Houston? Can You Hear Me?

Article in Today’s Pentecostal Evangel: Excerpted from Prayer Basics: Understanding the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of Prayer by John Maempa and James Meredith

"Each of us possesses a soul that distinguishes us from the animal kingdom. That is the spiritual “component” that enables us to connect with God. In very casual terms, our spiritual component is like the receiver in a cell phone or radio. A receiver picks up electromagnetic signals and converts them to sound. Similarly, our spiritual nature is the component within each of us that responds to God, that orients us to divine reality.

In times of great crisis or stress, people automatically turn to prayer for comport, solace and hope. Even nonbelievers will call out to God. The spiritual component is alive and active, whether or not it is recognized or acknowledged.

While each of us I wired to communicate with God, sending and receiving communication from him are dynamically linked to relationship. The closer our relationship is with God, the clearer our communication with Him will be.

If we wander away from God, we start losing the signal. With a receiver, signal strength is maximized by proximity to the tower. The farther away the receiver moves from a transmitting tower, the weaker the signal gets. So it is in our ability to commune with God. If we distance ourselves from Him spiritually (and it’s always we who move), the signal weakens. If we move too far, we can’t receive a signal at all.

Only by praying on a regular basis and paying close attention to God’s Word can we attain the closeness we need to be in communion with Him. When we’re close to God, our sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit is greatly enhanced. The signal is picked up and there is a sense of the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit as the communication channel is open and the signals come through.

We then know the reality of Psalm 145:18: “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” "