“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).
We humans are created in the image and likeness of God and our Father in heaven desires to have a personal relationship with us. God is very personal and he is closely involved in our life and in everything that we do. God does not want to us to be different to version of ourselves in order to get closer to him. He hears us when we speak. He faithfully holds true to his promise to be closer to the brokenhearted and to love us no matter what we are.
God desires that we keep an open channel of communication with him. In the Old Testament we see God communicating with the prophets openly through the burning bush and in dreams and visions. How do we continue to converse with God? It is only through prayer. Because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we can talk to God and he can speak back to us. Prayer teaches us how.
Carefully memorized prayers repeated religiously, journaled thoughts, silent sacred moments with God, and hearts poured out through song all grab God’s attention. We can talk to God anytime anywhere. We can talk to him when we are in the car, out buying our groceries, while we exercise and when we are really stuck and speechless Jesus’ parting gift comes to our aid i.e. the Holy Spirit. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
The Jews and the Pharisees spent several hours in prayers and probably the disciples of Jesus followed this too. When they approached Jesus and asked how to pray, Jesus gave the most beautiful and simple prayer, “The Our Father
How can we communicate with God?
Talking to God through Prayer
The best form of prayer is through adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. In the adoration we give praise to God, through confession we gain forgiveness and we get closer to God. By giving thanks we move our hearts to a state of gratefulness. And through supplications we raise our intentions, request for help, healing and blessing to God.
Talking to God through Reading the Scripture
Dedicate some quiet time with God and read the word of God and meditate on his word. Often times God’s words will pop out to us to address our prayer requests and our situations, sometimes immediately and others over time.
Talking to God Spontaneously
We are dependent on God every moment and praying for something right in the moment reminds us that we are dependent on him. Scripture asks us to pray all the time. Though it is important to set aside some quality time for prayers it is important to converse with him throughout.
So let us continue to talk to God in every moment of our lives and carry on that personal relationship with him that God desires.
“Then you will come and pray to me, and I will listen” (Jeremiah 29: 12).
Kathaline Nunes