Talking to the Father

My Utmost For His Highest

‘Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time. […] The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.’  CHAMBERS

The Autonomic Nervous System ( involuntary nervous system) acts as a control system functioning largely below the level of consciousness, and controls  heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, salivation, perspiration, pupillary dilation.  We don’t have to tell our heart to beat … God took care of that in our design …

‘For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.’ (Psalms 139:13-14)

In the same way … prayer should be so much a part of our being that we don’t even have to think about it … it just happens … it flows out of us … Think of praying as talking with God … now .. if God is most important in our lives … (Matthew 22:37-38).  Wouldn’t you want to spend time talking to Him?  Do you relegate talking to Him when you give thanks for the food you are about to eat … we tend to think of that as compulsory conversation … when in fact it is acknowledgement that God is the Provider …. At night before you go to bed or maybe with your children … you tell them “it’s time to say your prayers”…. It’s always time to say your prayers .. to talk to God.  We teach people to allocate special times to talk to God … maybe on Sunday morning with ‘every head bowed and every eye closed’.  Corporate prayer is good … ritualistic prayer … is not … Jesus said …

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:5-7)

What if whenever you talked with your spouse you said the same thing ….”Good morning honey how are you.”  You would not be much of a conversationalist would you!

If God is always present .. and He is … If the Holy Spirit lives in us … and He does in every Believer … If we have been given free access to the Father through the Son … and we have … then why would we want to limit ourselves in the relationship?  Self-focus is one thing that comes to mind …  The lack of spiritual maturity because of indifference is another possibility … or maybe it is just because no one has ever told us otherwise ..

Prayer is a vital part of our spiritual life .. it should be natural and frequent … take time to talk to the Father .. and if you’re not sure of what to say … don’t worry … He loves the sound of your voice … Dad’s always like to hear from their children …

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)