By Rick
Warren
|
“I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for
mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” Psalm 116:1-2 NLT
It took me a while, but I finally figured out that this
marriage thing is about communication. I discovered that on the days that I had
deep, soul-communication with my wife Kay — not “Hi. How are you? I love you.
See you later” — that’s when our relationship would grow. And on those days
when we have little or no communication, our relationship decays.
A
relationship is never standing still. It’s either growing or decaying.
The same is true with God. On the days when you have deep,
significant talks with God, your relationship grows. On the days when you have
little or no conversation with God, your relationship decays. It’s that simple.
When you really love somebody, you don’t just want to spend
time with him. You want to talk with him. Remember when you first fell in love
as a teenager and your parents got upset because you were always on the phone?
You talked and talked and talked because you were getting to know that person.
Communication is how you get to know others.
What do you talk about if you want to express love to God?
Anything that you’d talk to your best friend about: your hopes, your fears,
your dreams, your anxieties, the things you’re embarrassed about, the things
you’re proud of, the things you’re ashamed of, your goals, your ambitions, your
hurts, your cares — every part of your life.
The Bible says in Psalm 116:1-2, “I love the Lord because he
hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will
pray as long as I have breath!” (NLT, second edition)
If you don’t feel close to God because your Christian life has
become routine, dull, joyless, and lifeless, there’s a simple remedy: Start
talking to God again.
Prayer is not some duty that you have to do. It’s a privilege
that you get to do. You get to talk to the Creator of the universe! He’s
waiting on you to have a conversation with him so that your relationship can
grow.
A great way to have an intimate time of prayer with the
LORD is to join with others in a Prayer Encounter. Join us this evening at North Raleigh Church
of the Nazarene for our weekly Prayer Encounter beginning at 6:30pm. We usually spend an hour in prayer before our
Creator.
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