Extreme Life Makeover #3 -- Talk With God About Everything

Great relationships soak up communication like dry land soaks up fresh rain. You almost can't communicate enough with those you are close to. Marriage experts tell us that a great marriage consumes over 15 hours a week of communication! Wow, that seems like a lot. But, to be truly intimate with another person requires the give and take of dialogue.

To enter into a full-on Intimate relationship with God pulls us into lots of conversation with Him about everything. The Bible tells us that we should 'pray all the time' (Ephesians 6:18 & I Thessalonians 5:17) and many of us have wondered how that's possible. The reality is that it's possible because our brains are running on multi-channels all the time.

Simple Prayer
You know that little voice that's always running in your head talking to you a about everything? What I've learned is to direct more and more of that 'little voice's' bandwidth to just talking with God about whatever is right in front of me right now....even while I'm typing this I'm aware that I'm in an ongoing 'prayer' with Him. That's prayer on the go and it's just conversing with God about whatever is in front of you in that moment. Try it and see how your awareness of God on the move all around you begins to grow.

Focused Prayer
A more focused kind of prayer begs us to carve out time and pull away from the 'noise' of the world to just be with God. I find that it helps me to type my prayers into my computer or to journal them. Writing my prayers helps me really stay tuned in and I sometimes even write impressions of what I think that God is trying to say back to me. Writing your prayers may be helpful to you as well.

There are several prayers in the Bible that we can learn from and use as our own prayers. I'm gonna suggest a few for you to pray in the coming days. Watch for how real the authors of these prayers are with God and practice being real and honest in your conversations with God.

Prayers from the Psalms (this is a favorite practice of many followers of Christ -- to simply 'pray' the Psalms as a disciplined way to hone our conversations with Him)
Psalm 86:11-13
Psalm 32:5
Psalm 118:28

Jesus' Prayer known as the Lord's Prayer is found here. ( Matthew 6:9-13)

3 Action Items for today:
1. Practice talking with God on the go about whatever your experiencing right in that moment.
2. Pull away for a few minutes and take some time to read some of the prayers from The Bible and watch for how real and raw these prayers are. Get real with God. (you can use the prayers posted above by either clicking the link to an online Bible or looking them up in your own Bible)
3. Try writing or typing your own prayers to God -- noone else ever has to see it. It's just for you and God.

Last thing....I'd love to hear how this goes for you and what you learn.

Simple, real converations with God -- that's my hope for you today.

Jeff

p.s. If you want to work more on prayer I'd suggest that you grab a copy of 'Too Busy Not to Pray' by Bill Hybels and consume it. It's a simple, powerful tool in helping you learn to connect with God. Well worth the $$ and time invested.

p.p.s. Did you know that singing can be prayer? I'd encourage you to check out some of these links and 'pray' along....

How Great Is Our God by Chris Tomlin
40 by U2 (yep, a prayer straight from The Bible sung by Bono and U2)
Sinner's Prayer by B.B. King and Ray Charles (this is just kind of fun, but you'll be praying right along after just a few measures and then it'll be stuck in your head all day!)



Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.