Talk, Read, and Live
Part: 1 Talk
This time of year many people are talking about implementing new resolutions that will revolutionize their life. People get tired of the ruts they have fallen into and hope for something better. Remember, life is not made up of one decision or one resolution but a series of decisions that you make overtime. Curling a dumbbell one time will not get your bicep to the point you want it—unfortunately! However, curling the dumbbell repetitiously over a period of a few months will eventually lead to the results you were hoping for. Said in another way, consistency over time leads to the change we want to see and experience.
Moving forward, I want to offer three areas that will transform your faith walk. Again, we tend to treat these areas of our faith as something we have tried but have never quite seen the results we hope to see—so we give up! Let me revisit these areas and offer a fresh perspective.
Talk.
Most of us like to talk so this shouldn’t be a problem but when it is labeled “prayer” we tend to get insecure in our ability to communicate. We often feel like we don’t have the right words or don’t use proper nomenclature. Be encouraged, you are not heard by God because of your voice inflexion, because you spout off religious terminology, or because you pray for a prolonged length of time. If we are honest, most of us tend to run out of things to say after a couple minutes. You are heard by God because you open your mouth and share the rawness of your heart and situation. Sometimes prayer is an attempt to communicate what is going on in our hearts only to discover our words fall short. “The Lord is near to those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Jeremiah 29:12). The Lord is near because people call out. That calling out may sound something like, “HELP!” That one word is enough for Him to hear you.
With this in mind, my encouragement to you is to be honest and be “you” when you pray. There is nothing wrong with scripted prayers. In fact, most of them are full of rich theology and sacred doctrines. But can you imagine a dear friend or a spouse only speaking things to you that were written by other people and the only time they spoke to you was on Sunday? I would dare to say, this would not be much of a relationship.
My prayer is that your prayer life with the Father can be one of intimacy that is based off of a authentic relationship. Relational intimacy with our Father is moving beyond formalities and communicating the brokenness to Him without the fear of using the right words. So what is prayer? It’s confessing what we are tired of struggling with. It’s asking for things we need. It’s choosing to talk to a real God that is able to meet real needs with real answers!
As you talk to God this year choose to pray often, pray BIG, and pray specific. When you do this, you will have eyes to see what God is doing in you, through you, and around you! If you have grown weary of praying, get back up and keep talking because He is listening.
