Talking With God

Wednesday night we started a new Purpose series or learning to be closer to God by learning to love Jesus more and to be more Christ like. It is a nine week series and my husband, son and his fiance and I are going and I am really looking forward to renewing and strengthening my relationship with God.

One of the things I was reading in my daily Bible readings got me to thinking that if we don't ever talk to God how can we have a relationship with Him. Communication in friendships, family, and marriage is so important to staying close so why wouldn't it be the same with God. Praying is just that talking to God you don't have to be fancy with words but just talk like you would to a friend and then the key is to take time to listen too. When Jesus was asked how to pray He gave them the Lord's Prayer and if you are in a tough time and really don't know what to say or how to start just say the Lords Prayer. Matt.6:9-13 "9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." (KJV)

Talking and Listening to God also includes Praising him. God loves to hear our praises and thanks. When we pray then we should 1.talk, 2.listen, and 3.praise and worship Him. God wants us to talk to Him, nothing is to big or to small or to unimportant to talk to Him about. He wants to know how you feel, what your concerns are, what your fears are and everything that is important to you. God loves us and He is our heavenly father and loves to hear from us.

When we pray to God about a need we then need to make sure we thank Him when we pray also for what He gives us. We should not forget to say thanks for what God does for us. When you do something for someone else isn't it nice when they tell you thank you or isn't that one of the things we teach are children when they are very young to tell some one please and thank you? The same is true when we ask God and He answers or does something for us to thank Him. In Luke 17 Jesus heals ten lepers when they ask Him and only one comes back to give glory and thanks to God.
Luke 17:11-17 11"Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a]met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."(NIV)" Jesus asks where are the other 9. The other 9 were healed also but they never said thank you and Jesus questions were they not healed too or maybe He is thinking where is their thank you. The lesson is that we should not take God for granted. He tells us to ask but then after we ask we should say thank you and give Him the glory and praise He is due. We have had several answers to prayer recently some things were small but one big issue we had and we had been praying about turned out good and when the lady told us it was taken care of we thanked God and we told her she was an answer to our prayers. She was taken back at first and then she said thank you that is really nice to know. So we were blessed by our answered prayer and her being the messenger and us taking time to thank God first and then her passed a blessing on to her.

When I pray I always say your will God not mine and thank you for what you are going to say or do for me. I then thank God again when the prayer is answered whether it is in the way I want or not. I think God answers our prayers with either yes, no,or wait awhile. That's why we need to listen to His answers and understand that He has the best interest for us at hand.
One last thing when my husband was off from work due to a surgery he had and we had no money coming in and they said that his short term disability wouldn't start right away I prayed for help. When he called they said it could be 6 to 8 weeks before he would get his first disability check and I said oh great. Bills were due and we do love to eat like everyone else and I needed medicine but I prayed again. It probably wasn't 10 minutes later I got a call from my parents saying if we needed money for anything just to let them know until we got our first check and then not 5 minutes later our Son got the mail and there was the first disability check. We laughed and I said thank you Lord and this little voice said you asked and I told you I would take care of it. So we also should pray expecting answers and listen when God talks and believe He is going to do what He says.
The most important thing I want to get across is this; talk and listen to God and your relationship and closeness will grow with Him. In 1 Thes.5:16-18
"16Rejoice evermore. 17Pray without ceasing. 18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."(KJV) we are told to rejoice and pray without stopping and to give thanks and we should all try to follow this because God asks it of us. I am going to try to talk to God more and even more importantly to listen to him more also and to always thank Him. I don't want to have just an acquaintance with God where we talk occasionally but I want a relationship with him where we talk daily several times a day. I hope all of you will try to do this also.