Communication

At this point, it feels a bit cliche to tell you that communication is key for the success of any relationship, but honestly, it couldn't be any more true. Of course, in many of our other relationships, we must also consider whether the person on the receiving end is practicing comprehension, active listening, and all the more, but frankly, bless-fully, we don't have to worry about God listening to us, He always is. Which makes strengthening our communication with Him all the more crucial.

Jeremiah 33:2-3 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

My Misunderstanding of Being in Communication with the lord

One of my favorite things about being in relationship with the Lord is that He accepts our communication in its many forms. In the Bible, some ways that individuals communicate with the Lord are through praise, laments, expressing anger, prayer, silence, obedience, fasting, calling on to him, listening, engaging in scripture, and more. At one point in my life, I thought that the only way to communicate with the Lord was through prayer. I would pray before meals to express gratitude, pray when I was angry or extremely sad, and if my grandma was around, we would pray before my mom turned on the car. When I think about it, I mostly communicated with the Lord for just a few reasons- to express my gratitude or distress, make requests, help ease my anxiety, and for protection over myself and my loved ones. For most of my life, I would communicate with the Lord because I understood that He was my father, not necessarily to strengthen our relationship. It makes sense though, to be honest. I grew up in an African community where deference, respect, and fear were the pillars of a relationship between a child and their elder. Things like asking too many questions, talking back, and "getting too comfortable" were big no-nos I was smart enough to know I should avoid. I feel like that relationship dynamic very easily transferred over to my relationship with the Lord. I thought He was just another elder, so my communication with Him reflected how I would interact with all the other elders in my life. Be quiet, listen, don't talk back, say your please and thank yous, don't be ungrateful, they're not my friend, because they said so, stop all that crying, no raising my voice, don't be a smart mouth, act my age, don't ask for too much, and speak when spoken to. These sayings were engraved not only in my mind but also deep in my heart. So I followed them, diligently if you'd ask me. It took me a long time to realize how much my relationship and communication with the Lord were impacted by my broken understanding of why I needed to communicate with Him. Nonetheless, the most reassuring thing is that the Lord was still extending his hand out to me. Even if my relationship dynamic at the time was merleley transactional, rich in requests, and underwhelming, one day through time I was disciplined. Unfortunately, I don't have an audible relationship with the Lord (hopefully yet lol) but I believe that through my experiences in life, Jesus made me realize that I had so many more reasons to desire to be in communication with Him, so many more reasons to desire to have and build a strong relationship with Him. Even though I still have my struggles, it is through that regular discipline, and even rebuking that my relationship with the Lord continues to grow. I communicate with the Lord now to strengthen my relationship with Him, to increase my faith in Him, to trust his responses, and doings. I also pray so that through Him I can beat the battles against my flesh, and so I don't remain lukewarm and torn between His kingdom and this world. I pray to love Him even more because He would love me as much as He does, at no cost of mine, but at the cost of the blood of His one and only son, and far more. I want to make it clear though, that even in my current communication with the Lord, I still request the very things that I used to. The problem did not rest in what I was asking of Him, it was the place I was asking from. What changed is the posture of my heart and the dynamic of my relationship with Him. He is not just my Father he is also my friend, my provider (Jehovah Jireh), my healer (Jehovah Rapha), my sheperd (Jehovah Raah), Adonai, El Shaddai, he is a God who desires to know me, to hear from me, to teach me. So now I pray for all those things and for another thing as well, something I desperately strive to do with all my life... To Remain In Him.

Revelation 30:19-20 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

How we communicate when we "remain in him"

John 15: 1-12 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

I'm not going to get too carried away with explaining the different languages spoken, interpreted, and translated in the Bible, but there is something I found worthy of noting. Though Jesus likely spoke these words in Amaric originally, they were eventually translated into Greek by John. The Greek definition of the words "Remain In Me" can be described as so: (Greek: English: Meaning)

μείνατε: Remain/abide: Continue, dwell, stay (being commanded)

