Prayer is communication with God. Communication is two-way. God speaks and we listen. We speak and God listens. A relationship is only as good as its partners communicate openly, frequently, honestly, faithfully, and lovingly.
Communication develops naturally. As a baby grows in their ability to communicate with their mom and dad they learn many verbal and non-verbal tools of communication. A baby’s language skills develop naturally, through continued use. Our prayer, that is, our ability to communicate with God, develops the same way, naturally and through continual use.
The same way a baby grows up, our prayer life grows up and can become as natural as breathing: something we do without thinking, a continual conversation with God, a worshipful attitude all day long. So that even the busiest day is filled with a constant communication with God that is prayerful and worshipful.
The word “communication” has the root, “commune.” This word comes to us from Latin, where to commune with someone meant more than mere exchange of conversation. It had a much deeper meaning. It was understood that to commune with someone, repeatedly, you would become like that person. Commune meant: to be changed to become like the one you are in communion with. And further, identity is formed through communion. (Noah Webster 1828, American Dictionary Of The English Language.)
The natural result of repeated communion with Jesus, is that we become like Him. The more we commune with Jesus, the more we are changed into His image. Paul wrote, “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18, BSB).
