If God was a dictator, He would do all of the talking! He would be the one Who would TELL us what we were to do. But He is not a dictator.

If God was a politician, He would just inform us that all of His policies were set out in the Bible, and if we don't read them and understand them, that wasn't His problem! The law is the law! And that is that! But He is not a politician.

God tells us that He is our ever loving Father! As a parent loves to hear the chatter of your little child, so God loves to listen to our chatter. It may not mean much to anyone else, but He understands what his little child is trying to say, and, as a loving Parent, He gives to us what He sees is best for us.

As a child grows, so he is better able to express his needs, his joys, and his love. And so, as we grow in our spiritual life, so our talking with our heavenly Father will reflect that growth. Although we still will not always understand why things happen the way that they do, as we mature spiritually, so our trust in our Heavenly Father will increase, and our love will grow.

As an adolescent goes through the stage of wanting to do his/her own thing, we, too, go through a stage of questioning, not because we do not love our heavenly Father, but -- just because!! And He patiently listens to our questions, endeavours to get His answers through -- and patiently waits for us to mature!

As we mature spiritually, so our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more like that of friends. We find ourselves conversing with Him as we do our work, as we drive the car, as we sit and watch a beautiful sunset, as we can only can only sit in silent wonder as we hear someone express their heart's desire to know Him more -- someone we had thought had turned away from Him -- and we thank Him silently for the wonder of Him using us to show His love to someone else.

Prayer! It is not just words. It is a loving companionship with the greatest Lover ever!

Come with me as we work our way through this wonderful chapter.

Beryl

So, we have prayer to the God of the Universe being portrayed as wanting us to come to Him, instead of him demanding our attention,

And, He is inviting us to come straight into His throne room! What a privilege!

Ever had trouble in opening your heart to a friend? Well, possibly -- when, maybe you felt that your friend may not fully understand, may think that you did a really stupid thing! And you were afraid of losing a friend, so you did not open your heart. Then one day that friend brought up the subject to you, and assured you that merely making what may have been a stupid mistake was not going to spoil a friendship. Relief?? Yes, and you wondered why you had not talked with your friend about it before!

It is like that with our relationship with Jesus. He is our very best Friend -- and we know that He already knows what we have done. So why not talk to Him about it?

The mere fact of talking with someone about our troubles immediately halves those trouble. We now have someone with whom to share the load. Jesus has already given us that wonderful invitation, "Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7. "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." Psalm 55:22.

That is an offer to good to pass by!

God bless,

Beryl

It is sometimes hard to understand that Jesus was here, as a human, with no more access to the Father than we have -- through prayer! So, what makes the difference between Jesus' ability to overcome and our ability/disability? His prayer life!

Jesus was twelve years old when he first made the trip to Jerusalem, and watched as the Passover lamb was slain. It was then, for the first time, that He realised His role in the salvation of mankind. There was then another 18 years ahead of Him during which He lived the life of an ordinary boy, subject to His earthly parents, and in communication with His heavenly Father. How precious must that prayer time have been!

I also have the privilege of prayer -- to be alone with God in His throne-room! When I can talk with Him, with no other listening ear around me. I can lay before Him all of my sins and weaknesses -- He knows them (and many more) already! I can ask for His help in overcoming. He is just waiting for my consent to be part of my life for that day, hour, second -- for ever! And that privilege is yours also.

God bless,

Beryl

Jesus, as a member of the Trinity, had been in constant touch with the other members of the Trinity. There was perfect harmony and understanding between them. Now Jesus was here on earth, a human, with prayer as His cord of contact with His Heavenly Father. In this fight against evil, He could not use His Own divine power, He had to ask His Father.

How Jesus must have guarded those times! It was like being away somewhere, and making that phone call home!

What about your prayer life? What about mine? Are those times just like a hurried "Hi, Dad, just thought I would say Hullo. Been busy lately. Can you send me some money? Got to go. Goodbye." Or can we spend a time just enjoying being in His presence? Prayer is as much about silence and meditation as it is about talking.

God bless

Beryl

Why should prayer seem to be a "must do"? What blessings we miss out on because we do not ask! No, God doesn't always give to us what we WANT -- but He sure gives to us what we NEED!

But is the purpose of prayer just to get what we ask for? No. I believe that the real purpose of prayer is to feel the quiet joy of a companionship with the Lord. It is not all about receiving -- it is all about love -- both in giving and receiving mutual love of God. And then, God loves to surprise us! Just try Him out!

Beryl

Our only strength against sin is to be close to God. Why not "practice His Presence" throughout the day? Imagine that God is with you, right by your side. Because He can read our thoughts, you can pray to Him in your mind, whenever you want to.

We need to have His presence with us. He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us -- just try Him out!

God bless,

Beryl

So this is one of the battle grounds of the devil! Yes, we know the scene so well! We are just about to have that "quiet time" alone with the Lord when [insert here any interruption you can think of] and with the best of intentions we take time to deal with that one thing! Halfway through the day we suddenly remember that we had not managed to return to that quiet time! Is that true?

What do you do when faced with this situation?

Your suggestions are welcome!

Or, am I the only one who gets caught like that?

God bless,

Beryl

Tried to post but got the error message "All the required fields are not complete" Since I had filled the box with text I am not sure what they meant..... No time to reconstruct it all now...

Just ignore that error message...Happens to me all the time