Talking to God
Prayer
Reading God's Word is the main way that God engages humanity. That is not to say that God does not communicate with us in other ways, but usually when a person complains that they have not been hearing from God, they also have not been in His Word. That's Him talking to us!
Prayer is us talking to Him! Do you understand how much God loves you? Enough to sacrifice His only begotten Son to live the life you couldn't live if you tried, and then, despite obeying His Father perfectly, die a horrible, suffering death on your behalf to PAY for all the things you've done that has broken God's law, statutes, and commands to the humans He made. THAT... is love. Do you not understand, then, that He WANTS a relationship with you? And not just any kind of relationship. A close and intimate relationship. He wants to hear from you ALL DAY, EVERY DAY! Now, THAT is an intimate relationship! He wants to hear about your day from your perspective, what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what you want, what you need... He wants ALL of it. THAT is the prayer life that He is calling you to.
Pray Ceaselessly
Jesus refers to those who truly believe in Him and follow Him as His bride. He refers to Himself as the bridegroom. He also says, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
That word "knew" is used over and over again in God's Word interchangeably with sex and intimacy. In the context of what He is saying here, it would denote intimacy, which would coincide with the relationship He has with His followers (i.e. the bride and bridegroom).
If I were to tell you that a man and woman got married, and afterward, she spoke to him for a minute or two in the morning, sometimes at meals for a minute or less, and sometimes just before going to sleep for a few minutes at most. Would you say they had an intimate relationship? I wouldn't. I think most people would agree.
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God tells us to pray ceaselessly. That means without stopping. Don't stop praying. That's all day. That's every day. Not just when we wake up and go to sleep. Not just at meals. I like to explain it to people like a couple who is full-blown in love. Many of us remember being young and being on the phone with our girlfriend or boyfriend. "Okay. I love you. I love you, too. I love you more. No, I love you more. Okay, good night. Okay. Good night. I love you. Hahahaha. I love you too! Okay. Hang up the phone! I'm not hanging up. You hang up."
THAT... is the kind of relationship God wants to have with you. Just talk to Him. All the time!​
Pray About Everything
God literally tells us to pray about everything. He uses that word. Everything. God wants to hear about your day! Sure, He knows how your day went, but He WANT to HEAR it from you. In your words. From your mouth. From your heart. To Him. He WANTS THAT.
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How are you feeling? Tell Him.
Is this situation difficult? Talk to Him about it!
What are you thinking about? Talk to Him about what you're thinking. Do you have an idea? Maybe something you'd like to try or pursue? TALK TO HIM ABOUT IT.
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Are you worried about where God is taking you or what He is calling you to do? Talk to Him about it.
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You may not realize this, but God can hear every single thought that you have. And He loves you, so He is listening. Every thought. Was that a bad thought? Apologize to Him! Repent!! Are you nervous about something? Talk to Him about it!
You Have Not Because You Ask Not > You Ask Amiss
Often times, people have a very messed up idea of what prayer is and what it should look like. Praying that God gives you a Corvette would be considered "asking amiss." Asking God for a car because you don't have one... that's a different thing. Asking God to make a way for your car to be fixed? That's fine. Does that make sense? And we're just talking about material things here. Let's get a little deeper.
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Have you thought about considering your weaknesses? Your shortcomings? The things you just SUCK at. Have you thought about praying on THOSE things? Are you an arrogant person? You can start small and ask God for humility. You could... ask God to help you be humble. You could... ask God to help you not be so prideful and arrogant. And then you might go a little deeper, still. You might ask God to TEACH you (that's my favorite) to think of yourself less and to think about Him more. You might ask God to TEACH you to not think so highly of yourself and to TEACH you to esteem OTHERS as more important than yourself. Align yourself with Scripture.
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I use this example because I am quite familiar with pride and arrogance. I used to be the most prideful and arrogant person I knew. I think it's literally what ruined my first marriage and damaged many, many relationship I had with people over the years. I still struggle with it. Not like I did. God has brought me a long way. But it's not completely gone. It may never be. There may always be a little remnant left of it. I can tell you this, though... I have prayed and prayed and prayed on this, and it's improved a LOT over the years. That's God. He did that. That's HIS power.
