Have you ever had one of those one-sided conversations where one person talks for the entire time and the other person cannot say a word? To make it worse is when they speak until they are finished and then finish by saying something like, “I gotta go, talk to you later”. You may feel like you had so much to add to the conversation, but wasn’t given a chance.

When we pray to God, let’s give Him a chance to be involved and give input; not just as a listener.

This video message is about learning to speak and listen to God. Prayer is talking to God, but what is listening? How do you hear from God? Does God have a voice? How do you discern God’s voice?

Jesus says that people who believe in him will know His voice. That is very important to know that it is possible to hear from God.

Bible verses about Prayer:
Matthew 5:44

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Matthew 6:7

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Matthew 26:41

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 11:24

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

1 John 5:14 -15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 5:15

And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 5:16

If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.

John 17:15

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

Ephesians 1:18

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

Ephesians 6:18

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

James 5:13

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.

Jeremiah 29:12

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

[I actually took this out of one of my other sermons. I felt that this snippet says something that is important for people to hear. ]

The Devil can really mess with our minds and get us depressed, feeling lonely, angry, hateful, irritated, and hopeless to say the least. As followers of Christ Jesus, the Bible tells us that we can take all of our concerns to Him. the Bible says that we can do this because He loves us and that He will give us rest. Many of us have struggled way too long with life’s battles, we need a Savior that truly loves us and will give us victory. Jesus is that Savior!

From the Bible:
1 Peter 5:6-11 ‘Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you. ‘
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”’

‘Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ‘
Philippians 4:6

https://my.bible.com/bible/100/PHP.4.6

Lamentations 3
I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts.
I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust.
My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
So I say, “My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the Lord.”
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.
Let him put his mouth in the dust,
Perhaps there is hope.
Let him give his cheek to the smiter,
Let him be filled with reproach.
For the Lord will not reject forever,
For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
For He does not afflict willingly
Or grieve the sons of men.
To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the land,
To deprive a man of justice
In the presence of the Most High,
To defraud a man in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not approve.
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That both good and ill go forth?
Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Offer complaint in view of his sins?
Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.
We lift up our heart and hands
Toward God in heaven;
We have transgressed and rebelled,
You have not pardoned.
You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and have not spared.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud
So that no prayer can pass through.
You have made us mere offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction;
My eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
My eyes pour down unceasingly,
Without stopping,
Until the Lord looks down
And sees from heaven.
My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird;
They have silenced me in the pit
And have placed a stone on me.
Waters flowed over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”
I called on Your name, O Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
You have heard my voice,
“Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help.”
You drew near when I called on You;
You said, “Do not fear!”
O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have redeemed my life.
O Lord, You have seen my oppression;
Judge my case.
You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me.
You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me.
The lips of my assailants and their whispering
Are against me all day long.
Look on their sitting and their rising;
I am their mocking song.
You will recompense them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
You will give them hardness of heart,
Your curse will be on them.
You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the heavens of the Lord!

Many people claim to have faith in Jesus, but when tragedy comes their way, they show their true colors. Faith is a process of growing closer and trusting more in Jesus Christ. A true Christian that has been through trials and tribulations while trusting in Christ will have a greater testimony in their faith than someone who has never experienced that trust.

The Bible verse, “Walk by Faith, Not by Sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7) is one that expresses experience over awareness. In other words, living by faith is more than saying that you have faith, it is faith being experienced in real life.

This may be my 123rd confession, but who’s counting anyway? How I respond when God is silent!

Prayer location is a great part of my prayer time. Obviously, I can’t go here all the time, but when I have so serious praying to do, this is one of the places I go and meet with God.

An encounter with God will change your entire perspective on life. Paul Karanick had realized that he was going to die and there was nothing that he could do about it. Before he gave up, he just wanted to get a glance of his wife and daughter one more time – just a simple wave goodbye.

James 1:3 (NASB)
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Nathan, my 7 year old, is in first grade. His teacher asked for each student to write one thing that they fear.

Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. (Matthew 21:18-19, NASB)

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:1-11, NASB)