Talking to God is not hard if you come to Him with all your heart. Whenever I come to Him to talk to Him, I make sure I am not hiding anything. I make sure that my heart is open to Him. I make sure I clear myself to Him if there’s anything in my heart that is getting in the way of my open communication with Him.
When I was growing up I learned a few steps on how to approach God in prayer based on what I was taught in church and at home. First you sing to Him, then you tell Him what you’re thankful for, then you start telling Him what you want for Him to do – whether for yourself or for someone else. This was a very good outline for me growing up because at least you get an idea of what you needed to do when you’re coming to God.
But I have found in my years of talking to the Lord that there were many times where He doesn’t care about me singing to Him, or thanking Him about the beautiful day or for providing for my needs, or asking for Him to do stuff for me or to do stuff for people. There are many days where He just wants me to talk to Him from my heart – as a friend would talk to a friend, to just be myself and have a conversation with Him.
I’ve had it where I’m singing another song and He stops me in the middle of my singing and says to me in my spirit, “Okay, that’s enough. Come and talk to me.” He wants me to talk to Him about whatever is in my heart. There was something that was bothering me and I needed to talk to Him about it, and I was using my singing to Him as an excuse to keep hiding it from Him.
In times past I’ve struggled with coming to God because I have this preconceived notion of how I’m supposed to come to Him. I get myself tied up with all these rules and steps I must first do in order for me to approach Him. But I have found again and again that what He wants from me is to come to Him with all my heart. If that means getting straight to my request for something that is currently consuming my thoughts, then that’s what comes out of my mouth. I’ve stopped beating around the bush. I’ve stopped making it hard for myself. I just come out and say it. Then I worry about loving Him and thanking Him for His goodness later.
When we come with our hearts to the Lord and we’re not hiding anything from Him, whether it is our sins or our struggles in our walk with Him, our prayer will be more powerful. It will be fruitful. When I’m coming to the Lord with all my heart, my soul, and my mind, and tell Him what is in my soul, I don’t have to dread prayer anymore. My prayer time with Him is more productive and becomes a blessing to me in my life rather than something that I have to do. Prayer is not a must-do checklist. It’s something I look forward to doing because it’s fun when in the process of my being honest with Him, the Lord responds to me in my spirit and talks back to me. I hear His voice and I know what He’s saying to me. Most importantly, I feel His love for me. He makes me feel so loved and so special. I love Him so much.
Years ago when I was still stuck on my prayer outline of how to come to Him, I remember coming to the Lord in prayer one time and His Spirit dealing with me and saying, “So are you coming with your heart or with your (prayer) list?” I was so stunned by that question. Then I responded back in my spirit, “Ugh, I’d rather come with my list than with my heart.” Why, because I was so afraid to reveal myself to the Lord. I was afraid to be honest with Him. What I didn’t realize was that He already knows everything about me since the day I was born – my thoughts, my desires, my sins, my struggles, my lifestyle, you name it – until that very moment in my life, there was nothing I could hide from Him. There is no use in hiding and pretending to be someone else to Him. Do you know what the Lord did in response to my answer, “I’d rather come with my prayer list than with my heart”? I felt Him leave me. I felt His Spirit move away from me.
I’ve learned that prayer is so much more miraculously amazing when I am open and honest with the Lord. When I bare my soul to Him and peel off all the layers of myself to Him, I’ve learned He loves me even more. He loves me even more because I am in essence telling Him that I trust His love for me to be real. I have faith in His love for me. It makes Him feel good that I trust Him to forgive me and to cleanse me from all my unrighteousness, and to love me anyway despite of all I have done.
Again and again He has shown me that He loves me whatever happens. I just need to be open and honest with Him so that He can deal with me truthfully and help me change. Otherwise, how can He change me if I am always resisting being myself to Him? How can He deal with me if every time He’s communing with me I am closing my heart to Him? No, that is impossible. He cannot help me. There will never be growth in my walk with Him. But when I do come boldly and I am open to Him, again and again His Spirit would reward me by enveloping me with His love and assurances. He forgives and gives me peace. He never ever for once condemned me. He lifts me up and fills my soul with so much peace because I trusted in His great love for me. He tells me again and again that being truthful to Him is what pleases Him.
When we talk to God with our hearts and are open to Him with our shame and our guilt and everything that makes us who we are, we give Him the power to work in our hearts. He can turn around and change us and make us who He desires for us to be. The key in talking to the Lord is in always being honest with Him, feeling after His Holy Spirit, and waiting on Him to lead us to His truth. When we do that, our prayer life will become more fruitful. We will start to see miracles in our lives. We will see our prayers and heart’s desires granted to us. If we respond to His dealings with us by obeying whatever His Spirit tells us to do, then He will turn around and bless us. He will turn around and bless us with more of His grace and with more of His presence. We will feel His love in our soul. This is what I have experienced in my relationship with the Lord again and again. He has blessed me and filled me with His love and with His peace that I have never experienced in my life before because I have learned to be honest with Him. This is what I believe makes a powerful prayer life: An open and honest communication with God.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” {Jeremiah 29:13}
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” {Isaiah 1:18}
“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” {Isaiah 29:13}
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” {Hebrews 4:13}
“And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind.” {Luke 10:27}
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” {Matthew 7:7}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I love You. I thank You for Your great love for me. I thank You that You gave Your life at the cross so that I can be set free today to come and talk to You.
Please Lord Jesus, continue to help me to talk to You and come to You with all of my heart. Please increase my faith in Your love for me. Help me to come despite of my doubts and fears regarding my standing with You. Take all my fears away. Help me to believe that I am loved by You. Help me to believe that I can really share with You everything that is in my heart no matter what it is, that I have nothing to be afraid of. I desire more and more of You, Father, to know You and to love You more.
I pray this, in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
{Repost from May 2017 Blogpost: How To Talk To God}
