The Key to a Strong Relationship with God
If someone asks, “What’s the key to a strong relationship with God?” What would you say?
Now, imagine if someone asks, “What’s the key to a strong relationship with your husband/wife or your child?” How would you reply? A marriage and family therapist friend says that communication is the key to fostering strong relationships. Of course, trust, friendship, love, etc. are all necessary ingredients, but imagine trying to build those things without communication! I cannot imagine loving my wife without telling her, “I love you” and doing loving acts of service. I can’t imagine being a good dad to my son without saying, “I am proud of you” and helping him with his math homework.
Should it therefore be too surprising that communication is the key to a strong relationship with God?
Yet, what does this communication look like? It looks like prayer. In “The Book of Common Prayer,” prayer is defined as “responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.” (BCP, pg. 856)
Let’s break down our prayers:
We respond: Our prayers are primarily a response to God. He has filled our lives with His grace and mercy, especially through the death and resurrection of Christ for our redemption. All prayer thus begins by responding to the One who first spoke His light into our darkness and enacted His love in our misery.
By thought: Our prayers could be as simple as a thought, like meditating on a verse or something that caught our attention in a Christian book or a sermon. The famous Christian author Eugene Peterson described such meditation as a dog enjoying a succulent, juicy bone (“Eat This Book,” pg. 35).
By deeds: Our prayers even include what we do, like the acts of love, service and sacrifice that we render to God and our neighbor, like helping an elderly parent or exercising patience with a child throwing a tantrum.
With words: Thank you! Please! Sorry! These are simple words, but they get the job done. Sometimes, the most beautiful of prayers are not in their florid language, but in their simplicity and sincerity of faith.
Without words: Sometimes communicating with God includes sitting in silence, to create space so that we can hear from God, instead of only us talking to God. Communication after all is a two-way street!
When you pray today, consider how all that you do and say — both in thoughts and aloud — can be a prayer responding to God’s great love for you.
