Catechism: Prayer & Worship - RedirectedSample

Starting the Conversation. Who do you call or text when something great happens? What about when you’re stuck or need help? In those moments we don’t reach out to a stranger; we call out to someone we trust, someone we have a relationship with.

Genesis, the book of beginnings, records several conversations that God has with people, and in the first 3 chapters, God is the one who reaches out first. But at the end of Genesis 4 there’s a shift. People begin to reach out on their own and initiate conversation with God in response to who he is and what he was doing in their lives.

We know that God desires, initiates, and pursues a relationship with us, but he doesn’t have to be the one to start every conversation. Through prayer and worship, we can speak, share, ask, and thank God any time we’d like. The Apostle Paul encourages us to “pray continually,” having an ongoing conversation with God through Jesus.

The way to strengthen any relationship is by doing life together and having healthy and honest conversations. God wants these same qualities in our relationship with him, for us to speak to him and listen to what he has today, for us to ask one another questions, for us to share our lives together.

The book of Exodus shows us that God interacted with Moses this way, speaking face-to-face as a friend. John 15:15 reminds us that Jesus calls his followers his friends, which means the relationship has been established, and we can freely come to him whenever!

Take a step of faith today and start a conversation with God. Tell him what you’re thinking, what you’re thankful for, what you’re worried about. Call out to him and listen for his voice. What he says could be just what you need.

Consider: Take a minute today to ponder how amazing it is that God desires to be friends with you.

Reflect: Have you ever been in a one-sided conversation, and if so, how did it feel? If God is speaking to us through Jesus, the Bible, sermons, devotionals, and more, how can you continue the conversation with him?