ἐν: In: Indicating a location, relationship

ἐμοί: Me: Referring to Jesus the one we are abiding in

Now in Hebrew, this dialogue can be described as also to dwell, cling, or to remain in covenant and closeness. I know you didn't sign up for a history or language lesson, but I hope that through this knock-off crash course, you can gain an understanding of the significance found in understanding the true meaning of the words Jesus spoke. By saying "Remain In Me" Jesus is communicating that he wants us to cling onto him, to dwell in him, to be in constanat relationship with him. I want you to really imagine this in the way it is spoken. Jesus wants you to cling onto Him, I like to think about it like I am hugging Him so tight that there is no way to let go. And what a blessing to know that as we dwell in the presence of the Lord, we are also in a position to communicate with him. In verse 7, the scripture writes if you remain in me, my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. In this verse Jesus is not only saying that He will be in communication with us, He is also assuring us that as we remain in Him there will be open dialogue, that we may ask of Him whatever we wish. Many of us, including myself, may stop and remain stuck on how great it is that Jesus communicates to us that all that we ask of Him may be done for us. And though this is a great blessing, I'm going to consider it a secondary blessing in these verses. I believe that the true blessing found in these words is that Jesus tells us that as we remain in Him, He also will remain in us... He too will cling onto us, dwell in us, and stay with us. Now though we may think that we are perfect, we all have our bad days. There are seasons when we may not be as strong in our relationships with the Lord. These seasons may cause us to be distanced, full of animosity, full of grief, and we may feel separated from God. But Jesus assures us that He remains in us. He clings onto us, think about that hugging analogy I mentioned earlier. Even in our most weary times, Jesus is not far away, His position in our life is constant. What a blessing to know that He is the vine and we are the branches.

To take a step back the action of Remaining In The Lord itself can also yield many forms of communication. As we remain in him we communicate our love, our trust, and our commitment to Him. In doing so we are communicating our obidenece, while also following His commands. In verses 9-11 Jesus communicates that as the Father loved Him, He loves us. When we remain in Him, when we keep His. commands, not only does His love remain in us, ours remains in Him also.

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Jesus Anointed by a sinful woman

Luke 7:36- 50  When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins? 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

There are 3 points that I would like to draw from this story in connection to communication

1. The Power of Communication With The Lord: How amazingly beautiful is it that at the end of this story, the way that this woman decided to communicate with the Lord led to Her sins being forgiven. There is truly power in the ways that we communicate and express our feelings to the Lord, Whether through prayer, actions, or any of the other ways we touched on briefly, there is power in calling on to the name Jesus. If this woman's sins could be forgiven, what do you perceive that the Lord could also do for you? Not because of the action alone, but because of the place that the communication is coming from. In verse 50 Jesus says to the woman "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." Did you ever stop to think that in this story the Bible does not mention that this woman ever spoke? It says in verse 38 that she stood behind him at his feet weeping, and she eventually moved on to wetting his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing them, and pouring perfume onto them. Though her communication was not verbal, it was still valid in light of the Lord, and it is the reason her sin was cleansed, saved, and blessed with peace.

2. Communication Varies: I love that this story is a great example that the way we communicate with the Lord can vary. There is not one way that is right. Whether you have a relationship with the Lord, are still growing one, or have never had one. You can communicate with Him in the very way that feels right and true to you because the Holy Spirit can and will move you in a number of different ways. Don't sell yourself short, and don't worry about looking foolish, Paul once said, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18)." So communicate, as a matter of fact, do it confidently and boldly, because it is in light of the power of God.

3. God Knows Your Heart: Let's just be honest, sometimes we might question if the way we are communicating is right. It might even feel disingenuous, or performative. I've struggled with this feeling where I had to be the condemner of my own mind, which was telling me I seemed foolish. Even if you don't know if you are doing things right, remember that the Lord knows and sees your heart. He is able to see where your communication is coming from. While I do suggest that you strive to be aware of and consider where your communication is coming from, do not limit yourself to what even you may think is right. There are so many wonderful and powerful ways to communicate with the Lord, don't let your praises fall short because of anyone else, even including yourself...and remember that our thoughts are not his thoughts, nor are our ways, His ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and throughout-- higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9.) For what even you don't understand in yourself, the Lord God does.

