Do you struggle with prayer? A lot of people do not pray even though they know they need to. They want to pray, they want to know who God is, but when they’ve made the time and are ready to pray, they don’t know what to say. Their main problem seems to be, “What should I talk about? What should I say to the Lord?” I understand. I struggle with this myself sometimes. But I’ve found again and again that the secret to starting up a conversation with Him is always coming with my whole heart, being honest with Him. I use what I’m feeling as the springboard to my conversation with Him. If I’m feeling thankful that’s what I say to Him. If I’m feeling sad and discouraged that’s what I tell Him. I am completely myself to Him. I don’t pretend to be any one else to Him. I just come as I am, having the confidence that He loves me simply and without reservations. I can be myself with Him totally and not worry about anything else but being myself. I think the problem with a lot of us is that we get such a grandiose idea of God. We put Him so high on a pedestal that we freeze ourselves in a spot where God is all the way up there in the sky and little-bitty me, is over here and doesn’t deserve to even speak to Him. That idea has got to be thrown out the window as soon as possible.
Let me paint a picture for you of how God is to me – how He has shown Himself to me after all these years of talking to Him. He said in His word, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart…” {Matthew 11:29} He isn’t exaggerating at all when He said He is meek and lowly in heart. Meek in the dictionary is defined as, “Quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive.” Lowly means, “Low in status or importance; humble.” After talking to Him all these years that’s exactly what I am learning about Him. I mean literally to a point sometimes I am such in awe of Him. I see Him as someone who wants to be a part of a game and no one wants to pick Him because He’s so quiet and gentle. He is so humble and unassuming that no one even thinks about Him. Have you ever played a game as a child and you have to pick two groups and you happen to be the leader of the team and you get to choose who goes to your team? Have you ever seen the faces of little kids as one by one older kids are getting picked instead of them? Well, Jesus is one of those little kids. He will not say anything but He so wants to be picked by one of us.
I’ll show you another real picture of Him that He’s shown me of how humble and gentle He is. I was sitting in a high school orchestra concert and was talking to Him about the music I was hearing. I happen to love Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky’s compositions. I am not an expert in any way shape or form when it comes to classical music, but I have listened enough to great works and hung out with my husband and his college professor music mentor to know what constitutes really great music. I’ve spent enough time in their company to hear them critique the music they listen to. I’ve learned something by just hanging out with them. So it’s a maddening experience for me when I would sit in a concert with an orchestra and they will play some awful modern music. I don’t care for modern music in the least. Sometimes it can become excruciating for me to listen to. I have no other choice but to tune into the Lord and bring Him into my thoughts. He brings me such great comfort whenever I’m unhappy. At this particular time I ranted to Him, “Lord God, You call this music? You, who invented music, how can You stand this?” I imagined Him inspiring Mozart and Bach and He being the very first one to hear their compositions. I heard Him respond humbly and softly to me, and say, “I have heard worse.” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud to myself. I actually had a laughing fit at that moment. He is so sweet to acknowledge me. Like I said, He always comforts me. He knows how. But it was the following scene that blew me away. As I looked up and eyed the orchestra of high school students who are hand picked for this very concert and could very well easily play Mozart and Bach without a problem; they were the cream of the crop, I couldn’t help but feel admiration for them. Then I heard the Lord say to me, “I wish they would love Me.” I was stunned. Huh? I couldn’t understand it. I felt like exploding! What does He mean, He wishes they would love Him? He is God! He owns their very breath! He can do whatever He wants with them! I was so beside myself. But I knew by now what I needed to do. I knew more and more who He is. He will not impose Himself on anyone. He will not make anyone love Him. I knew at that moment what I needed to do. So, I did it. I voiced to Him a prayer to give Him His heart’s desire. I knew He had given me the power to do this and so I said the prayer that was needed. I said to Him, “Father, I pray that these children will come to fall in love with You someday. If not today, I pray Lord Jesus, that one of these days, some time in their life, that You would reach out to them and draw them to you, and cause them to come to you and want you and love you. I pray Jesus, in Your name. Amen.” And you know what He said to me? He said, “Thank you, Chin.” (Chin-Chin is my pet name given to me by my parents when I was a child.) Yes, that’s how God is. He thanked me for giving Him the permission to go into these kids’ lives and deal with them and bring them to love Him. He will not just do it without one of us telling Him He can do it. He is lowly and meek in heart. He is super, super, nice. You can definitely “impose” yourself on Him and He will not ever turn you away. As a matter of fact, He will even thank you for it.
He wants each and every one of us to come and talk to Him. He is dying for each and every one of us to talk to Him. Like that child that wants to be picked in a game, He is dying to be picked in our game of life. He wants you and I to go boldly to Him and make Him our Friend.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:3
