Are You Sure God Is Listening To You?
There are few things as important to a Christian as an active prayer life. It"s really the key to our relationship with God. There are several things you can do to improve your prayer life, no matter what it looks like right now.
You need to make and then take the time to pray, often easier said than done. Dealing with distractions is a continuing challenge, both earthly distractions and spiritual distractions. Having variety in your prayer life will keep your interest high. And, of course, you need to practice, practice, practice. With the tips I"ll share, you can have the kind of prayer life that lets you be sure that God is listening to you.
One of the biggest obstacles we all face in our prayer life is time. There are so many demands on our time, it"s all too easy to let prayer slide down the list. After all, God doesn"t stand inside the front door, arms crossed, tapping His foot impatiently. Our spouse might. Or our children. We need to remember that our model-Jesus-always took time for prayer, even if it meant leaving others behind for a while. Prayer should be at the permanent top of our to do list each and every day.
Often, when we"ve set aside time for prayer, distractions get in the way. There are earthly distractions, to be sure. The ringing telephone, the knock on the door, the silent presence of email. Treating prayer time like the most important appointment on our calendar each day makes it easy to let the other things wait. The earth will continue to turn.
A more insidious distraction is spiritual. The enemy would prefer that we don"t spend time with God. Whispering in our ear, he"ll elevate the importance of any distraction that comes to mind. He has even been known to cause things like a suddenly leaky faucet or squeaking chair that just has to be fixed right then and there. Use prayer to keep him at bay. Recognize his tricks and lies for what they are-attempts to keep you from spending time with your Heavenly Father.
I can"t say for sure how God feels on the receiving end, but I do know that repeating the same prayer in the same way day after day gets a bit monotonous. And therefore easy to skip. There are a variety of types of prayer-praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication and meditative. And there are several styles of prayer that can be applied to the various types-formal, conversational, devotional, walking and spontaneous. Add more types and styles of prayer to your prayer life and watch your passion for prayer grow.
When I say practice, I don"t mean in the sense of improving our performance. God hears even the clumsiest attempts at prayer, listening not to our words but to what"s in our heart. By practice I mean doing it, like a doctor or lawyer practices in their field. Not to get better, although that"s certainly a by-product. But just to do it. Over and over again, day after day, week after week.
To be sure God is listening to you, all you need to do is pray. He"ll be there. You need to make the time, eliminate the distractions, learn a variety of different ways to pray and then continue to practice. These tips will go a long way to ensuring that you have a robust prayer life and that God is, in fact, listening to you.
An vibrant, meaningful relationship with God--speaking to Him and hearing from Him--begins with prayer. Joe Vigliano has written about the various types, styles, and methods of effective prayer. To improve your prayer life, visit his informational web site at Focus on
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