Lloyd John Ogilvie - Conversation with God: Experience the Life-Changing Impact of Personal Prayer

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked TEV are taken from the Bible in Todays English Version (Good News Bible), American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976. Used by permission.

Verses marked P HILLIPS are taken from J.B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.

Verses marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphasis in Scripture quotations has been added by the author.

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CONVERSATION WITH GOD
Formerly Quiet Moments in Prayer
Copyright 1993 by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-2045-2

ISBN-10: 0-7369-2045-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ogilvie, Lloyd John.

[How to have a conversation with God]

Conversation with God / Lloyd John Ogilvie.

p. cm.

Originally published: How to have a conversation with God. c1993.

ISBN 978-0-7369-2045-2 (pbk.)

1. PrayerChristianity. I. Title.

BV215.O36 2007

248.32dc22

2007002950

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 / LB-SK / 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Inez Smith

In gratitude for our friendship
through the years

Nothing is more important. Its the source of lifes greatest joy. Theres no power or peace without it. With it, we receive supernatural insight and wisdom. Our ability to understand and love people is maximized. We think more clearly and can act more decisively. Our problems shrink and we can tackle opportunities with gusto. Most of all, we fulfill the reason we were born: to know and love God.

Im talking about the time we spend alone with God in prayer. Dont groan inside. This is not another ought to book about prayer to add to the guilt you may feel about the infrequency or shortness of your prayers. Rather, this is a how to book about a different way of praying.

Think of a time when you had a really satisfying conversation with someone who truly loves and affirms you. Remember how you felt? Respected, cherished, accepted. And because you felt love and admiration for this person, you sensed that it was safe to share your innermost thoughts and feelings. You wanted to listen to his or her thoughts. Give-and-take in the conversation flowed. You knew it was okay to laugh at yourself and were not embarrassed by your tears over your failures. After the conversation you felt refreshed, renewed by the delight of having someone be real with you and with whom you could let down your guard and be yourself.

Conversations like that are all too rare. Many husbands and wives have neither the time nor the sensitivity to have them. Friends seldom open up with each other. Fellowship with other Christians is no guarantee of deep, personal exchange.

There is only one Person with whom profound conversation is possible on a consistent basis. My use of the capital P has already told you who I think it is. God.

The use of the word conversation to describe prayer with the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord of all may have a presumptuous ring for some. For others it may seem too pedestrian. But for most of us, the question is whether a conversation with Almighty God is even a possibility.

Were much more experienced at monologue prayer. We praise God, thank Him for His blessings, tell Him about our concerns for people and the world conditions, ask for guidance, and commit the day to Him. Its like a one-way telephone conversation in which a person goes on endlessly without the slightest pause for even an aha from the other party and then hangs up before a response can be made.

Many of us have been conditioned to think of prayer as monologue because of public prayer in church. Often the pastoral prayer sounds like a newscaster summarizing the world news as if God didnt know! And in some of the prayers of friends we consider to be supersaints, they hardly take a breath between their magnificently worded phrases. So its very understandable that conversation would be a strange way to think about prayer.

Years ago, I made getting to know God the primary commitment of my life. I tried to learn how to pray. At the beginning of each day I would have a quiet time in which I read a portion of the Bible and then gave my monologue prayer. At the end of my prayer, I would sometimes take time for silence. That time became increasingly shorter as greater demands were made on my life, and the pull of the days challenges distracted me. I hate to admit it, but on most days I hung up on God before I had listened long enough to receive His wisdom and guidance.

One day I stumbled on a secular book about effective conversation. It described how to be a good listener as well as a talker in conversations. I learned that nothing destroys conversation more than long discourses that leave no room for response.

Then it hit me. What would it be like to have a conversation with God? I began experimenting. My pilgrimage in seeking to know God took a sharp turn.

First I learned that God begins the conversation. He calls us into dialogue with Him. The ordered steps of prayer flow naturally. We will talk about these steps of preparation, praise, confession, thanksgiving, meditation, intercession, supplication, guidance, and empowering in the chapters of this book. But the crucial thing I want to stress at this point is the importance of pausing to listen for the Lords response between the steps of prayer.

The Bible is essential to the deeper quality of conversation with God. The Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit not only as the infallible guide for faith and practice, but as the source of verses through which God guides us in each phase of prayer.

Magnificent promises are found throughout the Bible. These promises are direct quotes of Gods words in the Old Testament and of Christ in the New Testament. They call us to prayer and lead us on from step to step in an evolving conversation of prayer. When we listen to the Lord in these promises and meditate on them, they instigate further thought and fresh inspiration in our minds. God does not contradict His promises in the Bible. He will be to us what He has said He will be.

The Scriptures also provide us with the language of response. They help us love God, to trust Him with our needs, and open ourselves to His guidance. More than just thought starters, they liberate our own words to express the longings of our hearts. The psalmists, wisdom writers, prophets, apostles, and other characters of the Bible teach us how to converse with God. Their words give wings to our own. They vibrate with life when we reword them in the first-person singular and pray them as our own prayers.