The world seems to grow ever more expansive and yet ever smaller and known. Scientists continue to discover new stars, galaxies, and planets. New plants and animals are still being found. Yet, with the internet, we are ever more connected to each other and even the furthest ends of the earth are reachable. Does it ever make you wonder where you fit? In the vastness of our world, does God even see you? Does he care about your problems? Do you matter to the creator of all this? Do you believe God loves you personally?
This was the single greatest stumbling block in my own faith. I believed in God. I knew he existed and created the world. I read my Bible and believed he’d been involved in the lives of those chronicled there. Yet I couldn’t imagine he’d care about my little life. The world is so much larger now than in Biblical times. How could he possibly care about each individual on the planet and get involved personally in my life?
It’s not a big stretch from there to then ask, “why should I pray at all if God doesn’t care about me personally?” Prayer became something I ‘should’ do because the preacher said so, but it didn’t feel important or vital in my life. I couldn’t fully grasp the “God loves you” message.
For prayer to become a vital part of your life, you must believe God loves you individually
If God is a distant, hands-off being, then why pray? It’s like having a supreme king over the land who requires his subjects to bow down daily and acknowledge his presence but otherwise doesn’t make an impact in their daily lives. You might follow along with showing respect and acknowledging his authority, but these moments wouldn’t be vital to your daily life.
Similarly, would you want to call someone every day if they weren’t interested in talking to you? Probably not. On the other hand, how often do you talk to your best friend? You look forward to those calls and visits. You could talk and text for hours. The time you spend together is life-giving. Why? Because you genuinely care about each other and each of you knows it. You listen to each other, you comfort in times of sorrow, you counsel in times of uncertainty, you provide in times of need.
What if prayer could be like those conversations with your closest friend?
5 Ways God Loves You Personally
In case you wonder if God loves you individually, take these verses to heart. Read them, memorize them, and hold them close. God does love you. He cares about your individual life. You matter greatly to him and he longs for a personal relationship with you. He wants to listen, comfort, guide, counsel, and provide for you – only he can do these in far greater ways than any earthly friend can.
1) Even as vast as this world may seem, it’s not larger than God.
He knows every star by name. If he can name each of the stars, be assured he knows your name, too.
He determines the number of the stars, and calls them each by name. (Psalm 147:4)
2) He knows you so personally, that he numbers the hairs on your head.
You don’t even know yourself that well! He knows every detail about you.
“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)
3
) Not even the least of us is forgotten by God.
He cares even about the smallest sparrows. Aren’t you worth so much more than a sparrow?
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.” (Luke 12:6)
4) He knows your name and calls to you personally.
He knows each of his sheep and calls them by name. He desires you to follow and calls to you in the ways he know you’ll hear.
“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)
5) He cares so much about you that he’ll pursue you until he finds you.
He will go after every single lost sheep. You are never too far for God to reach and have never wandered too far off to be welcomed home by God.
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15)
Wonder no more. No matter how small you feel in this world, God still sees you and cares about you personally. Prayer is how you build that relationship. Believe that he cares and is listening. Enter into prayer expecting to meet God face to face. Trust that God loves you dearly and let prayer become a vital part of your life, something you crave and can’t live without.
Almighty God, the refuge of all that are distressed, grant unto us that, in all trouble of this our mortal life, we may fell to the knowledge of Thy loving-kindness and tender mercy; that so, sheltering ourselves therein, the storms of life may pass over us, and not shake the peace of God that is within us. Whatsoever this life may bring us, grant that it may never take from us the full faith that Thou art our Father. Grant us Thy light, that we may life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (George Dawson, 1821-1876)
Go Deeper with One of Our Devotional Studies:
Prepare Your Heart – Lenten Devotional
Surrounded Devotional
The Prayer Toolbox
Find these and more devotionals at the Prayer and Possibilities Store
Marion Newcombe says
I have been praying for my daughter for many years. She is divorced, has three children and suffers from depression. She is always telling me that she doesn’t want to live anymore. My husband and I help all we can with the children, the youngest of whom is 4 but we are getting older and I am finding the whole situation is so draining that I don’t know how to pray anymore, nothing ever seems to change. Her ex husband continues to come around, although he cheated on her on numerous occasions, is verbally abusive and left her £10,000 in debt, which we managed to reduce and we paid it off and she is repaying us. I do struggle with the love of God, especially seeing him as a loving Father as my own father didn’t love me and left my mum when I was in my teens and I never saw him again.