Real Talk

“Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part.”

~ Andrew Murray

I just adore this quote. I mean… It’s so wise, right?

And it made me ask myself how often am I praying AT God rather than praying TO God? And how often am I expecting God to listen to my every request/ demand/ plea rather than listening to His?

Wow. Those are some tough questions. Mostly because I don’t love my answers. But that’s real, and real talk is good.

I was having some real talk with a friend recently, and we giggled a bit about our struggles with prayer in our everyday lives.

I say giggled because we both felt kinda awkward admitting that we used God as our personal genie sometimes. And we giggled because we shyly agreed that sometimes it was much easier to encourage others with a trendy “good vibes only” response when they’re going through a tough time rather than getting real and praying for them right there on the spot. And we giggled because we were both sorta embarrassed that there are days in our lives that we only make time for prayer right before a meal (when we’re hangry and just want the food to be blessed, dangit) or right before bed (when we’re practically zombies anyway).

Prayer can sometimes be a bit unnatural. And I think that’s just the point.

Prayer is communion with the Lord. And that’s special, set apart, and straight up holy! It’s personal, so it may feel vulnerable. It’s raw, so it might get a bit messy. It’s not always a comfortable position to put yourself in, especially if you’re with people or in a place where it’s not the cool thing to do.

And that’s just it.

Prayer is a posture.

It’s an understanding that the Lord is with us always and that our words are always enough when they’re brought to Him. There’s no special language called “prayer”. It’s an action that we train ourselves in, just as we train ourselves to sit up straight rather than slouch. It’s a posture. And it’s not always an easy one.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14

That. Those words should take all of shame and comparison out of prayer. Because guess what? If you’re speaking to Him, He hears it. And it is ALWAYS enough for Him. And if that doesn’t give you confidence, I don’t know what will.

Now let me challenge you with Part II…

Will you sit quietly (maybe awkwardly) and listen for Him to respond?

Waiting is maybe the most uncomfortable thing that we do in this life. I mean, you’re probably reading this while you’re waiting on your bus to come or waiting for your mom to call you back or waiting on your microwave dinner to finish heating up. Waiting is hard, but it’s a part of prayer too.

So let’s stop with the monologues and let’s have some real talk with God. I promise He loves answering our prayers just as much as He loves hearing them.