Making the Connection
God’s idea of prayer is not a ritual, but loving and lively communication between the best of friends.
But sad to say, most people think they can’t talk to God like that. Some think they’re not religious enough, not righteous enough, or not spiritual enough. Some think He’s too big—too far above them. Some think He’s too busy to be concerned about them and their problems, which they think must seem awfully petty to Him. Some feel unworthy, not good enough. Some feel guilty or ashamed about things they’ve done. Some are even afraid of Him. If only they understood how differently God sees it!
God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us, and He wants it to be the deepest, most meaningful, most fulfilling and rewarding, most natural part of our lives. Now that’s not to say He wants to take away from the other relationships and activities that we enjoy and consider important. To the contrary—He wants to be a part of all that. He wants to make our day-to-day living easier, He wants to give the things we experience greater meaning, and He wants to enjoy them with us. In a word, He wants to make our lives better. He wants to add a wonderful new dimension to all that we do—the dimension of His loving presence.
How do we establish such a relationship, especially when we feel small and unspiritual and unworthy? How do we make that connection? Simple: through His Son, Jesus!
None of us can really grasp how great and wonderful God our Father is, because He and His Spirit are greater than the whole universe. He’s so beyond our comprehension that He had to send us Someone who could show us His love, Someone we could experience, Someone who could bring God down to the level of our limited human understanding. So He sent His Son, Jesus.
Jesus lived for thirty-three years on Earth in human form and experienced the joy and sorrows that we as humans experience. Jesus has been here, so He can understand us and be the link between us and God.
We can get personal with Jesus. He even told us to ask Him into our hearts: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev 3:20) He’s the One we can have direct, personal contact with. He is the One we can approach God through.
If you have prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior, you already have that connection. If not, you can make it right now by sincerely praying a simple prayer like the following:
Dear Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and that You died for me. I need Your love to cleanse me from my mistakes and wrongdoing. I now open the door of my heart and ask You to please come into my life and give me Your free gift of eternal life. Amen.
Jim’s Prayer
A pastor shares this true story–he sees a man goes into his church at noon every day and comes out again after a few minutes. What could he be doing? He informed the caretaker and asked him to question the old man. After all, the place contained valuable furnishings.
“I go to pray,” the man said in reply to the caretaker’s questioning.
“Come, come now,” said the other, “you are never long enough in the church to pray.”
“Well, you see,” the old man went on, “I don’t know how to pray a long prayer, but every day at twelve o’clock I just come and say, ‘Jesus, it’s Jim.’ I wait a minute and then come away. Even though it’s just a little prayer, I think He hears me.”
When Jim was injured some time later and taken to the hospital, he had a wonderful influence on the ward. Grumbling patients became cheerful and often the ward would ring with laughter.
“Well, Jim,” said a nurse to him one day, “the men say you are responsible for this change in the ward. They say you are always happy.”
“Aye, that I am. I can’t help being happy. You see, it’s my Visitor. Every day He makes me happy.”
“Your visitor?” The nurse was puzzled. She had noticed that Jim’s chair was always empty during visiting hours, for he was a lonely man, with no relatives. “Your visitor? But when does he come?”
“Every day,” Jim replied, with a light in his eye. “Yes, every day at twelve o’clock He comes and stands at the foot of my bed. I see Him and He smiles and says, ‘Jim, it’s Jesus.’”
Prayer Is Communication
Like any deep and lasting friendship, your relationship with Jesus will be strengthened by
frequent honest, open communication. That’s really what prayer is all about: communicating heart-to-heart with the Lord.
But just how do you communicate with the Lord? Believe it or not, it’s quite simple.
To get started, try sitting down in a quiet spot and picture Jesus there next to you. Then talk to Him just like you would to a good friend. You can talk to Him aloud or in your mind. The exact words you say aren’t what matter—just tell Him what’s on your heart.
Actually, you can pray anywhere, at anytime. You don’t have to be either sitting or standing. You don’t have to be in a church, a religious building, or any special place. Prayer connects your heart with God’s heart, regardless of your surroundings.
Many people associate prayer with asking God for things. But that’s only a part of prayer. Of course He wants you to tell Him your needs, but He also wants you to just spend time with Him telling Him about how things are going in your life. Tell the Lord how much you love Him and how thankful you are for all the good things He sends your way. Tell Him all about your dreams and desires, problems and questions, and He will give you strength, inspiration, reassurance and answers you need.
Jesus is at your beck and call—just a prayer away—and He’s always happy to lend an ear and a helping hand. He’s interested in you and what you’re going through, and He’s happy to hear and answer your requests.
But there’s more to prayer than that.
Jesus also wants to communicate with you, to talk to you. He wants to give you personal words of love and encouragement, and He wants to help you with your problems. He has all the answers, but how can He give them to you if you don’t listen? You need to learn to recognize His voice when He speaks to your spirit and puts thoughts in your mind.
Jesus will also speak to you through His written Word, the Bible, but to get the most out of it you need to pray and listen to Him as you read. Then He can explain how what you’re reading applies to you and today’s world. He will fill in gaps and provide added detail to the often rather general answers in His Word. But again, the key is listening.
Whether it’s your turn to listen or your turn to talk, you can communicate with the Lord at the speed of thought! It’s not like communicating by letter, where you write to someone via the postal system and then have to wait days or weeks to receive their reply.—Or even like sending e-mail via the Internet, where you can get an answer back from the other side of the world in minutes. Your prayers actually reach His ear before they leave your mouth, and you can get immediate answers. He may not always be able to give you a complete answer or bring about the final result you desire right away, but at the least He will tell you that He’s heard your prayer and He’s working on it. That assurance alone can give you peace of mind and help problems that seem like mountains melt away. And as you later bring the matter again in prayer before Him, He will continue to work on your behalf and show you what you can do to help work His will in the matter and bring it to a happy, fruitful conclusion.