Talking to Jesus

This story shows us that prayer time helps us develop our relationship with our Creator, God Himself. It
keeps us in tune with God and His intentions towards us. God also wants us to know what is on His
heart. It’s our opportunity to be directed and guided by God throughout our day to day. As we grow with
God, we get to know God through His word. That is all part of the daily dialogue.
A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father. When the minister
arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside
his bed.
The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. “I guess you were expecting me,”
he said. “No, who are you?” said the father. “I’m the new minister at your church,” he replied. “When I saw
the empty chair, I figured you knew I was coming.” “Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Could
you close the door?”
Puzzled, the minister shut the door. “I’ve never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man.
“But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer,
but it went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued, “until one day,
about four years ago, my best friend said, ‘Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with
Jesus.’
‘Here is what I suggest. Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on
the chair. It’s not spooky because He promised, “I’ll be with you always.” Then, just speak to Him in the
same way you’re doing with me right now.’
The old man continued, “So, I tried it, and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m
careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown
or send me oƯ to the funny farm.”
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey.
Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter
called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.
“Did he die in peace?” he asked. “Yes, when I left the house about two o’ clock, he called me over to his
bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I
found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he
leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?”
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all go like that.”
Praying for others is an unselfish expression of love. Remember Prayer is a dialogue. So, prayer is not a
monologue. We speak and we hear. We pray in light of the promises we know, in light of the warning we’ve
heard, and we realize that we are blessed but not entitled. Prayer is something that should be a two-way
conversation.
Prayer is a natural expression between two individuals, God and the person praying. Unfortunately, prayer
has become very formal, stiƯ, and performance oriented. When some people pray they seem to be
thinking about the people listening to their prayer more than they are thinking about God. These “prayers”
become more preaching to people than they are a pure conversation with God. That isn’t prayer. Prayer’s
a simple conversation, and direct, between you and God himself. God is more focused on the heart of the
person praying than He is on the words being spoken in the conversation.
Prayer is our opportunity to engage in a daily dialogue with God. We express our thanks and gratitude to
God and bring our petitions. God in return communicates back to us. God has many ways to
communicate with us in return. One of them is through His word where He gives us instructions, wisdom
and insight for the day.
Through meditating in His word we get to interact with God on a diƯerent level. In fact, God honors our
study time. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
My prayer for you today is that all your prayers will be a two-way conversation with God.
Blessings, Ben