Because I have listened definitely to one thing from God, it does not follow that I will listen to everything He says.

The way in which I show God that I neither love nor respect Him is by the obtuseness of my heart and mind towards what He says.

If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he wants, and Jesus says, "Ye are My friends."

Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord's this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not consciously have disobeyed it; but most of us show such disrespect to God that we do not even hear what He says, He might never have spoken.

The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me (John 11:41).

If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God, by the devotion of hearing all the time.

A lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God's message to me.

What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things.

It is not that I will not hear God, but I am not devoted in the right place.

I am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what He likes but I do not hear Him.

The child attitude is always, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth."

If I have not cultivated this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God's voice at certain times; at other times I am taken up with things - things which I say I must do, and I become deaf to Him, I am not living the life of a child.

Have I heard God's voice to-day?

When the Son of God prays, He has only one consciousness, and that consciousness is of His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God is formed in me the Father will always hear my prayers.

I have to see that the Son of God is manifested in my mortal flesh. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost," i.e., the Bethlehem of the Son of God. Is the Son of God getting His chance in me? Is the direct simplicity of the life of God's Son being worked out exactly as it was worked out in His historic life? When I come in contact with the occurrences of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of God's Eternal Son to His Father being prayed in me? "In that day ye shall ask in My name..." What day? The day when the Holy Ghost has come to me and made me effectually one with my Lord.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied in your life or have you got a spiritual strut on? Never let common sense obtrude and push the Son of God on one side. Common sense is a gift which God gave to human nature; but common sense is not the gift of His Son. Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son; never enthrone common sense. The Son detects the Father; common sense never yet detected the Father and never will. Our ordinary wits never worship God unless they are transfigured by the indwelling Son of God. We have to see that this mortal flesh is kept in perfect subjection to Him and that He works through it moment by moment. Are we living in such human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being manifested moment by moment?

The sequence of events in this passage seems strange and unusual. Lazarus was still in his tomb, yet Jesus’ thanksgiving preceded the miracle of raising him from the dead. It seems that thanks would only have been lifted up once the great miracle had been accomplished and Lazarus had been restored to life. But Jesus gave thanks for what He was about to receive. His gratitude sprang forth before the blessing had arrived, in an expression of assurance that it was certainly on its way. The song of victory was sung before the battle had been fought. It was the Sower singing the song of harvest—it was thanksgiving before the miracle!

Who ever thinks of announcing a victory song as the army is just heading out to the battlefield? And where do we ever hear a song of gratitude and thanksgiving for an answer that has not yet been received? Yet in this Scripture passage, there is nothing strange, forced, or unreasonable to the Master’s sequence of praise before the miracle. Praise is actually the most vital preparation to the working of miracles. Miracles are performed through spiritual power, and our spiritual power is always in proportion to our faith. JOHN HENRY JOWETT

Praise changes things.

Nothing pleases God more than praise as part of our prayer life, and nothing blesses someone who prays as much as the praise that is offered. I once received a great blessing from this while in China. I had recently received bad news from home, and deep shadows of darkness seemed to cover my soul. I prayed but the darkness remained. I forced myself to endure but the shadows only deepened. Then suddenly one day, as I entered a missionary’s home at an inland station, I saw these words on the wall: “Try giving thanks.” So I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, never to return. Yes, the psalmist was right: “It is good to praise the LORD” (Psalm 92:1). HENRY W. FROST

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.—Father, glorify thy name.

Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.—Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.—Not my will, but thine, be done.

As he is, so are we in this world.—This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.

Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

He ever liveth to make intercession for them.—We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.