Chrstian prayer and rumination

Rumination of God's word, It's all part of being a follower of Christ. I hesitate to use the word meditation since it has so many eastern religious connotations. But Prayer and meditation on His word is how we communicate with God.

Again I thank Jerri for taking the "use it or lose it" post to a higher level with her comments.
She talked about letting your prayer life get rusty so that we miss the mark with our fellowship with the Lord.

When we fall out of the habit of praying we miss out, we short circut our line of communication. For the christian if we pray once a month or once an hour God will hear us. Where the trouble comes is, will we hear God if we are not used to being in communication with Him?

Many who do not have a good prayer life expect God to make a big noise and get their attention if he wants them to know something. They don't seek fellowship with Him, they have their "fire insurance" and that's all they care about. They tell God "I won't bug you if you don't bug me."
How do I know this? Because I used to be exactly like that. But God designed us for a relationship with Him. He doesn't want to have to wack you up side the head with a 2X4 every time He wants your attention.

Prayer is a simple thing, don't make it more complicated than it is. Some will teach that prayer is a complicated affair involving certain postures or certain words repeated over and over. Talking to God in your head is praying just as much as getting down on your knees or falling flat on your face. It is about the heart not the posture or the words. God promises us in His word that the Holy Spirit will make intercession for us when we don't know what to say. That means if we are praying the Holy Spirit is praying right along with us.

Then how do we hear back from God? I talked about rumination on His word. We need to be in communication, we also need to be in study God speaks through His word (the bible) yes He can speak so we hear it but that is rare, don't expect a big booming voice to fill the sky.

In IKings 19 Elijah had fled into the wilderness and he went up on a mountain and a great wind roared by that broke rocks but the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was a great earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire but again the lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a "still small voice". The still small voice was the Lord.

If we are not careful we can miss the Lord when he speaks. Neglecting our prayer and study will make it all the more likely the still small voice will pass unheard.

Randy