Good day dear friends.
Here is our study guide for today: In Genesis 3:8-10 and deeper in, we see the image of true prayer: Face-to-face conversation with God. Read this and imagine how your day would be if you could spend the night part of the afternoon with God. What would you say about your day? About your behavior? Your driving? Your relationships? Well, the good news is that you can do that through prayer!
Here is that text: Gen. 3:8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
Just talk to God! Those were profound words of instruction to this pastor during his childhood from both his mother and grandmother. Talk to God. That is a great image of one speaking and God listening. As I was hearing those words my paternal grandfather was not a praying man; he stayed away from the church mostly. It was in later years he became a Christian and the most active church member of the church in Alice. Even in his old age, he would load up his lawn mower and go over and do the mowing on the church property. But what stayed with me is that in those years, I with Nellie and our girls would spend the night with him and as we were dozing off for sleep, Popo, as we called him, would be almost hollering his prayers. Even with his door closed we could hear his prayer. He was talking to God.
The image of God walking among the Garden during the cool of the day is another image that should stay with us. To me it says we have a God amongst us, who loves and cares for us, and wants to walk with us. I can only imagine those conversations between God and His creatures before their fall. It was after their fall that this text shows God walking and looking for Adam and Eve. God knew where they were; and the humans also knew where they were: Fallen from the grace of God. They had lost those "walking privileges" with God. Prayer would take on another form.
The model remains for us though of a loving God, who through His Son Jesus Christ, modeled prayer as a way of staying connected. We cannot have a relationship with anyone is we are not connected and this is God's desire for us. God amongst us in all things, washing the dishes or the car, changing diapers, among the clattering of pots and pans, there is no area in which God is not present.
So, what do you have to say to God today? Remember the ACTS we studied yesterday: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank You for being with me today and all days. I pray that I might develop my prayer life into a stronger, more intimate talk and walk with Thee. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
