Holla IF You Hear Me?

When I was driving to work yesterday, I decided to get back into my space of having a conversation with God while driving to drop off my daughter and to work.  As I began, I got an anxious feeling...you know the feeling you used to get when you knew you were going to get it when you got home...lol.  It had been a while since I truly had a conversation with God...a true conversation.  I mean I have prayed...some prayers quick and some prayers longer but true conversation, I am sad to say it has been a while.

This got me thinking about how we don't really know how to have true, authentic conversations anymore.  What do you mean, Jonika?  Well, a conversation...a true, authentic conversation has two parts: Speaking and Listening.  Giving information and Receiving information. We have the speaking part down, but we (including me) struggle with the listening.  Being quiet and letting another person speak is a part of the process, but the part that people will probably not admit to doing is we rarely really listen to another persons words.  When I say listen, I mean listening actively - engaged with their words, taking their words in without letting our minds wonder to what we will say in response or our daily "to do" list.  Waiting on their response with anticipation as though what they are about to say or saying is very important to the conversation AND to us.  Am I striking a nerve?  I had to yell OUCH a few times as I processed this post in my mind...Holla IF you hear me :-).

When I first started on my spiritual journey, I struggled with prayer.  I couldn't do all the elaborate prayers that I heard in church nor did I want to because it was not authentic to me.  My pastor told me, true prayer is a conversation with God, where we talk with God AND listen.  Talk AND Listen to God.  I had not LISTENED to God in a while.  How many of us pray but don't take the time to listen?  How many of us have not had a true conversation with our God ever?  We must be willing to listen in our prayer/conversation with God.  When I say listen, I don't necessarily mean sitting and waiting for a response, literally.  I mean opening our hearts, minds and spirits to the response, however that comes (Psalms 27:14 AMP).  We must also learn to turn our minds and worlds off and tune into God's voice.  So when God speaks to you, however it does, you can know you are being directly spoken to.  How do you learn that you are being spoken to?  One way, is by having true, authentic conversations with God (I Kings 19:11-13; John 10:3-5).

I hear you, God...I am listening.