Have you felt tongue tied communicating with your best friend?  Probably the opposite would be true; you cannot stop talking!   How about when you met the one of your dreams?  You would talk for hours; time seemed to stand still.  They may have even become like a hero in your life.

Talking with someone close to us is natural, easy, and just seems to flow the longer we know one another and the more experiences we share. This is what prayer should be like!  If prayer is conversation with God, then I wonder, why is it such a challenge to pray?

The opportunity to pray does not require length or volume, nor an expansive vocabulary.  It is the heart that flows that means the most.  Through different interactions, I have heard many people decline to pray out loud.  Later they expressed how they don’t feel like they have the right words to say,  or don’t know what or how to pray.  In my early years of being a Christian, I was taught to pray to God like I was talking with my best friend and sharing my heart!  Yes, there should definitely be an element of reverence because this is The God of the Universe we are speaking with; however, he is also the God who came down from Heaven as a babe, was born in a stable, and lived among us!  He chooses our bodies to be his temples.  He resides in the souls of those who confess him to be Lord of their life, who believe in him as their Savior.  So, if God is humbling himself that much, I think we can bring ourselves to the mindset of talking with God like he’s our best friend in the whole wide world.  No matter how loud your prayer may be today, just like your best friend, God sees and hears.  Before a word is on your lips, God knows it.

God is our friend!  You don’t make friends without giving time and energy to make it work, right?  So, in order for us to draw near to God, we’ve got to talk with him, hang out with him, be real with him, and just let him see the real us!  

I’ve heard it stated, too, that he’s the God of this universe and he created me, so doesn’t he already know me?  Yup!  This is true, but, so does your friend you talk hours with on the phone, chat with on the computer, or text with every day.  But, you still tell your friend when you get excited, confused or upset.  Friends are people who listen and know you.  The God of the universe may already know you, but until you share with him and interact with him, you have not experienced his kind of friendship that comes with a gentle invitation into his loving freedom.  What is the joy in a forced conversation between friends?  Probably none.  It is the same with God.  Like a friend, he enjoys it so much more when we willingly seek to come and share our heart with him.

Freedom in our voice to willingly converse with God also pours into our physical posture and special utilization.  When I first learned about prayer, I thought I should sit a certain way, say certain things, and be my idea of “perfect” for him to hear me.  Those were lies!  When I started reading about how he encouraged the disciples to pray, it made sense that there were things I should do when I pray such as confess my wrongs to him, forgive others to the measure by which I have been forgiven, adore him, and identify all the goodness he has done in my life.  Prayer is an invitation to embark on the best experience EVER, whenever and wherever. 

Bonus:  spending time talking with him creates a heart like his!  You begin to desire heavenly things more than earthly desires and wants.  Be raw, surrendered, and real before your Maker in word and deed.  Let him mold you to be like him.  Then, you will experience how prayer is your life line!  He rejoices over you whom he delights in with song and dance; he is your hero!

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

– ‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:17

It is my prayer that you will learn to talk with the God of the Universe like you breathe – that he will become your life line – your hero!

Joyfully Healing from the Inside Out,