Throughout the ages, our heavenly Father has always longed for companionship with man. In fact, He created man because He wanted children with whom to communicate—sons and daughters to love Him. God spent ages preparing for this. He designed the great universe to support the earth, and the earth He made to physically support man. God provided all of this so that we could freely love, worship, and fellowship with Him.
As His children, our great joy in life is to fulfill God’s desire for companionship by building a relationship with Him. God’s Word teaches us how we can build a relationship with our heavenly Father. It is His Word that teaches us how to love, worship, and fellowship with Him.
II Peter 1:3:
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
E. W. Bullinger’s lexicon and concordance states that the word “godliness” in this verse “…relates to real, true, vital, and spiritual relation with God….” This is the kind of relationship we want to have with our heavenly Father, and we can build that relationship as we communicate with Him.
Psalms 62:8:
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
God desires that we “pour out” our hearts before Him. He lovingly invites us to share with Him our thoughts, our desires, our concerns, our dreams, as we would with our most trusted friend. In any relationship, meaningful communication is vital for building trust and fellowship.
So, how do we communicate with God? It’s simple. We pray to Him. One way to pray is “with the understanding” (I Corinthians 14:15)—that is, to pray in a language you understand. Have you ever wondered if God understands your language? There is no need to worry—God is the greatest linguistic expert around! According to one source, there are over 6,900 spoken languages on planet Earth. In whatever part of the world that you live in, God understands and hears your prayer!
I Peter 3:12:
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers….
In Psalm 55, God’s Word assures us that regardless of the time of day, God hears the voice of His people when they pray. It truly is a comfort to know that regardless of the place and time, God always hears our prayer.
Another way in which we can communicate with God is by praying via the spirit. When we confessed with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we received God’s spirit within. It is His gift of holy spirit within us that gives us access to the heart of God and allows us to have fellowship with Him. This makes it possible for God to communicate with us and us with Him. The gift also makes it possible for us to operate nine manifestations of holy spirit, one of which is speaking in tongues (I Corinthians 12:8-10). Speaking in tongues is speaking in an unknown tongue—an unknown language to you, the speaker. Speaking in tongues daily in our private prayer life builds that intimate, sweet, and personal relationship that our heavenly Father desires to have with us. It is direct communication with Him.
I Corinthians 14:2:
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God….
One of the benefits of speaking in tongues is that it is perfect prayer. Speaking in tongues allows us to pray effectively according to the will of God.
Romans 8:26,27:
Likewise the Spirit [God] also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit [the gift in manifestation] itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he [God] that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit [the gift in manifestation], because he [it, that gift] maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
God, the Spirit, helps “our infirmities.” Our infirmity is that by our five-senses knowledge, we are not always sure what to pray for. Speaking in tongues helps us pray effectively when we don’t know what to pray for or about in our private prayer life. It is wonderful to know that God covers where our words cannot.
God desires that we have companionship with Him. We can fulfill God’s desire for companionship by building and strengthening our relationship with Him. In our communication with God, whether we pray to Him with our understanding or via the spirit, He hears our prayers. Let’s continue to build and maintain our “godliness”—a real, true, vital, and spiritual relationship with our heavenly Father!