Pastor John Lindell of James River Assembly preached on the book of Galatians a few months ago.  It was the best and most enlightening explanation I have ever heard about the grace of God and just how much he loves us.  If you haven’t read that book or heard John preach it,  you should pick up a copy at the church.  It was literally life changing for me.  We listened intently every week about what God’s grace means in our lives and that living under the weight of condemnation is not what God wants for us. Feeling constantly condemned or convicted is Satan’s way of keeping us separated from God.  If we feel like we are constantly being judged and coming up short, who wants to volunteer for that?  Therefore we find reasons to not spend time in the presence of the Lord.  How very sad that we buy into this huge lie crafted by the enemy when the creator of our soul desires nothing more than to spend time with us.

This got me thinking about my “prayer life”. And the fact that I have thought many times about how lacking it was.  Then I wondered if this was just another lie planted by the enemy.  Maybe the whispered confidences and questions I am sharing with the Lord over the course of the day says more about the condition of my prayer life than what I really know.  When feeling anxious, I quietly ask God for perspective and to re-focus me on the things that are important.  When seeing something that saddens me, I tell him I can’t wait until he returns and takes all the hurt and sadness away.  When feeling angry, I ask him to please help me in seeing past the immediate circumstance into the heart of the person who is pushing my buttons.  And when I’m happy, I thank him for every single blessing in my life.  While those may not be the passionate, on my knees, tear-filled conversations that I sometimes have with God, I also know that those whispered comments and exchanges tie me every bit as close to him and keeps my heart connected in ways that I can’t even explain.

I see so many people around me who I think don’t know how to just talk to God.  There have been so many rules and guidelines placed on simply talking to our Heavenly Father that people hesitate to try just in case they get it wrong.  I like to believe that God is with us always and is interested in every last detail of our life.  I can feel him close throughout the day and, quite frankly, talk to him just like I would anybody else except with a whole lot more “Lord, please help me’s” thrown in there.  When I think about how our children save up all the happenings of the day to share over something like dinner and they recognize how deeply and unconditionally we love them, how much greater would God’s love and acceptance be for us as he eagerly waits for us to fill him in on our day and seek his opinions and advice.  And to think that he is “right there” just waiting for us to strike up a conversation with him it gives me goosebumps!  And the funny part is that I can hear him perfectly fine….even when he whispers back.  :^)