Talking seems to be an active trait in me. I talk to women in the scrap-booking department at Hobby Lobby, and suddenly I feel that I’ve known them forever. I talk to my children, who are states away, on the phone. I chatter to my friends about everyday stuff. I gab with my husband on the front porch. I even talk to myself at times! Hopefully, none of these tires of hearing my voice.
Aside from all these, I spend a good deal of time speaking with the Lord. I’m not always on my knees before Him, in fact, I am mostly walking around doing the little mundane things. I do find quiet time to sit and read the Word, and to pray. But, throughout the day, I find myself thinking a prayer… sending a sentence or two heavenward to the Listening Ear. I call those little prayers ‘arrow prayers.’ They’re short, they’re earnest, and they are sweet to the Father.
When we love someone, we want to spend time with them, talking, listening, doing things together, and getting to know them better. So it is with Jesus. When we love Him and spend time with Him, including Him in our lives, talking with Him, listening to Him through the reading of His Word, a bond grows stronger. We ask for forgiveness for hurting Him by our wrong-doing, we tell Him our thoughts and concerns, we ask Him for things. He never ceases to answer our prayers, and as He does, our faith is increased. The more faith we have, the more we want to spend time with Jesus.
There are people who say they cannot pray aloud, but they “talk to Him all day long”. They think they must form the words in some eloquent way in order to call it a prayer. Not so! Each of us is known by the Father, right down to the number of hairs upon our heads. He created us to be individuals, and He’d have us to come to Him just that way…as we are! He wants to hear us speak in our own, individual, very real, way. I once heard a Christian comedian who said he was asked to speak at a coffeehouse. It was his first speaking engagement, so he decided he needed to get out of his jeans and tee shirt, don a 3 piece suit and a tie, and cut his long hair. He went to the coffeehouse, and spoke, using what he called his best Billy Graham-type voice. When he got home, he cried out to the Lord in his disappointment that no one had answered the invitation to salvation. He said, “Lord, I went down there and spoke. I did everything I was supposed to do. I did what you told me to.” And then he said, “God answered…’Did you? I don’t even know who you are!’” The point was that this comedian was trying to be someone else and to do something the way another would have done it. God asks us only to be ourselves and to use the tools that He has given to us, not someone else. We may not all be made to speak aloud, but we are all designed to speak in our own way to the Father who loves us, just the way we are.
I’m reminded of a little song I learned many years ago. Perhaps you know it too. “Whisper a prayer in the morning. Whisper a prayer at noon. Whisper a prayer in the evening to keep your heart in tune.” It’s a Biblical concept. Paul wrote that we should “pray without ceasing.” (1Thessalonians 5:17) Pray…without stopping. God desires to hear our voices! He never tires of listening…..so let’s keep those prayers flowing!
0 Comments.