Phil 4 6.7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. NIV
Pray, as in conversation with God, as with a friend. This is from Steps to Christ p 93. Prayer is the opening of the heart to God, as to a friend. And from Christ’s Object Lessons p 129 . Our prayers take the form of a conversation with God as we would talk with a friend.
This is an important principle, because sometimes we can get so formal in our prayers, they lose authenticity. Not saying they should be irreverent but when you read the Psalms, especially those of David, there is a raw honesty with God about the way they authors feel. There is a level of conversational intimacy that can and should be in our prayer life.
Our lives succeed or fail, change gradually then suddenly, one conversation at a time. The conversation is the relationship. Conversely, if there is no conversation there is no relationship.
Many times we talk about our relationship with God in this ethereal sense that is very hard to think about tangibly. We say “Oh I do have a relationship with God.” But what does that mean? If there is no conversation, where is the relationship?
So if prayer is conversation and conversation is relationship… the implication is prayer is relationship.
Foundational to our relationship with God is this principle: you have to talk to someone in order for there to be a relationship and in order of there to be intimacy, it needs to be regular.
We need to have a regular conversation with God throughout the day.
David Shin is a pastor in America. Twelve months ago, he preached on prayer life in Quarantine. His message is just as relevant today… His sermons can be heard on Faith FM and the AudioVerse podcast.
You can read this full transcript prepared and edited by IntraVic here .