In any relationship, what happens when you don’t communicate?

The relationship grows stale, it doesn’t grow.

This is why prayer is so essential to the spiritual life. Phillip Yancey writes, “prayer is cooperation with God, a consent that opens the way for grace to work.”

Many make the mistake of believing that Christianity is about adherence to a series of doctrines and creeds. Christianity is about a relationship, a relationship with God that grows out of talking and listening to God. I believe we shy away from prayer for two main reasons. The first is that we think we don’t know what to say and the second is that we are afraid to really listen, for we might actually hear what God is saying to us. 

There is a great scene in the Robert Duvall movie The Apostle, where his character, the hot tempered southern preacher Sonny, is stomping and yelling around the house late one night. The next door neighbor calls to complain about all the noise at such a late hour. “Sounds like you have a madman over there” she says. Sonny’s mother just smiles into the phone and says “ever since Sonny was a little boy Sonny has been talking to the Lord. Sometimes he talks and sometimes he yells. Tonight he is yelling.”

Prayer can be like that. In fact, it’s okay for prayer to be like that. The most important thing is to keep the conversation going.

Join us for a special treat on this Labor Day weekend as Rev. Linda Whitmire preaches at both services on “Lord, Teach Us to Pray.”  Invite someone with you to experience God’s grace as we Seek, Serve, and Grow together

Grace and peace,

Danny