Communicating with God

Monday, April 14, 2008

Lord, we praise your name and stand in awe that you are God and we are not. Please be with us during this time of study. I ask that you would reveal you word to us that we might walk away with a greater understanding than we had before. I ask that we might develop a closer bond to you Father, that you would touch our hearts and minds so that we might discern your desire for our lives. We ask, Lord, that you would forgive us our sins and trespasses that we might come to you in this time of study pure in your sight, an acceptable mound of clay for the Potter's hands. We ask all these things in the holy name of Jesus Christ, We love you, Amen.

You may have heard people talk about having a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ". Tonight I want to focus a bit on what having a personal relationship means and what is required of us if we are to have this relationship.

The first thing that we must understand when it comes to analyzing what it means to have a personal relationship with God is that all of our communication with God is made possible by the actions of Jesus Christ.
John 14:6

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Without Christ's atoning death on the cross, we would be lost, cut off from God with no way to communicate with the Father. There in lies the second important fact for us to realize, without communication there is no relationship. Talk to a marriage counselor for a short time and you will find that one of the biggest problems in broken relationships is broken communication.
When people fail to communicate relationships begin to whither and left unattended long enough, they die. So In order for us to have a personal relationship with God there must be communication. Let us first take a look at how God communicates with man.

1) The Bible. God wanted to make sure that there was a way for man to know about his creator. He wanted us to learn the character of who He is and what he expects from us. He wanted us to know what we can expect from him and to hear hundreds of stories of how much he loves us and how great his mercy is.

2) The Holy Spirit. God has sent a portion of himself in the persona of the Holy Spirit to not only dwell among us, but if we accept Christ as our Saviour to dwell inside us. When we are faced with decisions of right and wrong he counsels us on God's will. When we stray, he convicts us to turn us toward repentance. When we live inside his will he blesses us with a peace that often times is beyond our ability to comprehend.

3) Other Believers. God calls us to be in contact with his church. He wants us to meet in fellowship, giving praise together, praying for each other's needs and studying the Word he has given us. Often times God puts in our path a person who can relate to the place we are in our lives. This person has been counseled by the word and the spirit and can often help us to discern a direction for our lives. God tells us not to go out looking for the wrong that our brothers and sisters are doing but to fellowship and encourage one another in the ways of Godliness. This is why we are called the body of Christ.

God's communication with us is only one side of the equation however. Communication requires a two-way street. As Christians we should be fulfilling our part of the communicating as well. Let's look at what Christians are called to do in order to communicate effectively with God.

1) Praise God. We should raise up songs, recite psalms, create poems, and give thanks for the blessings we receive daily. We were created for this reason, to praise our God and enjoy being in fellowship with Him.

2) Prayer. We will be examining prayer more closely in the days to follow. Let me suffice to say now that prayer is an act that should not be short, sweet, and to the point. Prayer is not a spell that says this is wrong, fix it. Prayer is talking to God as you would anyone else you trust about the struggles and the joys. Prayer is not a life raft when the waves get too high, it is everyday priority that we must set.


You may be looking at this and saying well I already knew that and you may be looking at it with somewhat fresh eyes and thinking that you have not been holding up your end of the bargain. My desire over the next few days is to help you strengthen your prayer life and open yourself up to communication with God. Prayer does not have to be difficult or hard or even structured, it does however have to be a priority. Look at your prayer life as it stands now and ask yourself a few questions in the next 24 hours.

1. How often do I communicate with God?
2. When I do talk to God what does it normally consist of?
3. Do I do all the talking when I talk to God or do I open myself up to being receptive to the Holy Spirit?
4. Do I take advantage of how God tries to communicate with me?How? Why or why not?
5. What are some ways that I could improve my prayer and praise practices?
6. How could being more committed to a better prayer and praise life strengthen my
relationship with God? How might that affect other relationships I have? Are you
willing to make life changes to reach these benefits?


I hope that you do not close this devotion tonight and walk away without giving these questions serious consideration. My hope is that by looking more closely at how you and I approach prayer, we can find ways to strengthen our faith, our relationship with God and become more effective servants for His Kingdom.