Is Communication With God Too Difficult?

“I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.” – Psalm 17:6 

If I asked you if prayer is important you would probably say “most definitely.”  If I were to ask you if you pray as much as you know you should your answer may be “no.” You would not be alone. It is interesting that we all know that we should pray, but we do not pray enough.  We hear sermons on the right and wrong ways to pray. Sometimes we even hear sermons on how we should pray. We know that prayer is important and that the Bible has much to say about it, but we do not always feel as if we are doing it effectively. It is natural to pray regularly and repetitively about certain matters—our personal relationship with God, family members, our church families, our unsaved neighbors and relatives, financial care and provision, health and safety, and so on. We become concerned that we are saying the same old things about the same old things. As a result, our communication with God has become too repetitive or stale. 

When God met Moses at the burning bush, it became a time of communication. God gave Moses his calling and Moses rebutted with his excuses as to why he was inadequate. Every time Moses gave an excuse, God gave an answer. God already knew everything about Moses, but Moses needed to get involved with God. Moses needed to communicate with God and become accustomed to talking with Him. As a result, Moses became a changed man. God then used him to change his world. God wants to get involved in everything we do. Prayer is how we involve Him.  

By spending time daily in prayer and worship, we invite God into our lives. God wants to hear from us, and get involved with us. Prayer is an opportunity that we should take to invite God to become involved in our lives. At Gethsemane, Jesus prayed “I want your will to be done, not mine.” In Matthew 6:10 (CEV) Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Come and set up your kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven.” It is important that we tell God what it is we think we need. It is also important to let God know our wants and our will. But, we need to listen to God and find out what He thinks and what He knows we need. We must remember that God’s will is more important and much better for us than our own. We can tell God our wants and needs, but we need to tell Him, “your will be done.”  

We desperately need God. God is not made complete in us, but we are made complete in Him. Prayer is the key to being made complete in Christ Jesus. In the book of Acts, whenever the church came together in unity and prayed, God moved miraculously. We need God to move miraculously in our lives, and this can only happen through prayer. This is why we pray, not to inform God, not to change him to our way of thinking, not to get our will done, not because He needs us, but because we need Him, love Him, and long to worship Him.

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe your daily conversations with God. What types of things do you regularly pray for?
2. There are people who think “life is a prayer.” Agree or disagree and why?