Ann H LeFevre
  • Home
  • Ready for the Road Ahead
  • Images & Ink
  • Recommended Resources
  • About
  • Store
  • Behind the PIcture

Communicating with God

1/25/2020

0 Comments

 
            Anyone can tell you that a good relationship is built on consistent communication.  Maybe you've experienced this yourself.  Communication does not always involve words, but words can certainly determine the emotional outcome of a conversation.  Proverbs 25:11 says that "words spoken in the right circumstance are like apples of gold in settings of silver".  Even the description of well-spoken words sounds appealing!

            Good communication also involves listening.  In fact, listening is perhaps the more important part of a conversation.  I've often encouraged people through the years to develop the art of listening when they've sought to improve a relationship with someone.  It's tempting to begin formulating a response to someone before they've finished speaking.  But a good listener will wait and then respond.

            Prayer is one of the most intimate ways we can communicate with our Heavenly Father.  A pitfall for many of us is that we tend to make it a laundry list of requests rather than the dialogue it is meant to be.  In Matthew 6, Jesus contrasted some of the more ritualistic forms of prayer practiced in His day with the type of heartfelt prayer that Lord desires from His children.  The culmination of Jesus' teaching is the prayer we call "The Lord's Prayer", but it has been rightly suggested that this simple and beautiful prayer is "The Disciple's Prayer".

            I’ve been in several churches now where the “need for prayer” is often emphasized but corporate prayer is never put into practice.  Oh, there may be one or two cursory prayers said to start off the morning or just before the preacher gives the sermon, but the prayers we said in the kind of church services I grew up in are gone.  I’m not sure why this is so.  If we believe prayer is necessary why aren’t we doing more of it?  I understand that sometimes corporate prayer can be viewed as a ritual, but quite frankly I find the ritual of singing for 40 or so minutes before the sermon just as rigid.  I miss praying as a congregation for persecuted Christians, the needs of the congregation and the world at large.  I don’t believe any of those reasons to pray have ceased, so why aren’t we communicating our concern over them to the One who can truly answer them?  If we believe that God still speaks to us through prayer today, why aren’t we giving Him a platform to do it?  Many a great revival has taken place when the Church Universal (that is believers around the globe) has recognized the importance of both personal and corporate prayer.  Is it time for your church to give prayer a larger role in your time of worship?  The Lord told Solomon that the Temple would be a place where He and His people would converse in prayer (2 Chron. 7:11-18, specifically vv. 14-15).  I believe the same is true of our churches.

            Think about your prayer life this week.  How often to you converse with God?  How deeply?  Do you listen for His response?  Is your prayer life composed of a list of requests or do you include other aspects, such as praise and confession, into your prayers?  One of the beautiful things about prayer is that it is profoundly individual on the personal level.  There is no "one size fits all" formula that everyone must do in order for it to be done right.  I know people who have a quiet time every morning and pray for an hour straight.  I also know others who pray while they commute, clean the house, or take a walk.  It does not have to be flowery or eloquent.  It just has to be heartfelt.  But it must always include listening.  After you pray, don’t just get up and go.  Sit and take some time to listen.  However, or wherever, you pray, take time this week to listen to God's response.  He hears and He answers.
 
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; [email protected]; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Faith & Seeing

    Ready for the Road Ahead began as a bulletin insert in 2010 and has since grown into a weekly on-line Bible lesson.  I love to teach and have taught in both church and school settings.  I hope these articles will both encourage and equip you as you follow Christ.

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn

Proudly powered by Weebly