Talking to God and Prayer

Three Concepts to Loosen the Limits of Prayer

“You can talk to God without praying, but you can’t pray without talking to God.”
In this series of messages we’re calling “Talking to God and Prayer”, I wish to introduce you to three concepts so that you can understand that there is more to prayer and to help you answer the question without hesitation, could there be a difference between talking to God and prayer?”

• A Limited View of Prayer : We begin with a brief introduction into this concept of comparing talking to God and praying.
• Define Prayer and Talking to God
  This first bullet says let’s define prayer, but in actuality we will not only define prayer, we redefine prayer (see The Real Meaning of Prayer). You see, the thing that keeps one at their current level first starts with how the activity is defined. One’s current view of prayer is limited only by how one views it; it’s no different than what you think of God defines how you interact with Him (see Interactions With God).
• Knowing God is key.
  Could it be that what you know of God might also limit what you think you can and can not say to Him? If you don’t know a person well, then your conversation with that person is limited and requires a great amount of interaction in order for you to get to know the person. In the same way, talking to God is not much different. Talking to God gives you an opportunity to get to know Him. Here’s a question one might ponder, do I Know God well enough to start a conversation with Him?
• Is there a difference between talking to God and praying?
  This phrase may sound a little weird because most (51% or more) define prayer as talking to God or having a conversation with Him. But what if talking to God and praying aren’t the same? This would open up a lot of discussion because it could mean we’ve missed out on something (see It’s Worth Talking to God Over) . More importantly it would reveal that there really is a next level in prayer.