Can We Talk?

Years ago, I met with a couple who were on the verge of divorce. Obviously, I wanted to do everything possible to help save their marriage. The first time we met, I spent several hours with them and gave them a homework assignment. It was obvious to me that these were two strangers simply living under the same roof. My assignment to them was to have a “Marriage Staff Meeting”. In most any business, staff meetings are weekly occurrence. You just can’t run a business without communication and getting “on the same page”. So, what would make anyone think you can run a marriage and a family without good lines of communication?

One week later, they returned and I asked about their assignment. They simply said they couldn’t find the time. They couldn’t find one hour to communicate with one another, even though their marriage hung in the balance. I knew they were done. Not because it was irreparable, but because they weren’t willing to even try.

Every healthy relationship requires healthy, intimate, meaningful communication. That not only goes for marriage relationships, but for our relationship with our Heavenly Father as well. God wants to talk with us. He wants to hear everything on our hearts…our dreams, our fears, our doubts, our stresses, our successes and our failures. He wants to hear it all. He even wants to hear our questions. He doesn’t just allow us to ask help from Him, He asks us to ask! In fact, He even tells us that sometimes “we don’t have because we don’t ask” (James 4:2). He tells us to not just come to into the throne room of the King of the Universe…He tells us to “come boldly before His throne” (Hebrews 4:16).

The Bible has a word for when we talk to God. He calls is prayer. Jesus didn’t say, ”If you pray”…instead, He said, “When you pray”. It’s an expectation that if we love Him and know he loves us, that we’ll want to communicate with Him. We’ll understand that it’s absolutely essential that we talk…because, every healthy relationship requires healthy communication.

You may be saying, “But, I don’t know how to pray”. Well, actually, you do. You know how to have a conversation. So, just have one with God.  If you have a problem with the fact that this is a little different because you can’t see Him or hear him audibly…then I’ll give you three suggestions.

1. If you like, put a chair and think of Jesus sitting right there…because He is…and talk to him as if He’s right there in the room with you.
2. Tell Him exactly what’s on your heart. There’s nothing “off-limits”. Everything you tell Him, He already knows anyway! But, He loves it when you trust Him enough to tell Him.
3. Find a place where you can pray out loud. I find that really helps me concentrate and keep my mind on Him and me and our conversation.

Here’s the most important thing about prayer… JUST DO IT! The best way to develop a great prayer life is to start. And, the best time to start is today. How about right now?