Talk to the Lord, and He Will Listen

TALK TO THE LORD AND HE WILL LISTEN
A STUDY OF PRAYER

Speak up, He is listening; He is waiting, waiting to hear from you. How long has it been since you spoke to him? He waits patiently to hear from you. He longs for the sound of your voice.
He longs for your presence. His arms are stretched wide, waiting to gather you close to His loving heart. In John 14:2, Jesus tells his disciples that the Father’s home has many rooms. God yearns to welcome you to His home. Here you can find strength, find wisdom, and find peace. God yearns to hear from you, to feel your presence as you draw near in prayer.
So, why a book on prayer? Why is it so detailed that it takes a whole book for an explanation? Perhaps we should take a good look at that little 3 letter word “why”, it is used over and over in our lives. It first appears in early childhood; mama and dada are shortly followed by “no” and then quickly followed by “why”. No matter what parents are telling a small child, the child will invariably ask “why”. For a while a simple answer like, “because I say so” will suffice. But in time an actual response will be required.
As we become adults the “whys” do not cease; if anything they appear more and more frequently. The word “why” is a big part of our daily lives. By now I am sure another ‘why’ has appeared. You are wondering why I would spend time and space on a little three letter word; wondering what does this little word have to do with a book on prayer.
Often our “why” does not have an apparent answer, sometimes it is more of an expressed thought than an actual question. However, this “why” does have an answer. The answer has several parts which will be covered in ensuing chapters. The part I am sure is first in your minds is “Why a whole book on prayer?” This is the part I will cover now since the other parts could lose impact without it.
I have moved a number of times, finally to a little town in Wisconsin to be nearer to my elderly mother. Very shortly I became a member of a church and quickly became very active in many ways. I attended services every Sunday because I was a “good Christian”, or so I believed.
Then one Sunday, my pastor announced that a church near my home was holding a “Taize Service” that afternoon and recommended we should attend. I was interested and thought I would go until I got home from church. It was March, there was still snow on the ground, but it was melting; snow had turned to slush and puddles had become small ponds. By the time I walked from my car to my door my shoes and feet were soaked. So, I decided not to go out again and sat down to read the paper.
But, this was not to be; suddenly I realized I had put my shoes and coat back on and had walked the two blocks through the slush to the little church. I had no idea how or why I was there, but wet feet and all I decided that as long as I was there, I might as well stay.
If you have never attended a Taize service and an opportunity arises, I suggest you go. There is singing, readings of scripture, prayers, and periods of silent meditation. The songs are simple ones consisting of a few words repeated over and over. Then, midway through the service it happened!
The words we were singing were: “O Lord, hear my prayer. When I call, answer me”. Suddenly I cried out loud: “Help me God, I need you so”. Immediately my heart seemed to swell as if it would break and the sanctuary which was lit only by candles seemed to glow with a brilliant light. God had answered me and from that moment on my whole life had changed.
Yes, my life changed! I had always felt that I was a “Good Christian”, but I quickly found out that was only partly right. In a blink of an eye God had entered my life and changed me forever. He had filled me with such joy and my heart with so much love that people said I glowed. My appreciation for the world around me deepened; I was no longer critical of others; rather I saw only good, not faults in them
There were other changes also, such as a renewed desire to learn and the ability to write. However, the biggest and most important change was my relationship with God. Time spent in prayer had become quite sporadic, I rarely prayed at meal time and only occasionally at bed time. No longer was this to be! Now I began to really pray, to open my heart to God. At first, if I tried to crawl into bed or to fill my plate before I prayed, I would feel a nudge as if God was saying: “I’m waiting to hear from you” and I would respond in prayer immediately.
Day after day more and more times for prayer appeared. The first one was in the morning. No longer was ending the day with prayer enough; I needed to begin the day also. Some occasions could take considerable time while others might be just a few words. It didn’t seem to matter just as long as I continued to pray.
I remember the first time I read Paul’s words in 1Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without ceasing”. I wondered how one was to do this and still go about their daily lives, but it didn’t take long for me to realize it could be done. Very shortly I found there were few moments that weren’t times for prayer.
I had heard the expression “prayer life” before and soon came to realize this is what I now had. In time, opportunities for prayer appeared outside my normal daily life, but these I will cover later in the book.
This is approximately the point I was at in my previous book. I knew I could just mention the other occasions but in my heart I felt that would not be enough; there was far too much to say. So, I pulled out what I had written and thus this book was born. Prayer is far too important; is too much an integral part of a Christian’s life not to be covered in totality. Thus we have a whole book on prayer. This is the “why” of this book!