These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 HCSB
God gave these words to Moses to give to His people. He wanted to be sure they understood them and kept them in their minds and hearts always.
Have you ever been in a one-sided conversation? I know people who will call and talk to you for a solid hour and not allow you to get a word in edgewise as my grandmother used to say. I have literally laid my phone down and gone about cleaning my house or whatever else I was doing, and they haven’t noticed. It’s as if they don’t even stop to take a breath, they just talk continuously with no regard for the fact that you may be busy or actually have some comment on the subject. These people are having one-sided conversations, and it doesn’t take long to realize what you think or have to say is not important to them.
Well, when we pray and don’t study our Bibles, we are having one-sided conversations with God. We are doing all of the talking and none of the listening. Now let me point out here God gave us two eyes and two ears and one mouth. We should be listening and watching twice as much as we are talking.
One thing I have noticed about people that have one-sided conversations is they are extremely self-centered or self-focused. They speak of themselves. If they speak of someone else, it tends to be slanderous gossip. They lift themselves up by putting down on others.
What kind of conversations are you having with God? Are they one-sided? Are they all about you? How much time do you spend in thanks and praise? How much time do you spend in praying for the needs of others?
Even more importantly, how much time do you spend in Bible study? When was the last time you prayed? When was the last time you actually studied your Bible?
In James 4:7 we are told to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us. Then in verse 8 we are told to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. The best way to draw near to anyone, including God, is good two-way conversation. We listen, we learn, and we respond.
If you have an active prayer life, you are off to a good start. If you pray regularly but fail to study your Bible, you are having that one-sided conversation. God wants us to study His word, not just read our Bible every now and then. He wants us to do a deep dive. He wants us to understand the importance of what He has to say through His holy Word.
We are told in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Repeated one-sided conversations with God will never make you complete or equipped for anything. And simply put they don’t work out so well. I can tell you this from personal experience.
Don’t just read Scripture, study it. Understand what God is saying to you. He wants to hear from you, but He also wants you to listen to what He has to say. What He has to say is a matter of life and death, you might want to listen carefully.
Have a great day!