We last left off with what it means to speak and to listen, when it comes to prayer, in the context of conversation. To open, how odd would it be if a passer by came to you and rambled off something he or she deemed important, regardless of topic, and did so nonstop with little break to even breathe, and upon finishing maybe around a minute later, spins the opposite and runs off. Would not your first reaction be to almost look around you to check and see that life has not all gone mad and that the world apparently is still to a degree in its right mind? Obviously excluding that, which just wasted precious seconds that you will never get back.   Or suppose, that someone walked up to you, right in the way, and just stared. After several awkward glances and seconds they say, “I’m listening.” To which you reply and say, “I didn’t say anything.” As absurd and weird as all of this sounds, it is hardly any different to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. It’s as tho all of his kids just run up, blare out everything on their mind that they want or need or is bothering them, then run off and stress about it. Should said, need, not be met in 30 seconds, Heaven forbid an hour, or a day, his kids run and complain to their friends, pastors, neighbors, support groups, work people, whatever.  It is as tho our proof of Gods existence and his love for us is limited to our critique of how fast he can do what we ask him to do. It is at this point that we have placed God in a box, shut it, and then blamed Him, for being limited.

There is an art to speaking, as to listening. It’s a commonly heard phrase that “the most popular and successful people are those who listen 80% of the time and speak only 20% of the time.” -Taken from-http://www.tedgonder.com/gonder/2010/06/listening-vs-speaking.html

A very good point is made, and a lot of grief is ridden from those who truly know how to speak and listen within the bounds of normal conversation. Listening shows that you care and understand what the speaker says, and who he is. Speaking, says you trust your audience. What you do not trust them with you will not share.

To look at both,

Listening is effective, because it conveys that you are willing to go to the speakers level. Listening done the right way builds, shapes, and molds any relationship. It can however can be ineffective. This happens when you listen with the intent to reply, neither learning or gaining knowledge. Again, 1 dimensional. Also, using listening as your personal lead in getting your turn to speak makes listening ineffective.

Speaking, is healthy. We as people are meant to talk. We convey what we feel, and that is perfectly normal. However, speaking can be a conquest for dominance, and in prayer, that is literally trying to battle for the place of God, something Satan did, and lost. An attitude like this shows excess pride, a fight for power that is not yours, nor is meant for you. Pride kills prayer, and if your pride removes God from his place, than your prayer cannot be answered. You have taken the place of God, and have prayed to yourself in a sense, and you cannot meet your own needs. Your relationship with God started great. I for one am grateful it isn’t based on works. It’s like, I just donated time at the Red Cross banquet fund drive, not receiving one dime for it, and God would reply, ” I just donated my Son’s life to the idea that everyone can come to Heaven, and that the entire world can be saved, thus changing lives, giving hope, affecting billions because I love my kids so much!” At this point you would dissolve into a puddle, because as far as comparison is concerned…you suck! There isn’t anything that you have the comes close. Doing the Food Bank, and 25 hours of service at your church, feeding the homeless, passing out tracts and 33 Bibles weekly, daily if your crazy, leading choir on thursday, ministry training in your spare time, having 2 and 1/2 small groups, playing on worship and rocking 27 stickers on your car promoting Jesus, WWJD, and 1 lone sticker for MONAVIE, still……..leaves you in the weeds. Your lifetime of works, will never measure to his act of grace. All of that, to say, if prayer was a one way street, your sunk.

So much of this is random, and really just thought conveyed from brain to paper to blog, but think about it some. Realize where your prayer life is at, where your relationship lies, and what it really means, to listen, speak, and ultimately, effect for the sake of the Kingdom. Stay close for the next issue-      Prayer- His will (my terms)

-Canaan Hackler

What does it mean to pray? What does it mean to speak, to listen? At what point do both elevate our trust in what we cannot see, and in what we can? Why do we pray always assuming that God hears us, yet fail many times, some willingly to reject his subtle, clear voice. A voice strong, yet tender, one that created all the naked eye can see and behold in the choice or denial of awe? A voice that offered a sacrifice without blemish, to ransom a fallen race that is so blemished, at birth our destiny is Hell and the grave? What does it mean to trust in the one who conquered each of these, in particular, and darkness as a whole? What does it mean to pray?

Prayer is simply this, a conversation. Conversation, by definition, simply suggest that there must be two to converse. Conversation at its root is the word converse, which means to engage in conversation. Conversation is not limited to language, but that is the most common carrier of an understanding of current events and practical matter between two or more people, as another definition would say. Notice here, that a conversation is not something that happens alone, or by yourself. It is a matter that requires an element of trust, albeit that element can be great or small. It requires knowledge, a reason, and a projected outcome. What does that have to with prayer? It has everything to do with it. Prayer via its definition, and its definition defined, is this- a conversation between two (or more) that in light of current events and practical matters is expressed with elements of trust, knowledge, given for a specific reason, in hopes for an outcome. This is the beauty of prayer, because in order for this to work, effort must come from both sides.

Too often I think we expect God to nanny our wants and desires. We has immortal human beings, see God as limit-less as opposed to we who are limited. This gives us opportunity to potentially solve all of our needs, those created by us and others, by giving them to a limitless source. Makes sense, theoretically, but practically, not really. Why? All you have thought about is yourself. What you want, what you need, what you would like to have, see, make, live, and be remembered for. Yet, if all of your prayers are given from this point, than your prayers are singular in nature, when you are seeking a plural result. Prayer does not solely exist to fix you, but it dually exists, to grow you, in your relationship, and in your maturity. Not only in the understanding of who God is, but also whose you are. We often underestimate the destination to whom our prayers are directed. This God, who at the word of his prophet held rain on land for 3 and 1/2 years. Prior flooded ,it in totality for 40 days, fed millions seamlessly, sometimes, killing hundreds of thousands in seconds, and navigated history in such a way, that for centuries the stories of his works are told. His name never will be forgotten and any issue or problem that you may have, will never be overlooked or underestimated before his face, or at his hand. Yet in the obvious sight of all this, we lose track of what our God is to us, and our attention is turned, to what our problems….are to us.

Prayer requires focus, in two areas, speaking, and listening. Come back Monday for the rest of this post named “Daddy,”.

-Canaan Hackler