When God Invites Us to Call

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

There’s something tender about the way God speaks in this verse. He doesn’t say, “If you figure everything out, then I’ll respond,” or, “When you’ve cleaned up your life, come see Me.” He simply says, “Call unto Me.” It’s an invitation, not for the perfect, but for the needy. For the confused. For the weary. For the person who is trying to make decisions in the dark. For the one who feels like they should be stronger by now. For the couple trying to honor God in their relationship. For the single heart seeking direction. For the family trying to hold things together. He knows that we do not see clearly, and instead of shaming us for that, He invites us to come closer so He can show us “great and mighty things” we don’t yet understand.

When we look at the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, we’re not just watching miracles and sermons; we’re watching a prayer life. Jesus prayed alone in the wilderness (Luke 5:16). He spent all night in prayer before choosing the twelve (Luke 6:12). He prayed in agony in Gethsemane (Luke 22:41–44). The perfect, sinless Son of God chose to live in constant dependence on His Father. If He needed prayer, how much more do we? Prayer was never a religious decoration draped across His schedule—it was the lifeline running through everything He did.

That truth reaches into every corner of our lives today. Whether we’re single, married, widowed, divorced, or in an unmarried relationship seeking to honor God, prayer is not optional garnish; it’s the main connection. For couples, especially those still preparing for marriage, prayer isn’t just something “nice” to do together; it’s one of the ways God keeps hearts soft, humble, and aligned with His will. When you bow your heads together, you’re silently admitting, “We don’t have all the answers. We need Someone wiser than both of us.” At the same time, your relationship cannot rise higher than your personal walk with God. The strongest “we” is built on two hearts that each know how to go to God alone. Jesus often slipped away by Himself to pray; there is a quiet lesson there for us: spiritual unity grows best in the soil of individual surrender.

Of course, real-life prayer rarely looks like the pictures in devotional calendars. You may sit down to pray with someone and find yourself distracted by your thoughts, the buzzing of your phone, or the cat attempting something dramatic in the background. You may intend to spend an hour with God and fall asleep after ten minutes. You might plan to pray together regularly and then watch that routine fall apart after a stressful week. It can be tempting to conclude, “I’m just not good at this.” But Scripture reminds us that growth in spiritual things is exactly that—growth. The disciples themselves fell asleep while Jesus was praying in His deepest hour of sorrow. He didn’t give up on them, and He doesn’t give up on us. The point is not to perform perfectly but to keep coming.

In Luke 11 and 18, Jesus tells parables that underline one word: persistence. He teaches about a friend knocking at midnight and a widow who keeps coming to the judge until he responds. These stories are not about nagging God into submission; they’re about learning to refuse discouragement. Keep praying, He says, even when answers are slow, even when your heart feels dry, even when nothing seems to change on the surface. Prayer isn’t just about what you receive; it’s about who you’re becoming as you keep turning your heart toward Him. Every time you pray, you’re quietly saying, “Lord, I’m still choosing You as my first place to go.”

Faith reminds us that there is no moment God considers “too ordinary” to be sacred. A hurried whisper in the kitchen, a tearful sigh in the car, a quiet prayer over text with a friend, a couple kneeling together to surrender their future, a single person laying a hidden ache before God—He hears it all. Jeremiah 33:3 doesn’t put limits on the category of requests. “Call unto Me… and I will answer thee.” That includes the big questions about calling and career, the secret battles with temptation, the longing for a godly spouse, the strain in a marriage, the confusion over health, the concern for children or parents, and the weariness that doesn’t have a name. We call; He promises to answer in ways that are “great and mighty”—often deeper, wiser, and more redemptive than the solutions we had in mind.

There’s also a beautiful balance in the way God works through prayer. He invites us to call upon Him together and separately. Families can gather and seek Him as one. Friends can agree in prayer over a shared burden. Couples can come before Him about their future, their choices, and their boundaries. Yet, there are also prayers no one else will ever hear—whispers in the night, silent tears, unspoken groanings of the heart. God meets us in both places. He uses private prayer to shape who we are when no one is looking, and shared prayer to knit hearts together in humility and dependence. In both, He is drawing us closer to Himself.

So when you feel overwhelmed, uncertain, lonely, tempted, or simply dry—remember that you’re not locked out of heaven’s help. The door isn’t bolted. God has already spoken the invitation: “Call unto Me.” You don’t need to wait until you feel worthy. You don’t need the perfect words. You don’t need a special atmosphere. You only need a willing heart. Take the questions you cannot answer, the problems you cannot solve, the people you cannot change, and the future you cannot see, and place them into His hands. He’s not just listening from a distance; He’s leaning in with love, ready to answer in ways you “know not” yet—but one day will.

Reflection Questions:

1. What areas of your life right now feel most in need of God’s guidance or intervention? Have you truly brought them to Him in specific, honest prayer?
2. When you look at Jesus’ prayer life in Luke, what stands out to you most—His solitude, His persistence, His surrender, or something else? How might you reflect that in your own habits?
3. What are the main obstacles that keep you from praying consistently (distraction, discouragement, busyness, doubt, shame)? What is one small, practical step you could take this week to push back against those obstacles?
4. If you are in a relationship or close friendship, how could you gently introduce or deepen shared prayer without forcing or formalizing it? What might that look like in a simple, natural way?
5. Can you recall a time when God answered a prayer in an unexpected way? How did that experience shape your trust in Him, and what does it teach you about calling on Him today?

Prayer Prompt:
Heavenly Father, thank You that You invite me to call upon You and promise to answer. Teach me to come to You first, not last. Help me to grow in personal prayer and, where You have joined my life with others, to seek You together with humility and faith. Draw my heart nearer, clear away the distractions, and show me the “great and mighty things” I cannot see yet. Let my life, and my relationships, be shaped by time spent in Your presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.

If this devotional stirred your heart to follow Christ more closely and to walk with purpose, take the next step in His Word—“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalms 119:11). Keep your eyes on Jesus and let Scripture dwell richly in you day by day.

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