Most of us bow our heads to pray in church, before meals, and late at night when we can't sleep, but is that enough? Is it enough to simply ask God to do things for us, and for us to always be the one talking? Do we listen to what God has to say rather than just telling God what we think needs to be said? That's something to think about, especially if church has seemingly become more of a routine than an opportunity to fellowship with fellow believers.
Why do we think that what we have to say is more important than what God has to say in His word? The reality is that the majority of Christians who claim to have been through a period of time when God was "silent," haven't given Him an opportunity to speak. Don't misunderstand me, God hears all of the cries and needs of His children, but sometimes we tend to forget that we need to listen rather than talk. God's word is available to us as a form of communication from God through the various authors that He breathed His Word to, and sometimes we need to dive into His word to hear from Him.
Prayer is an amazingly intimate way for us to communicate to God, but how exactly does He communicate to us? We are fairly certain that He does not verbally communicate to humans anymore, so the written word of God is our only true way to receive communication from Him. No matter how much we pray, if we aren't reading His Word, then we really aren't experiencing as deep of a relationship with Him as we possibly could have.
So, make time to really immerse yourself in His word and truly learn about Him through what the Bible says. Pray, but also listen to what He has for you.
A particular scripture verse that directs Christ followers to read the Bible is Proverbs 2:1-5. It reads, "My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."
Let that soak in. "If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand and find the knowledge of God." That is incredible. We are to treat the Word of God as if it is treasure, so why not at least open our hearts up to see what God has to say?
