If you ever saw the movie "Braveheart", you will definitely remember the crazy guy who claimed to have consistent conversations with the Almighty. I am talking about the guy who would not only talk out loud to God but would also hear God talk back to him. It has always been interesting to me that the one guy in the movie who could apparently connect with the "Supernatural" was a portrayed as being "off his rocker".
The longer I study the scriptures and reflect on God's pursuit of man, it seems that the experience of genuine dialogue with God just might me more normal than most people might think. Just imagine, what if, God really is willing and able to speak to us as we live our lives here on earth? What if God really wanted not only to hear our prayers but answer them as well? What if all we needed to do was pay attention to God's voice in our lives to experience direction and peace on a daily basis?
Take Luke 11:1 for example. "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
It is interesting that those who were closest to Jesus and helped Him interact with others on a daily basis, were fascinated by His prayer life and wanted to learn how to pray like him. I don't know about you but if I had the opportunity to sit down with Jesus face to face in the flesh and ask Him to teach me something, I would probably choose something exciting like: healing, or casting out demons, or being able to figure out what people are thinking. It is interesting to me that those closest to Jesus would choose to ask Him how to pray. What would you ask Him? Do you think you would choose to ask about prayer? I mean, come on, do you really think prayer works?
I don't really know where the motivation came from but there is a reason that Jesus' disciples wanted to learn how to pray. Maybe it was something they saw in the every day life of Jesus and John the Baptist that intrigued them. Maybe it was the power they saw in Jesus' connection with His Father. Maybe it was the fact that they saw Jesus pay really close attention to supernatural things all the time and prayer was the way this connection was fleshed out.
I don't think I know all the answers to this mystery but one thing I do believe is that God wants us to learn some lessons not only from this crazy guy on Braveheart, but more importantly from the scriptures.
Right now, I am in the process of learning the discipline of prayer and trying to learn to pay attention to the Spirit of God. As I am growing in this discipline, I am learning a few things about God and myself that might be helpful to you this week.
- I am learning that prayer does not move God to my will, but prayer moves me to God's will.
- I am learning to trust God over and above my circumstances.
- I am learning to pay attention to how He is moving in my heart and life.
- I am learning that God's voice, never contradicts His word.
- I am learning that my relationship with God is truly interactive.
- I am learning that listening for his voice is just as important as talking to Him.
It really is amazing that you and I have the opportunity to connect with the God of All Creation on a daily basis. You and I are able to seek God for insight and direction for our lives. You and I have the opportunity to hear the voice of God and experience the incredible benefits of the supernatural in our every day lives. This is truly an amazing opportunity for us and comes to us when we learn how to pray.
I want to challenge you to experiment with the discipline of prayer this week. God really does want to lead you and speak to you. Are you paying attention to God's voice in your own life?
Posted on
Monday, January 19, 2009
by Chris Wall