Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Experiencing God, Unit 5 - Day 5

Unit 5 - God Speaks, Part 1

Day 5 - God Speaks Through Prayer

I think that too often prayer is just us speaking to God.  But do we listen as well?  Prayer should go both ways.  It is the way that God speaks to us, so when we talk to and listen to God then we have two way communication.  We have fellowship.

In the workbook, the author told a story that I thought was a fantastic analogy of how God uses prayer, so I will simply quote it here:

For his sixth birthday, my oldest son Richard was old enough to have a bicycle.  I looked all around for a bicycle.  I found a blue Schwinn, I bought it and hid it in the garage.  Then I had a task - to convince Richard that he needed a blue Schwinn bike.  For the next little while, we began to work with Richard.  Richard decided that what he really wanted for his birthday was a blue Schwinn bike.  Do you know what Richard got? Well, the bike was already in the garage.  I just needed to convince him to ask for it.  He asked for it, and he got it!

What happens when you pray? The Holy Spirit knows what God has "in the garage". It is already there.  The Holy Spirit's task is to get you to want it  - to get you to ask for it.  What will happen when you ask for things God alreasy want to give or do? You will always receive it.  Why? Because you have asked according to the will of God.  When God answers your prayer, He gets the glory and your faith is increased.

 Need I say more!  Well, maybe a little more...

Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

We don't even know how to pray!  Our prayer time should be as much, or even more, listening as it is speaking to God!

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