Have you ever talked to someone… and they just sit there in silence, never saying anything back?

It ends the conversation pretty quickly. Silence tends to make you think that the other person isn’t listening, or doesn’t care.

That’s how a lot of people feel about prayer. Since they tend to do all the talking and can’t hear God talking back, they figure God either isn’t listening, or doesn’t care.

But that’s not true. Bible verses abound about God listening and responding to prayer.

But what I want to highlight today is one of the ways God does in fact talk back to you through prayer.

In a classic book about prayer called With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray cites an old saying: “I pray—I speak to my Father; I read—my Father speaks to me.”

Your words often come out of your mouth. God’s words often come out of the Bible. As Psalm 119:130 says: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”

Personally, I usually use the Bible when I pray. I talk to God, then read a Bible passage, then talk to God again, and then read some more. What I often discover is that a one-way monologue turns into two-way conversation. His eternal words start to speak wisdom directly into my day-to-day situations and problems.

“I pray—I speak to my Father; I read—my Father speaks to me.”

By Matthew Ruttan
—Bible quotes are from the New International Version.