Talking with God

By Charles F. Stanley

True communication with God is more than talking to God, it's talking with God-through prayer. Prayer that involves speaking and listening.

In Talking with God, Charles Stanley discusses the general principles that are basic to everyone's prayer life, explaining how your prayers can lead to a more intimate than a relationship with God and how you can encourage others in their own prayer lives.

The Life Principles Study Guides are perfect companions to Dr. Stanley's Life Principles Bible or for use on their own. They are a unique approach to Bible study, incorporating biblical truth, personal insights, emotional responses, and a call to action. Whether you use a study in a group or as an individual, it will help you get in touch with the Bible, God, and yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Oct 7, 2008
• ISBN: 9781418586959

Charles F. Stanley

Dr. Charles F. Stanley was the founder of In Touch Ministries and pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church Atlanta, Georgia, where he served more than fifty years. He was also a New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy books. Until his death in 2023, Dr. Stanley’s mission was to get the gospel to “as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, as clearly as possible, as irresistibly as possible, through the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.” This is a calling that In Touch Ministries continues to pursue by transmitting his teachings as widely and effectively as possible. Dr. Stanley’s messages can be heard daily on In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley broadcasts on television, radio, and satellite networks and stations around the world; on the internet at intouch.org and through In Touch+; and via the In Touch Messenger Lab. Excerpts from Dr. Stanley’s inspiring messages are also published in the award-winning In Touch devotional magazine.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Preparing to Communicate with God

Prayer is communication. It is not a set of words or a formula that we have memorized, nor is it an empty repetition of words and phrases; it is one person speaking with Another—more specifically, one person speaking with God, and listening to what God has to say in return. This is true communication: two people speaking together, listening together, sharing themselves together.

Many good communication books are on the market today. The Bible, however, is God’s foremost book about His communication with us. It is the source from which we receive new insights and eternal wisdom. It is the reference book to which we must return continually to make certain that what we hear from other people is acceptable to God and is true wisdom that we can apply to our daily lives. You should read and study the Bible on a daily basis. It will be far more valuable for you to write what you learn from this study guide into the margins and end pages of your Bible than for you to write passages of the Bible or insights you may have into this book.

This book can be used by you alone or by several people in a small-group study. At various times, you will be asked to relate to the material in one of these four ways:

1. What new insights have you gained? Make notes about the insights that you have. You may want to record them in your Bible or in a separate journal. As you reflect back over your insights, you are likely to see how God has moved in your life.

2. Have you ever had a similar experience? Each of us approaches the Bible from a unique background—our own particular set of relationships and experiences. Our experiences do not make the Bible true—the Word of God is truth regardless of our opinion about it. It is important, however, to share our experiences in order to see how God’s truth can be applied to human lives.

3. How do you feel about the material presented? Emotional responses do not give validity to the Scriptures, nor should we trust our emotions as a gauge for our faith. In small-group Bible study, however, it is good for participants to express their emotions. The Holy Spirit often communicates with us through this unspoken language.

4. In what way do you feel challenged to respond or to act? God’s Word may cause you to feel inspired or challenged to change something in your life. Take the challenge seriously and find ways of acting upon it. If God reveals to you a particular need that He wants you to address, take that as marching orders from God. God is expecting you to do something with the challenge that He has just given you.

Start and conclude your Bible study sessions in prayer. Ask God to give you spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear. As you conclude your study, ask the Lord to seal what you have learned so that you will never forget it. Ask Him to help you grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus.

Again, I caution you to keep the Bible at the center of your study. A genuine Bible study stays focused on God’s Word and promotes a growing faith and a closer walk with the Holy Spirit in each person who participates.

LESSON 1

Our Need to Communicate with God

In This Lesson

LEARNING: WHAT IS PRAYER?

GROWING: HOW SHOULD I PRAY?

Each of us has a need to communicate with God. That need has been built into us by our Creator. It is part of God’s design, part of His imprint on our lives. We desire to be in touch with our Maker. Prayer is communication with God. In its broadest definition, prayer includes both verbal and nonverbal communication—it covers our thoughts and actions toward God, as well as our words toward God.

From this definition, some people may conclude that we are continually in communication with God because virtually everything that we do in our lives is a message that we send to God or make before God. After all, God sees everything we do and knows everything we think and feel. From this viewpoint, our entire lives are prayers of a sort. Others may conclude that we live continually in an atmosphere of prayer because God is always communicating with us. He consistently sends us messages about His great love for us. We have the Bible as His Word, as well as messages in nature—messages that come through the loving actions and words of other people, and messages that we perceive in the deep stirring of our spirits.

These two views of prayer, however, are in error on one key point: communication is a two-way process. Simply sending a message is not communication. Communication requires that two parties respond to each other. Each party gives and receives messages and, in turn, provides feedback. In other words:

A statement is made, and a specific response is provided.

A question is asked, and an answer is given.

Feelings are vented, and feelings are perceived in return.

True communication with God is not talking to God, but talking with God. We do not communicate if we voice a petition to God but do not wait for His answer. We do not communicate if we express our desires to God but do not hear what His desires are for us. We do not communicate if we vent our anger, frustration, doubt, or fear to God but do not listen intently for His response. Prayer is speaking to and listening to God. It is an active process involving two communicators: you and God.

Prayer Is Intentional

Prayer does not happen by accident. We may express our prayers through feelings and thoughts, but prayer must be intentional for it truly to be a form of communication. We must actively engage in the process. We must turn our minds and hearts and voices toward God.

Voicing a concern to a friend is not prayer. Silently wishing that something might be so is not prayer. Confessing a fault to another person is not prayer. Feeling a spring in our step as we rejoice in the warmth and beauty of an April day is not prayer. To be engaged in prayer, we must voice our problem to God with an expectation that He will hear us and will respond to us.

To be engaged in prayer, we must yield our desires to God and expect Him to answer or change our desires as part of the process. To be in genuine prayer, we must make our confessions to God and actively receive His cleansing and forgiveness. To be people of prayer, we must give voice to our thanksgivings and praise and open ourselves fully to the presence of God at work in and around us.

Prayer Is Dialogue

From time to time, God may give us a direction or speak a command to us. Indeed, God speaks when He wills to speak, and it is our responsibility to listen and obey. We also voice to God our heartfelt cries of anguish, sorrow, pain, or give vent to our ecstatic joy. At these times, we are talking to God or He is talking to us. This is expression, which is valuable, but it is not the most beneficial form of communication in a relationship.

Communication that builds relationships is dialogue. Genuine prayer has all of the qualities and characteristics of a deeply meaningful conversation between two people. God said to Isaiah, Come now, and let us reason together (Isa. 1:18). This image of God and man sitting down together for a good talk is our best image of prayer.

Can you imagine living in a relationship with a person who made demands or requests,