‘”Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Jeremiah 33:3

Tuesday morning in the men’s group at church we enjoyed a positive conversation about prayer. We looked at a few scriptures, we shared some personal stories, and we all agreed that prayer is critically important if we intend to be serious about “upping our game” as Christian men.

As always when it’s a good discussion, we didn’t get to cover everything I had on my outline.

One of my “bullet points” had been to discuss the idea that we all speak/communicate with God in our own personal language. It is as if, over time, we find our own particular frequency to tune in. So our primary prayer language is unique to us: it could be more in the way of listening, or spoken words, or sign language, or stream of consciousness, or unspoken thoughts, or written words, or music, or hymns, or pictures that form in our minds, or expressions of art, or basic gut-level emotions, or things like the sea or sunrises or mountains or flowers…

Most often, I believe, prayer is – at best – likely a hybrid involving several of the above, converging or blending many approaches to connecting with God.

At the same time I also believe that intention and discipline are necessary regardless of how we communicate. The language of prayer evolves and fine tunes with practice, and the more deliberate we are the more we will be freed from rote, meaningless, or stereotypical experiences. My point being that God honors our best and most consistent efforts.

I believe spirituality is a lot like music, where even a “natural” must learn and practice and practice some more if they want to make the best use of their gift.

I believe spirituality is a lot like music, where even a “natural” must learn and practice and practice some more if they want to make the best use of their gift.

When God Opens the Conversation:

My big take away Tuesday morning came from a man who told me that – while he prays often and conventionally – his most profound experiences, those times when he is blessed and directed and transformed, are when, as he said, “God is the one who starts the conversation.”

I love that.

We talk a lot – rightly – about “coming to the Lord in prayer” and “setting aside” time and “our prayer routines…” But I love my friend’s understanding that sometimes it is God who comes to him, that it is God initiating the encounter, that rather than us “approaching the throne of Grace” it is God Almighty who comes to us, and often in the most unlikely places!

So my word for us today is this: Let’s keep our listening ears on and our eyes open for where God is seeking us out.

We don’t always have to climb Mt. Sinai before dawn. Sometimes “God is the one who starts the conversation.” Peace and love – DEREK

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16