How do you talk to God? Maybe you fearfully and quietly speak or you might pour your heart out during prayer time. You might speak to God like a long-time friend. Today we are discussing talking to God.
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Watch the video of this teaching at https://www.celllifechurch.tv/talking-to-god/
We read the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis. The Lord finishes his creation by creating mankind. The Bible tells us that God created man in his own image. There are many things we can surmise from that, but what we want to focus on today is the relationship between mankind and God.
Relationships have important elements but one of the main foundational stones of a relationship between anyone is communication. Husbands and wives must communicate to have a happy and fruitful marriage. Neighbors must communicate for the mutual benefit of their community. Friends must communicate to keep from drifting apart. Our relationship with God is no different.
God created us for relationship and we must communicate with Him regularly if we are to stay in tune with Him and fulfill our mission and achieve our God-given dreams. We must talk to God and listen to Him. This is oftentimes referred to as prayer, and we have talked about prayer in the past. Frequently prayer is reduced to presenting requests to God in hopes He will answer those requests favorably. Prayer is so much more than that, just as God is so much more than a wish-granting genie. Our prayer time, or when we are talking to God, should be a conversation. A time of speaking, sharing, and listening.
We are looking at some examples in the Bible of different people and how they talked with God. The first we will look at is Adam in the Garden of Eden.
We read regular conversations God had with Adam, Eve, and Cain in chapters 3 and 4 of Genesis. These are regular face-to-face conversations. The first one we can read is right after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Let’s read Genesis 3:8-13
(8) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (9) But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” (10) He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (11) And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (12) The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (13) Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
We are not going to get into the topic of original sin here. We want to point out that God was just walking through the garden one day and Adam and Eve heard him. He called out for them. We can easily conclude that this was a common thing. God would walk through the garden and talk with Adam and Eve. He would have conversations with them.
We can read in chapter 1 of Genesis that God brought all of the animals to Adam and whatever Adam called them that is what they were named.
Genesis chapter 4 has the account of Cain killing his brother Abel because of jealousy. We read that God came and talked with Cain about it. They were familiar with each other and talked like people do every day.
Adam, Eve, and Cain all talked with God just as we talk with others. You can talk with God this very same way. Let’s look at someone else who just stood and spoke with the Lord when He appeared later in Genesis 18.
Abraham has had one of the closest friendships and relationships with the Lord that we read about in the entire Bible. Let’s read about a time when Abraham talked with God in Genesis 18:1-5.
(1) The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. (2) Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. (3) He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. (4) Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. (5) Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
Here we see the Lord approaching Abraham’s camp. Abraham sees the Lord and hurries to him and bows reverently. This is also an appropriate posture when approaching the Lord. We should honor the Lord and be reverent to Him as we address him. This does not mean we need to be afraid of Him. We must be reverent and respect the Lord and give him all the honor he is due.
Abraham went on to have food and refreshments prepared and offered them to the Lord who enjoyed the food. The Lord then spoke over Abraham and Sarah and proclaimed they would have a child the next year when he visited them again the next year.
Another instance of Abraham talking to God is found later in Genesis chapter 18 starting in verse 20. This is where God is about to go and see how bad things are in Sodom and Gomorrah and prepare to destroy the two cities, but Abraham approaches God and starts talking to Him about it.
Abraham starts to ask God questions about the people in the cities. He asks God what if he finds 50 righteous people will he still destroy it? What about 45? 40? 20? What if only 10 righteous people are found in the city, will you still destroy it? God replied that he would not.
The point here is we can go up to God respectfully and bring our requests and petitions to him. It is not disrespectful to ask God why something is happening or to seek mercy, grace, or forgiveness for someone. Abraham freely talked to God and we can too regardless of what is going on.
Another way we talk to God is by pouring our hearts out to him. There are two great examples of that in Scripture.
The first is David and is found throughout the Psalms. Many of the psalms were written by David and most of them were written while he was running from King Saul. We read the story of David being anointed king over Israel in 1 Samuel 16. David was a boy at this time and did not become king for many years.
After going to live in King Saul’s home and befriending King Saul’s son, Jonathan, King Saul started to go mad. His anger and jealousy for David grew more and more each day until David had to flee. For years David led a band of mighty fighting men, defending Israel from the nations that would like to destroy them, all the while running from jealous King Saul.
David poured his heart out to God time and again and we read these songs and poems of anguish in the Psalms. We can draw a lot of comfort from these prayers and psalms David wrote. We can also see that David truly had a heart that yearned for the Lord. We read how David spoke plainly as he talked to God. We read how he praised God and thanked him in the same breath as he cried out for deliverance. You can feel the anguish David felt sometimes when reading some of the psalms and we can know we can bring our own anguish to God as we talk to Him.
There is another who poured his heart out to God in prayer that we are all closer to though Let’s read Luke 22:39-45
(39) Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. (40) On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” (41) He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, (42) “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (43) An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. (44) And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (45) When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.
Just before Jesus was to be taken by the religious leaders and brought for trial before the Romans he went to pray. He brought his disciples with him to the Mount of Olives where he often went for a time of solitude and prayer with God. Jesus prayed with anguish and earnestly. So much so his sweat was dripping from him like blood.
We can reach out to God and pour our hearts out with much fervor. We do not have to hold anything back from God. Let Him know how you are feeling. There is no greater counselor than the Holy Spirit and we only need to approach God with boldness as one of his children and present our hearts to him. Talk to God as if he is the only one who can hear you and help you.
There are many ways to talk to God. We can approach God as a friend knowing that he already knows what we are going through, what is on our minds, and what is in our hearts, just as Adam and Eve did. Our reverence and respect are always appropriate, but we need not be afraid of God. We can also pour our heart out to him with all that concerns us, knowing he is listening and will do everything necessary to keep us on track for the mission he has designed and equipped us for. God created us for relationship. Relationship with one another, and relationship with Him. Don’t forget to take time each day and talk to God.
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