Big Rocks for Strong Christ-Followers
Today’s Big Rock: Communication – Part I
Scripture Foundation: Matthew 23:23
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”
Just like communication in our marriages and our other relationships, learning how to communicate with God is essential to being strong and mature in our relationship with Him.
Read Luke 18:1:
One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
For me, Luke 18:1 is all I need to understand how important communication with God is. The two main thoughts in this one verse: First, we should always pray! Second, we should never give up”!
What did Jesus really mean when He said: “always pray”?
Can any person truly pray all the time? Was Jesus exaggerating?
Was the Apostle Paul exaggerating as well when he told the Christ-followers at Thessalonica to “never stop praying”? (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
I believe that both Jesus and the Apostle Paul were telling us to realize that God is always listening. Thus, we can pray at any time.
God is always ready to hear what is on your mind. There is nothing too small or insignificant that we cannot whisper a prayer to our Father in Heaven.
We go about our business each day, but always remember that God’s Spirit goes about His business with us! We are never alone!
In the next few devotions, I get real practical on how to avoid selfish communication with God. For now, let’s rejoice that we have a Father in Heaven who never tires of hearing from us.
The second thing Jesus said is to “never give up”.
He knew that so many of our prayers do not get immediate answers. Jesus knew that when we do not see anything happening, the evil one tempts us to think that nothing is happening. This is “stinkin’ thinkin’”!
God always answers His children’s prayers in three ways:
- “Yes”: we can expect to see it soon.
- “No”: God sees that a “yes” hurts us more than helps us.
- “Wait”: it is going to happen but not at once. God’s timing is better than ours.
(continued)
Father, I will always pray and not give up. In Jesus’s name!