Yearning For God - from Focus on the Family

Day 4

TALKING TO GOD

Thank God that He loves you and wants you to learn to talk to Him through prayer. Ask God to teach you how to pray.

DIVING IN

Make three sets of note cards with the following words/phrases on them: grandparent, best friend, your pastor, grocery store clerk and a neighbor’s cousin. Spread out first stack according to the person you talk to most at the top and the person you talk to the least at the bottom. Arrange the second set in the same way, with the person you most want to be around at the top. Line the third set next to the other two, with the person you most miss at the top. Compare how similar your lists are.

GOING DEEPER

Prayer is simply talking to God, who loves you and wants what is best for you. Just as you may miss someone you love when he is gone, your spirit misses God when you do not spend time talking to Him. The Bible often says that this longing to be with God is like being thirsty or hungry. Psalm 42:1-2 says, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" You can go to God in prayer and find Him, just as the deer finds water in a stream when it is thirsty.

TALKING TO EACH OTHER

* What do you think about when you are hungry or thirsty?
* How is being with God similar to being with a person you love? How is it different?
* How might you tell that your spirit is thirsty to be with God?

John 4:14 says, "but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."