Translate

Friday, July 12, 2013

Communication is a lost art form

I came home last night from a long, tiring day at work so thankful to be at home among friendlies and out of the line of fire from the world.  I really enjoy our family time together, but it has seemed to be in short supply lately.  After dinner, I looked around my living room and realized we were all doing our own thing and it didn't require interacting with each other.  Everyone had a cell phone in their hand, or were playing a video game in the back room and the television set was on....not that anyone was watching the TV.  It made me realize we were all isolated in some ways, even though we were sitting in the same room with each other.  Our eyes were focused on something other than communicating with each other.

I then wondered how has technology affected our ability to communicate with God, if at all?  Do video games, Facebook and its silly games, texting, twitter, etc. deprive us of our time with God?  I believe they do.  I believe that technology is another avenue the enemy has found he can use to keep us distracted and focused inward and on something else besides spending time in prayer or the Word with God. 

We must spend time with each other, our spouses, our children, etc. to stay tuned into what is going on in each other's lives and to maintain levels of trust, love, companionship, etc.  If we don't spend time with our families and friends, then those relationships begin to suffer.  We are in a constant state of change as we grow older.  We must spend time and communicate with each other so we will always be aware of the growth and changes we all go through.  Lack of time and communication with each other causes our relationships to wither and die because of neglect.  We lose things in common and communication becomes strained and difficult.  Or we feel as though we have nothing to talk about.  I believe this is one reason we have an "empty nest" syndrome and the cause of the break up of many marriages after children are grown and out of the house.

 Our relationship with God is much like our earthly relationships. We have to spend time with Him in prayer and in studying His word or we won't know what His character is like.  He is the only constant in our lives that will never change, but as we grow older our relationship with Him changes because of our growth, experiences, etc.  When we don't spend time in prayer, talking with Him can become difficult and we may not know what to say.  Sometimes the thought of praying can bring feelings of fear, doubt, insecurity...or even guilt.  We need to make sure we understand that we can go to God the Father anytime without feeling those emotions or allowing the enemy to distract us with those emotions.  Our enemy is not hard to recognize if we are familiar with his tactics and know how to fight and deflect the fiery darts, including emotions, he throws our way.  We can't let distractions prevent us from searching God out.  We must be careful to limit our use of technology when it starts to become an idol and something we can't live without. 

There is power in a family that prays together.  Can we all commit to prayer time every day with our spouses and children? Even 5 minutes of prayer together is a powerful weapon in the heavenlies!

"For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20





No comments:

Post a Comment