Fullness of Joy

Ps.16:11 "...In Your presence there is fullness of joy;..."NKJV

I don't know how you get along when you try to communicate with God, but for a very long time I relied on arrow prayers - "Lord help!", "What shall I do about this Lord?" and so on. If I had a problem I would tell him all about it and leave it at that. Apart from this I sat in rather boring prayer meetings listening to other people pray, only occasionally plucking up courage to put a short one of mine in, and although answers came, there was no real contact.

However, after my visit to Toronto, I decided that this just wasn't good enough. Whilst I was there God started to wake me up in the early hours of the morning pointing out all the things that were wrong in my life - lots of repentance required, but at the same time, He let me know how much He loved me as a Father. So when I got back I decided that as He had opened a line of communication to me, then I was not going to go back to my previous practice.

I told Him I would get up each morning at 5am and talk to Him. I am not saying that everyone should do this, you can choose your own time. It is just that I know that if I get up at that time, nothing is going to interrupt me. Sometimes I make it, and sometimes I wake up later, but if I set an alarm clock, then I will wake my husband, so I have to rely on auto-waking. I then leave the bedroom and go somewhere quiet, listen to a worship CD on earphones and talk to Him and listen. Sometimes I get pictures, scriptures, or just a wonderful feeling of His presence, and sometimes nothing at all. This usually happens if something is not quite right in my life and needs to be put before Him for forgiveness. Maybe I have had a row with someone and am still holding it against them, in which case I have to forgive them and then ask God to forgive me. Not always easy, we tend to enjoy holding on to things and having a really good grumble, but Jesus died for me so that I might be forgiven so how can I not forgive others. I certainly did not deserve forgiveness and maybe neither do they, but I am not prepared to let anything stand in the way of the wonderful relationship with God so I forgive them anyway.

If you would like to be able to talk to God and to hear from him perhaps you could try the following:

Jer 29: 11:13
11 .For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. NKJV

• So the first thing is to to call upon Him, desiring His presence with your whole heart.
• The second is to pray and He has promised to listen to you.
• He also promises that if you seek Him with all your heart, then you will find Him.

Prov 8:32-35 32
32."Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways. 33. Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it. 34. Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. 35. For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favour from the LORD; NKJV

• Listen! - we spend so much time talking that we forget to listen.
• Keep His ways, which means get rid of anything you know is wrong.
• Hear instruction and ask Him for His wisdom.
• He says you will be blessed when you listen.
• Watch and wait for Him every day!
• And you will have life and obtain favour from the Lord.

If you want to go on from there then perhaps you would like to know God's telephone number!

Jeremiah 33:3

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' NKJV