“Thus God used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” Exodus 33:11 (NASB)
The Bible is filled with role models, but I can’t think of a better one than Moses. He was a leader, but also a listener. He experienced a long journey, but took each step in communication with God. Like Moses, we need to experience life’s journey in conversation with our Creator.
Prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue. It’s two-way communication. God’s voice is the most essential part of life’s journey. When we listen to God’s voice as we pray, it gives us confidence that He too is listening to us.
So often we have been taught that prayer is petitioning our wants to God. We have not practiced listening to Him nearly enough. He is eager to speak to us, but we are the ones who don’t know how to listen or claim to not have the time to do so.
Most of us rush into pray at a hundred miles an hour, with gusts of up to one hundred and fifty. We rattle off our list of wants, but God wants us to listen to His wants as well.
As we journey through life, we need to develop a habit of spending time with God that is undisturbed and focused -- a time to shut out the noise and thoughts of the world and devote our total being to listening to Him.
Let’s approach God today both to lift up our needs as well as to hear His plan for our day? When life’s journey takes us down God’s path rather than our own, we are filled with joy.
Lord, I want to hear You, feel Your presence in my life and follow Your plan for my life rather than dictating my plans to You. Help me to revitalize my prayer life. Amen.
Take Action
Stop and think of ways to make your prayer life a dialogue with God rather than a recitation of a list of wants, such as starting out with two minutes of silence, reading the Bible in conversation with Him, or shutting out distractions and noise. Take steps today to really start listening as you pray.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between God’s voice and our own thoughts. Reading this will help: Is that you, God?