Weekly Devotional 2-28-22 Do not Do All The Talking
It is proper that when in conversation with someone one should not do all the talking, it should be a two-way conversation. The benefit of this type of communication is hearing what the other person thinks about whatever is being discussed. It is the same when we go to our heavenly Father in prayer. Certainly, He wants to hear from us, but He also wants to respond to whatever it was we prayed about, be it praise or request, but it is hard to hear God’s voice (so to speak) when we do all the talking. Perhaps it would be good when we pray if we would pause a little while after praising Him, or voicing our request, and let our thoughts be affected by His Spirit by whom He communicates. After this short pause we should then move on to our next whatever, be it additional praise or additional request. This should be the practice throughout our prayer.
We of course will not hear an actual voice as the communication is of a transaction between spirits, the Holy Spirit, and our spirit. Support of this truth is found in Paul’s first letter to the Christians of Corinth. He wrote: “9 Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1st Corinthians 2:9-14). In this excerpt from the letter Paul is talking about the wisdom of God against the wisdom of man as he defends his authority to speak on the behalf of God. He writes that what he and his fellows had been teaching, was communicated to them by the Spirit of God. This was an ongoing communication as he and his fellows needed the mind of God (the wisdom of God) to properly handle the issues that came their way as they ministered the word of God to those whom they were shepherding.
This is the same with all Christians. We need to know God’s mind in the matters that come before us. Certainly, the structure of His mind in all matters is to be found in His written word but the right application needs to be communicated to us and this is why, when we pray, we should also listen. When we pause in prayer His Spirit speaks to our spirit providing right direction. But, to hear Him speak we need to stop talking, and listen.
Steve
Stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man