Talking with God
I think the theme of this year is going to be prayer. On New Years Eve we were waiting for some friends to come over and, while trying to find a recording of the New York ball dropping, Katie clicked on a video of Francis Chan speaking about prayer. Though we were a few drinks into the night, it really struck me! Also, upon writing this, our church is doing a series on prayer, practicing the disciplines of it and letting it permeate your whole life. It's all a good way to start the year I'd say.
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So in this journey my kids taught me a lesson about talking with God (as they often do). Sometimes a barrier to prayer is that we assume God knows what we want or what we are thinking; so why is it important to talk to him about it? There are plenty of answers to that, usually pointing towards talking to God anyway, but this morning I received a great illustration.
The girls were playing Play-doh and I was folding clothes. Ellie was making a pirate octopus and Waverly a pizza. I asked the girls what kind of pizza they like, already knowing their answers. Still, it was fun just to dialogue with the children. That's how God must feel, I thought. He must enjoy simply dialoguing with his children! Even though he knows the choices we will make, our desires, our thoughts. And that really shows the compassion of God, right? That he loves us enough to simply want to chat, even though all the answers are already apparent.
So the next time your conversation with God feels futile, remember that it far transcends the transaction of, "God I want this," and him complying. That deep connection that comes through communication is one of the greatest goals in prayer, though it is often one of the easiest to miss.
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Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2)--
So in this journey my kids taught me a lesson about talking with God (as they often do). Sometimes a barrier to prayer is that we assume God knows what we want or what we are thinking; so why is it important to talk to him about it? There are plenty of answers to that, usually pointing towards talking to God anyway, but this morning I received a great illustration.
The girls were playing Play-doh and I was folding clothes. Ellie was making a pirate octopus and Waverly a pizza. I asked the girls what kind of pizza they like, already knowing their answers. Still, it was fun just to dialogue with the children. That's how God must feel, I thought. He must enjoy simply dialoguing with his children! Even though he knows the choices we will make, our desires, our thoughts. And that really shows the compassion of God, right? That he loves us enough to simply want to chat, even though all the answers are already apparent.
So the next time your conversation with God feels futile, remember that it far transcends the transaction of, "God I want this," and him complying. That deep connection that comes through communication is one of the greatest goals in prayer, though it is often one of the easiest to miss.
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