Do you know what a gift it is when people speak to you? Have you ever thought about how it makes you feel when people listen to you? There is a partnership that is created in communication. Now communication is not just words, it is actions, sounds, gifts, expressions, it is multifaceted, but people do not speak to speak, they speak because they seek partnership from the hearer. It is why people say to someone, you don’t listen to me. Listening is the partnership the speaker is seeking. But not just listening passively, but listening with a response to what the speaker said. Can we all agree, we “feel” something, we receive something when someone listens with response to us? We have a need to hear and be heard. It is innate within us. It is because we were designed for partnership with other people.

With that said, the Holy Spirit and I were discussing this morning the idea of unconditional love. Nowhere in the Bible is this word found, now it could be implied, but it is not a Biblical word. How can I say unconditional love is not a Biblical word? It is because unconditional love does not invite us into partnership. The Biblical word is unfailing love. Unfailing love means we can depend on this love, we can trust this love, we can receive this love. Love like language demands a response. It is not one way, love is a partnership and when the One who is unfailing love wants to partner with you, it is a guaranteed love that will never fail. Is it any wonder 1 Corinthians 13 says, “Love never fails!”

The God of heaven and earth wants to be in a partnership relationship with you. When He speaks He wants you to respond, when you speak you want Him to respond. Our prayers are not unconditional, we want a response, we are not just talking to talk, we want to partner with God in prayer. God wants the same thing, for we are made in His image. Partner with unfailing love, who is God and respond to His voice. Psalm 146 says, “The LORD’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.”