Prayer #2
Last week we started a discussion about the Spiritual Tool of Prayer. It’s a tool immense importance. Prayer is our open line of communication with God. We covered last week that God is more concerned with the condition of our hearts than He is with how eloquently we can put together a prayer. This week, I want us to look at what I believe is a much forgotten aspect of prayer for us: Listening
Our relationship with God is just that, a relationship. By their very nature relationships are two way streets. One person speaks the other listens and respond and visa versa. But it isn’t always that case in our relationship with God. Often our prayers look like this: We speak God listens. We wait for God to do what we asked. You see we have cut out a very essential part of a good and healthy relationship…the part where we allow God to respond and we listen.
One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in my life is when to listen. I’m a talker, I have been since I could talk. I said my first complete sentence at 13 months old…for that record that is now quite literally 30 years of me talking, mostly nonstop. We have to learn to listen. Psalm 131 talks about quieting our souls. Psalm 46 tells us to be still.
This week I want you to try something. During your quiet time when you pray, leave a minute or two, a full 60-120 seconds of time to just be silent and listen to God. See if He moves you, directs you, speaks to you. It may not be that He hasn’t heard the prayer you feel like has gone unanswered, it may be that you haven’t given Him the opportunity to speak. Quiet you should be before the Lord this week and allow Him to speak to you.