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And this is just one example. Imagine all the other little areas of your life. Pray on them! Ask God to teach you things about being His son. Ask God to teach you things about being a disciple and a slave of Christ. Ask God to teach you how to be kind, gentle, loving, compassionate, generous, hospitable, etc. etc. etc.
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You'll never run out of things to pray for.
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Oh, by the way. You should definitely be praying for other people. Pray FOR them. For them to be saved and receive faith in Christ. For them to grow closer to you. For God to soften their heart. Pray on your relationships. Pray that God improves them. Pray on broken relationships, that He will heal those relationships (IF He wants to... He may have ended that relationship on purpose, for your good... and theirs). Pray for opportunities to talk with people about Him.
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If you still run out of things to pray about, please pray for me. I'm a screw-up. I screw up all the time and I'm wrong a lot. I need all the prayer I can get. Pray for my wife. Pray for our marriage. Pray for her to be a good wife and mom. Pray for our family, that God would bless us with what we need. Pray that God would continue to use us. We enjoy being used for His purposes. Pray for our bodies and healing. We have lots of injuries and pain that we suffer through.
Maybe this reminds you of some other people you could be praying for. I would say, "Amen!"​
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Only posting that we might pray together, think about our prayer life… perhaps send us your own prayer, and maybe we can learn from each other and all of us have a deeper prayer life with our FATHER.
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Good morning, FATHER!! Thank YOU for YOU. Thank YOU that YOU ARE YOU and YOU are good and unchanging and faithful and love. Thank YOU for YOUR mercy and grace. Thank YOU for good sleep and rest and a warm bed and food and my wife and kids and YOUR provision.
Hallowed be YOUR NAME, FATHER, and THE NAME of our LORD JESUS! YOUR kingdom come and YOUR will be done on earth and in us as it is in Heaven. Have YOUR way with us, FATHER. Here we are! Send us!
Please give us our daily bread. Please provide for us. And thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU… for YOUR provision.
Please forgive us our sins, FATHER. Have mercy on us sinners. Create in us a clean heart, FATHER, and renew a right spirit in us.
We forgive those who have sinner against us. Teach us to forgive them, FATHER, and YOU please forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.
Please don’t lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Please protect us, FATHER. For YOURS is the kingdom, LORD JESUS, and the power and all the glory… forever and ever. Amen.
FATHER, thank YOU. Thank you for life. For breath in our lungs and minds and hearts to seek YOU out.
Please give us wisdom.
Please let us only speak the words YOU want us to speak.
Please give us discernment, and let us not be led astray by lies and deception.
Please fill us with love that we would love YOU with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength. We could never do that without YOU helping us do it.
FATHER help us love JESUS and obey HIM. Help us love our wives and children (and husbands). Help us love our neighbors the way we love ourselves, that the world would know we are disciples of JESUS. By our love, FATHER.
Please take pride and arrogance from us and make us humble that we might be blessed by YOU and find YOUR favor. Let us be servants of all.
Please put YOUR WORD in us, FATHER, that we would know it and know YOU; that we might not sin against YOU.
Please give to us knowledge, understanding, and insight. Please grow us and mold us and shape us into who YOU want us to be, for YOUR purposes and YOUR kingdom and YOUR glory, FATHER.
Please empower us to deny ourselves, war against our flesh, and live our lives devoted to YOU, YOUR WORD (JESUS), and your calling on our lives. Please help us to run our race and walk worthy of the calling to which you’ve called us. Please give us courage and boldness to proclaim YOUR WORD and THE GOSPEL to a dying world. In JESUS’ mighty NAME we pray. Amen.
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And randomly I recall brothers and children in Africa and people from my past to pray for that our FATHER would open our eyes (mine included) to see what we’ve not seen and give us ears to hear HIS voice. And that HE would heal and provide what is needed.
Do YOU need prayer? Send me an email. I would LOVE to pray for you. Ladies, I am one flesh with my wife and read emails to her regularly and any time she inquires. Depending on what you say, she may contact you directly. No hard feelings. I don't know the first thing about being a woman. LOL
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THE LORD bless you. I hope your prayer life is amazing and that you and THE FATHER have a super-intimate relationship.