Conversing With God

I’ve heard prayer defined as “having a conversation with God.” If we were to look up all the passages in Scripture concerning prayer, we’d find that prayer is only half of a conversation. Prayer involves the active asking, telling, declaring, or speaking to God. If only prayer is involved, it is a monologue, like the Pharisee who prayed to himself (Luke 18:11).

Conversing with, or having a meaningful conversation, occurs when thoughts, feelings, and hearts are exchanged and shared between two parties. Often we do not have meaningful conversations with God because we are not praying on the basis of His Word—in other words, we are praying (talking) but are not listening. Our “conversation” with God often sounds more like children asking their parents the same questions over and over with the parents answering, “What did I say?” repeatedly.

Prayer is not just to inform God about our circumstances or our internal state of affairs—God already knows that! Rather, prayer is an avenue of seeking God in an attempt to enter into His Presence and into His World (Hebrews 4:8-11). I think that Jesus said it best when He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

I know that it has made a huge difference in my life when I started to talk to God on the basis of His Word. I remember telling Jesus, “Where is this rest for my soul that you talked about?” The ensuing conversation changed the direction of my life forever. The rest is history—or should I say, the rest is His story.

Suffering

Most of us suffer like Job because we do not “see” God in our suffering. But if God is sovereign, He is involved in our suffering in one way or another. He might not be the cause of our suffering, but we cannot suffer unless He allows it. Satan was aware of this, that is why Satan said to God, “Have you not put a hedge around him [Job] and his household and everything he has?” (Job 1:10) To which God replied, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

All of Scripture tells or shows us that it is God that brings or allows suffering in our lives. Two examples that come immediately to mind are Joseph and Paul. Joseph was unfairly treated when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. When Joseph confronted his brothers, he said to them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20). Throughout his life, Joseph maintained his integrity because He “saw” God as sovereign.

In II Corinthians 1:8-9, Paul said, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.” But Paul also saw God’s hand in his suffering because Paul went on to say, “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”

In II Corinthians 12:7-8, Paul said, “there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Then as Paul begged the sovereign LORD to, “…take it away from me” he heard God say to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (vs.9) and Paul understood that his suffering kept him from becoming cocky and conceited (vs.7). This is not a pleasant thought to me because I understand that godliness comes with pain…(II Timothy 3:12, Hebrews 12:10).

Virtuous Living

The Jesus of the Bible is so beautiful, noble, and oh, so majestic. Before I came to know Him, He was the kind of person that I would have liked to be. But I also knew how life worked. A person who lived liked Jesus was a fool or a sucker. If people are kind to you, it is only for a season. People are out to take advantage of you. They will use you, abuse you, violate you then toss you aside. That’s what happened to Jesus. After Jesus fed, healed, and taught people how to live a virtuous life, the people mocked Him, beat Him, turned their back on Him, and murdered Him. Jesus lived such an honorable life, and even died a virtuous death, but no one spoke up for Him and He died alone. That’s life in a nutshell and that was my view of life. Jesus had a lot of the qualities that I thought were so attractive, but if this was the end, there was no reason for me to live like Him.

That’s where my life hung for many years until I realized that wasn’t the end of Jesus’ story. Had I been less cynical, I would have noticed that the stone had been rolled away, the tomb was empty, and the words, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see…” should have screamed out at me. Like Jesus’ disciples, I guess I needed to be reminded of what He said.

I still need to be reminded. But now I need to be reminded that because Jesus allowed Himself to suffer death, the Father has now crowned Him with glory and honor and has put EVERYTHING under His feet (Hebrews 2:7-10, Philippians 2:8-11). I’ve been told that this is my future as well (I Corinthians 15:50-58, Ephesians 2:4-7).

With this in mind, these days I don’t mind being a sucker or a fool—as long as it is for Jesus’ sake!