Heart to Heart

One of the things I value most about my friends is their ability to share their heart with me. I enjoy really knowing my friends and what they think and how they feel about their lives and our world. I learn alot from their experience and their wisdom. As we get to know each other, the more I value them and trust them.

This is exactly how it is with prayer and our relationship with the wonderful Creator who loves us! This is also method number two in how we can hear from God. The first and primary way we hear God is through His desires as expressed in the Bible.

It is not only possible to have this friendship, this kind of intimacy with the One who designed the entire world, it is His desire to have that with us. In fact, because our brokenness, failure, and yes, sin, separated us from a perfect and pure God, He sent Jesus to earth paying the price for us. This action on God's part restores our relationship with Him if we accept this godly gift. It's really pretty simple. Those barriers between us and God are broken through Jesus' work on the cross. It's not just the sacrifice of dying for us that renews the relationship, it is also the power of God displayed through Jesus' resurrection that makes it all come together. Our part? Believe that what He did is true- and choose to follow Him in the way we live our life.

Figuring out what God wants for us can be as simple as asking Him. Really! In God's love letter to us, He tells us that those who earnestly follow Him can hear his voice. As our Heavenly Father, He wants us to come to Him with our needs. Remember the Lord's Prayer? "Give us this day our daily bread." What a great model to follow. He wants to give us what it is as we pursue honoring and loving Him, caring about our needs and our wants. How does He know we love Him? Jesus tells us. "If you love me, you will obey what I command." Pretty straightforward and easy to understand. Even though we sometimes want to make it complicated, God makes it simple for us to know Him, love Him, and hear from Him. It's just our choice to follow Him or not. That is what complicates matters! Next time, we'll talk about hearing God through input from other folks and how to tell if there is truth and wisdom in what they tell us.