Engage

Here’s a question I ask myself often—Why don’t I spend more time talking with God? I have my excuses, but they are empty rationalizations. Jesus made talking to his Father a priority.

Good communication requires speaking and listening. Those same two things are required when we talk with God. Unfortunately, many of us do all the talking and tell God exactly how he should handle things. But…maybe…we should spend some time listening to him.

Like many of you, I have a dictionary app on my phone where I can get the “Word of the Day.” I love checking out those words and dropping them, when appropriate, into conversation. We had a guy at our church years ago who always used big words. One person told me, “I love it when he teaches. I don’t understand half of what he says, but I love it when he teaches.” A lot of words strung together with some lofty ones peppered in can certainly be impressive to some people but not so much to God.

Welcome to a 30-day devotional series on prayer. Let’s spend September learning how to talk with God and better our communication with God. I encourage you to use this devo with your children and pray together as a family.

Our passage today is an answer to a question ... actually, two questions. So let’s check them out.

One of the things we need to talk to our Father about is spiritual protection. We have an enemy who is out to get us.

Temptation is real, persuasive, and alluring; otherwise, it wouldn’t be called temptation. But you do not have to cross the line. If you choose to take that step, you do so because you want to, not because you have to.

Christians in every generation have the same temptation—the allure to retreat from the world. From business to education to recreation, there is a desire only to be involved with other believers. One problem ... that was not the intention of Jesus. 

It was going to be a tough meeting. Those sitting around the table had some real issues with each other. You could feel the tension—so thick you could cut it with a knife, as the saying goes. I knew this time together could blow up in my face.