiatric Hotline. The caller would hear the following message:

“Welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline. If you are obsessive-compulsive: Please press 1 repeatedly. If you are co-dependent: Please ask someone to press 2. If you have multiple personalities: Please press 3, 4, 5,and 6. If you are paranoid-delusional: We know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call. If you are schizophrenic: Listen carefully-a little voice will tell you which number to press. If you are manic-depressive: It doesn’t matter which number you press. No one will answer.”

Unlike the above hotline, when we call out to God in prayer He is ready to answer. However, Psychiatric Hotlines line of Divine communication is not open to just everyone. Acceptable prayer to God requires that we ask. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8). A Christian must ask in faith. “And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matt. 21:22). Furthermore, we must ask in the name of Christ. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:13). God does not promise to honor just any request our self-centered hearts may desire. We must ask according to the Will of God. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14).

Using the Holy Heavenly Hotline demands that we live a holy life. While praying, one must ask while keeping the commandments of God. “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22). Asking in prayer also requires us to abide in Christ “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). Only a faithful child of God can use Heaven’s Hotline. Are you?

– Daniel R. Vess

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