“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39
“Rachel, just talk to Me.” These words rang in my mind for days as I wrestled with what I knew about prayer versus what I felt God wanted me to know.
“It couldn’t be that simple,” I thought to myself.”Was that honoring to the God of the universe to approach Him conversationally?” It didn’t feel right, but I knew something about it was right.
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:39) didn’t start His prayer with some perfect formula. He started with a request and ended it with a statement. He simply talked to God.
…“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (NIV)
Simple, straightforward, sincere.
So I tried it. To make it a little less odd, I started by journaling. I would journal a full conversation with God in a notebook that I had dedicated to this purpose. I’d share about my day, things that bothered me, questions I had, people I was concerned about. I just journaled anything that came to me. My feelings, my emotions, my excitement, my disappointment. Although I was the only one writing, for some reason it never felt like a one-way conversation. Thoughts would come into my mind. Ideas and solutions that seemed far beyond my ability to create would find a landing pad in my head. So I would write them down. Before I knew it, I had dozens of journals with conversations I had with God.
This is when I realized the thing I was misunderstanding about prayer all along.
Prayer is simply a conversation.
Conversations are the cornerstones of communication and relationships. They are essential in every way and how we choose to approach the conversation will determine how the relationship builds. Certain conversational styles will cultivate a healthy friendship while other styles will cultivate an unhealthy servant/master relationship.
God doesn’t change from one conversation to the next; it’s our view of Him that changes. This view determines if a conversation with Him will become part of our daily life as a relationship or a religious routine. He’d much rather it be a relationship.
This is what I was beginning to understand. Approaching God in prayer is about honor but not perfection. It’s a conversation between two of the most important people to each other. A Creator and His creation. This conversational approach to prayer is the essence of an uncomplicated prayer journey. And this is the journey I hope you will choose to begin today.
Take a moment and consider, what does prayer as a conversation with God look like for you?
Let me know in the Blog comments.
Rachel G. Scott
Author
About
Rachel is a wife and a mother, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur. She has been featured nationally and internationally on television, podcast, radio, devotionals, and blogs. As the Founder of the I Can’t Come Down movement, an organization dedicated to helping women walk in their purpose and assignment with focus, she is a former Huffington post contributor and current Youversion and Moody Radio Cleveland Partner. She is also part of The Well Communicators a faith-based speaking team.
Rachel is deeply devoted to serving God, loving and honoring her husband and raising her children in a Godly home where they experience authenticity and learn to embrace their imperfections.
Thank you Mrs. Scott this was so good. Thank You.
I am so glad that it blessed you! Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Thank you Rachel! Your you version plan Uncomplicating Prayer was astounding. I found so many points I could relate too! This has helped me a lot.
God bless you beautiful soul
Thanks for this amazing writeup Rachel!
Many times we think that until we pray lengthy prayers that’s when God would consider hearing us, but prayer is simply a conversation with God.
No process, no template or design… Just a dialogue, a conversation.
Exactly! It’s amazing how simplicity often gives us the best results in life and in prayer.
I love this! Thank you and God bless you
Praise God. You are so welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
My conversation and time with my Heavenly Father is somewhat similar to my earthly father. It’s a conversation. It often starts with adoration, confessions, how thankful I am and some requests.
I love that! Conversation is Key!
Once I realized that God truly wants to hear from me it became so much easier to just pour my heart out to him. All the thoughts that just run through my mind about any situation I’m facing in life. There’s no judgement no how could you be that stupid to do or say that no I don’t have time for this right now. He’s always there always available always caring. And the best part is I never have to worry about Him repeating our conversation to someone else 🙂
Wow! That’s such an amazing and true perspective. And I love how you said once you realized that God WANTED to hear from you. That understanding is so important. And Yes! I love that what gets said to our heavenly father, stays with our heavenly father. 😉
Thank you so much for this eye opener Mrs Scott. It was always a struggle for me how to pray based on how I was thought when it comes to praying to the Lord. Just making it pure and simple to speak with the Lord is enough. Thank you again. God bless you.
Yes! Simplicity is key. You are so welcome. Thank you for reading it!
Your blog is so powerful, it confirms the importance of maintaining an ongoing relationship with our Heavenly Father. My conversations with God tend to be in the form of writing and verbal communication; it depends on the situation at hand and the way the Holy Spirit leads me.
Yes I tend to do both as well, but in the morning I do more writing. However lately I have been doing a mixture of both, with more verbal throughout the day. Thankful for the freedom to choose!