God told me to remain in Him today

As I wrote this blog, I got my first response back from one of the law schools I applied to. And it was definitely a denial letter. It's funny, though, that before I continued to write this blog, I prayed to the Lord to give me some direction and conviction on whether or not I should complete some school-related tasks that I needed to do prior to finishing up this post. I did not feel the conviction to finish up the very quick task that was at the top of my to-do list. But immediately after, I felt confident that it was more important that I spent the remainder of my time focusing on my writing. So, as I began, the first thing I decided to study was the meaning of "Remaining In Him." I know some of yall think I got it like that, but girl, I did that research today, it was not stored up in the files of my mind. Anyway, as I sat here in the library trying to understand what it means to remain in him. I worked with chatgpt to create a document of my findings and further research on these translations. I then emailed the document to myself and got ready to print it out to diligently study the differences and meaning behind each translation of these words. And right at that moment, I saw my email titled "Final Decision.' I knew by halfway through the first sentence where the rest of the email was headed. I don't think it was by coincidence that this denial met me immediately after pondering what Jesus meant. First and foremost, I was too locked into writing this to stop. I felt the fire tells me to press on even after that rejection. But I was also reminded to remain in Him, even now, in the midst of rejection, anxiety, and denial. It made me think about all the ways I would have responded to this rejection in the past, and I realized just how far I've come in my relationship with the Lord. It was a reminder that as I remain in Him, He too, is here remaining in me. And additionally, I was reminded of what God promised in verse 7. Truly, I mean this when I say Thank you Jesus, How Great is Our God, Glory to Him above all things.

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.

More ways to communicate with the lord

Now I am not gonna lie I had a few more versus that I considered discussing in this post but I believe it would be far longer, and I trust that the Lord will work to bring them back up where and when they are most necessary, but I will leave them down below. I suggest that you pray over them, and that you ask the Lord to bring meaning and fruit to how they relate to your life and the way that you communicate and are in relationship with the Lord.

Communicate through listening for his voice

1 Samuel 3: 8-11 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

Communicate by saying "here I am"

Acts 9:10  Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”

And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

Commmunicate through silence & Patience

Lamentations 3: 25-28: The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.

Communicate Through Actions

James 1:22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

Communicate through obedience

1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

 Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Communicate by giving ear and coming to him

Isaiah 5:3 “Give ear and come to me;  listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David."

communicate thorugh suffereage & perserverance

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

communicate through transparency

Hebrews 4: 14 -15 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Communicate by Following him, Saying yes to him

Luke 9: 57-62 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Manhas no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Prayer

Our Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for being willing to communicate with us. Thank you, God, for not only hearing us but for loving us in the ways you do. Thank you for being in relationship with us Lord, for encouraging us to come to you with all of our worries, requests, and praises. Thank you, Lord, for being constant, for the ways that you rebuke and disciple us. Thank you Lord for growing us, in the ways we know and understand you. Thank you for being committed to us Lord, for being with us through all of our growth, shortcomings, and changes. Thank you for giving us grace and mercy, and for being patient with us on our walk with you. Thank you, Lord, for encouraging us, even in the times that we upset and disappoint you. Thank you, Lord, for being our council, our teacher, our Father, for being perfectly you. Thank you, Lord, for Remaining in Us Lord, and for allowing us to remain in you. God for all that you do, and all that you don't because we know that it is what is best. Thank you, Lord, for loving us through our brokenness, and carrying us into our best. Truly Lord there is nothing that could stand in the way of the love that you have for us. thank you for showing us a love we will be ever able to return to you in the same way. Thank you for being the unconditional God that you are. I pray Lord that we continue to strive to be better to do better because we know who you are. Lord, I pray over each and every person reading this post so that Lord they hear your voice and not mine. Lord allow me only to be a vessel, remind each reader that even my words come from you. I pray Lord that you show up in each person reading this life in the ways that you do best. Lord I pray that we also call onto you Lord, not just today but every day of our lives. That we do so in confidence because we know you are a God who is listening, a God who answers. So Lord I pray that we may see the unsearchable and Lord that we may know the great that comes from you, and only you. And Lord I pray that you see our hearts, and that you give us direction, that you continue to lead us to you Lord each and every day of our lives.

In Jesus Name, I pray,

Amen

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.