Before I started writing this blog, I looked up the meaning of prayer. Of course there were plenty definitions. Some defined prayer as request asking God for forgiveness or words of worship-honoring God for His greatness. All good, but for the sake of where I'm taking you, I liked Wikipedia's definition the best. It says that "prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship (in my case not an object, but God) through deliberate communication. Prayer can be a form or religious practice, may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private." The key word for me was communication. Prayer is communication with God; a conversation with God.
A few years ago, I received the revelation that praying was more than "Our father, which art in heaven...". This is the blueprint prayer given by Jesus Christ; not the only way, but a grand example. This revelation was an answer to my question of how I was going to pray without cease. Come on, don't tell me I'm the only one who, when read or heard 1Thessalonians 5:17--"Pray without ceasing", thought "There ain't not way". All I could think about was prayers that go forth in a church setting.
But a conversation? This I can do and I do it often.
When I first started conversing with God, I admit it was not done properly. See, conversation involves both talking and listening. I had the talking part down to a science, but the most important part of the conversation, the listening-- I had to learn. I would often tell God about what I had going on in my life. Then I'd move on to something else without giving God the opportunity to address what I had told Him. This often lead to confusion and hostility towards God and questions like "Why doesn't God talk to me?". Eventually it lead me to seek council from the late Pastor John E. Eskridge, Jr. When I explained that the Lord wasn't answering my prayers, that God wasn't talking to me, he wanted to know how long I had listened for an answer after asking a question. While I set there wondering if he was trying to be funny, he asked another question. He wanted to know if I expected God to listen an undisclosed amount of time to what I had to say and not expect to have to wait an undisclosed amount of time for a response? MY response....Ummm....no? But that was an awfully pitiful lie. Awful because I HATE when I'm conversing with someone and they do all the talking and then they end the conversation because they have something to do. I'm left with all kinds of stuff that I wanted to say or ask or advise on. Pitiful because knowing how I felt when it was done to me, there was no excuse for why I was doing it to God.
Are you in a place where you aren't hearing from God? Maybe you are thinking like I once thought, that for some reason God won't talk to you. 1 John 5:14 says "And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." (Berean Study Bible). Ask yourself if you're taking the time to listen for God's answer(s). If yes, then check that your prayer lines up to God's will. If no, then do so. Set aside some time to just listen. You'll find that over time, between the talking and the listening, you've been in conversation all day and into the night. And that my friend, is without cease. Mission Accomplished.
I pray your strength in your faith walk and thank you for taking the time to spend A Moment w/the Minister.