Most of us enjoy being able to spend time visiting with a really good friend. We can talk about anything. We don’t have to worry about being misunderstood, misjudged, or ignored. We can share our deepest fears, our successes and failures, and even our dreams for the future. We look forward to those visits and actually will make time for them, especially when something significant is going on in our lives.

When we read of those men of old who had special relationships with the Lord, there was always a closeness in the relationship that encouraged great communication. Abraham and David are beautiful examples of this. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called friend” (James 2:23). “…the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him (David) leader of His people…” (1 Samuel 13:14).

Neither Abraham nor David lived sinless lives but they both enjoyed lives of open communication with the Father. Looking to the New Testament, Paul becomes a powerful example of one who prayed. His communication with the Father was frequent, open, in depth, specific, and filled with gratitude, the latter being by far the most important for interaction with the Creator and spiritual growth of man.

All of that about Abraham, David and Paul has been to prepare us for the question, AND WHAT ABOUT OUR PRAYER LIFE, THE COMMUNICATION WITH GOD? Are we involved in communicating with the Father in a way that reveals our friendship with God? Are we able to speak with the God of the universe the way we would speak with a dear friend? Do we share our most intimate thoughts, our deepest fears, our greatest longings with God?

Do we spend time talking with God about our families, mate, parents, children and grandchildren? Do we talk with God about His church, about our congregation? Are we asking God for guidance for the church, His guidance FOR OUR LIVES?

Every day of our lives we need to spend “quality time” in talking with our Heavenly Father about the future of HIS CHURCH, about OUR OWN GROWTH and involvement in ways that will honor God, serve our fellowman, and help further the cause of the Lord in God’s world.