Road Rules: Talking to God

Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. God hears the prayer of the person made right by the work of Jesus. That person knows God as their Father. That person can simply talk to God. One of the best descriptions of prayer I have ever read comes from a 17^th century Roman Catholic Frenchman named Francois Fenelon. Take time to thoughtfully read his clear explanation.

Tell God all that is on your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pain, to a dear friend. Tell him your troubles, that he may comfort you; tell him your joys, that he may sober them; tell him your longings, that he may purify them; tell him your dislikes, that he may help you to conquer them; talk to him of your temptations, that he may shield you from them; show him the wounds of your heart, that he may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and to others.

If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, need, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved conversation with God.

Now that you have read Fenelon’s description, put it into practice. Take some time right now to tell God all that is on your heart. Spend time with the One who loves you unconditionally and forgives you when you fail.