A woman in the prayer room at church recently told me that she would like a more personal relationship with God. I asked her if she prayed. She answered not very often. I then suggested that she start talking to him. She thought about it for a minute and then agreed. Prayer does not have to be formal, I assured her. It does not have to be of a certain length or style. You do not need to use big words when you talk to him. I asked her if her father was still living and if she talked to him. She replied yes and that she does. I then told her to talk to God like she talks to her father, casually but with love and respect.
I ended our conversation by telling her that more than reading the bible, more than memorizing scripture or even more than going to church, what God wants most from us is a relationship. He wants us to talk to him! He wants to know everything we are thinking about, worried about, happy about. What our dreams are, what are fears are. And of course, that we love him. He wants us to be thankful for all that we have. This is the most important thing to him.
Do you have any friends you don’t talk to? Do you have a best friend that you avoid talking to? Of course not! We communicate regularly with our friends so that we can keep the relationship alive. And because they are our friends, we find time to talk with them. It’s a priority. This is no different than talking to God. Now here’s the thing – some people talk to him only when they want something. Do you know people like that? You see their number come up on your cell phone and you think, “Oh no. Not that one again!” We don’t want to be that one when we seek God. We don’t want him to think “Oh, they are reaching out to me only because they want something.” We don’t want to be that person.
Some of you are thinking, Yeah, but my friends talk back to me… God doesn’t. It is definitely different than talking with a person. I’ll give you that. But what if a loved one could not talk back to you? What if they could only hear but not respond? Would you stop talking to them? This is where faith comes in. Know that he hears everything you say. He knows your heart. And he often responds with answered prayer or by giving you a feeling of peace. It may be a line in a song you hear that jumps out at you. Or a bumper sticker (Yes, I have heard from him this way!). Or in something someone says to you. Or something that randomly pops into your head. You just have to listen well.
Prayer or talking to God does not have to done at a certain time every day, but it can, depending on your schedule. This particular woman goes to school. I asked her if she drove there and she said yes. “Then turn off your radio and talk to God!” She agreed she could do that. I pray every morning before going down to breakfast. But during the day I thank him for things or I say a prayer for someone in need. Or I just say “Hi God! It’s Sarah! I love you!”
There is prayer, a petition, an earnest request, a plea for a particular result. And then there is conversation, chatting about your day, sharing your thoughts. Then of course there is simply saying thank you. I do a combination of all three. It doesn’t matter how you talk to God, just talk to him! They say that everyone is a Christian when the plane is going down. Don’t be that person. Develop a relationship with him so that when you are in desperate need, he won’t think, who are you again? Instead he’ll say, “Oh Sarah, it’s you.. what’s wrong? What do you need?”
You nurture your earthly relationships. How about nurturing the one you have with the creator? The controller of your life? Sound like a good idea? Trust me. It is. God bless and Amen.