vladimirgrebenar 
Communication with the Lord is superior to communication between people. Why? God knows our thoughts and He cannot be manipulated as people often do when communicating with each other. To God, all our thoughts, plans and actions are revealed. “O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways” (Ps. 139:1-3). Man communicates mostly through speech, but often times people say one thing, think another, and do a third.
We know many people from our environment, but also public figures who say one thing and do another. Scientific research in the field of management has proven that we must speak, think and do one and the same thing if we want to have a positive impact, because otherwise hardworking and honest people will not want to listen to us. When such a rule applies between people, can it be otherwise in communication with God?
If we want to communicate with the Lord and hear His word for us, in addition to implying that we must be in a state of sacramental grace, we must meet four other prerequisites for the prayer of listening: a) sincerity, b) striving for righteousness, c) patience, and d) perseverance. Honesty is a fundamental precondition for talking to God about any decision and development of faith and trust, because it says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts” (Ps. 51:6). However, without striving for justice, honesty is not enough, because some people admit to doing what is not fair, but they do not want to change such habits.
A righteous man is ready for change and will receive from God the graces he prays for: “Now the just shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38). However, God’s response sometimes needs to be waited for, and therefore doing God’s will requires great patience for a specific purpose. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward” (2 Pet. 3:9). Impatient people have a trade relationship with God and cannot do His will, because they think that if God does not immediately solve their problem through prayer, He is not just and good as the Church teaches.
God warns such people: “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?” (Isa. 29:16). The believer knows that when he prays, God always acts, and the fact that we do not see that something is happening does not mean that nothing is happening, but on the contrary, God is preparing the circumstances for the right moment, to make the venture victorious and to His glory! Jesus teaches: “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). God is the master of time and abides in eternity, so He is in no hurry. The believer who constantly does the Lord’s will throughout his life has stronger spiritual senses for listening to God’s word and greater strength for doing God’s will: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).
It should be borne in mind that when a believer is sincere in heart, righteous in mind, patient and steadfast, the Lord is often the first to speak. Thus, sometimes man first approaches God, and sometimes God first approaches man: “for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matt. 6:8). God speaks to us because we are His beloved children, because He is our Father and because He created us “in His own image.” God is constantly creating for the benefit of His creatures He loves, so He expects the same from us. He wants to give us answers and creative stimuli in different ways, to invite us to some initiative, but also to deter us from some of our intentions that are not His will.
Prayer communication with God can be explained in two ways, namely: a) process, and b) experience. The process of prayer communication is similar to other communication processes we know, such as business communication or communication in everyday life. Communication is always a two-way flow, one side sends a message and then the other side sends feedback which is the same message. The communication process has the following fundamental elements: message sender, message recipient, message, message transmission channel and possible barriers to communication.
In the process of prayer communication, the sender and recipient of messages are both man and God. Messages are man’s prayer intentions on the one hand, and God’s graces, blessings, and encouragement on the other. God communicates in a perfect way, so barriers exist only on the side of man and they are resistance to prayer like sin, restlessness, fear and obstruction of the evil spirit. God communicates with man in many more ways compared to how people communicate with each other. When it comes to the experiential interpretation of prayer, it refers to feelings. Prayer builds man’s knowledge and wisdom, heals emotional wounds, heals from physical and mental illnesses, strengthens optimism and hope, finds meaning in the events of life.
Through the prayer relationship, man receives spiritual graces and material blessings, frees himself from attachment to things and people, builds an ever closer relationship with God, grows with the will and strength for life, strengthens by positive influence on other people. Thus, the experiential level of the prayer relationship with God is always positive and encouraging, for man’s growth and for the benefit of the community. Even when he suffers various pains, injustices, falls and rejections, the man of prayer realizes the reasons and the meaning of suffering, overcomes temptations through prayer, goes through trials and overcomes evil.
Unfortunately, many Christians have no experience of prayer. When the situation is such that we do not receive any encouragement and when it seems to us that prayer makes no sense, there are certainly barriers on our side that need to be removed. The fundamental barrier is sin, but sin also manifests itself as man’s hypocrisy and sanctimony: “Do not disobey the fear of the Lord, do not approach it with duplicity of heart. Do not be a hypocrite before others; over your lips keep watch” (Sir. 1:28-29). We often hear people say that a person communicates with others in a way that is inappropriate. Let’s ask ourselves, “How is my communication with the Lord?”
For example, if we were invited to give a speech in front of a group of people of more prestige than ours, we would take care to dress nicely and prepare a speech. If we came inappropriately dressed and with an unprepared speech, the participants of such a gathering would consider us unworthy to be with them and they would not want to listen to our speech and we would feel ashamed and lonely. This is exactly how many who call themselves believers feel.
When we want to pray before God and the whole army of angels and saints, are we aware that we are before people of greater prestige than our own? Are we aware that we must prepare pure spiritual garments and honest and just speech of the heart? Are we aware that the Lord is patient and steadfast? Our spiritual garments must not be filthy from grave and mortal sins, and our hearts must not be full of negativity, accusation, ugly emotions, and evil words, because for God such people are not credible interlocutors.
The Lord does not tolerate hypocrisy, fake smiles, prayer, and sacrifices from a heart full of malice. He simply does not want to hear or see such a prayer and sacrifice. Many Christians are so full of negativity and accusations against others, and consider themselves victims of injustice in society, while doing nothing themselves to fix things. Christians must know that they cannot be passive, negative, and angry in life, and expect God to be merciful to them in their prayers and sacrifices.
Negative Christians disgrace faith in Jesus Christ and the Church and help spread evil, and their behavior is similar to that of the angry and envious Cain. It is written what God’s answer to the prayer of such a negative believer was: “But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?“ (Gen. 4:5-7).
In other words, God responds to negative people by pointing out to them their anger and their own speech, because such behaviors are the result of their own sins, not the result of injustice in a society to which they themselves contribute: “Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:22-24).
When it comes to praying for various business needs, nothing changes. Moreover, entrepreneurs go through various business dramas that require trust, hope for success, optimism, a positive approach, will, motivation, and collaboration. These are all characteristics of faith, so entrepreneurs believe to some degree even when they declare themselves to be “unbelievers.” The question arises: “Then why prayer?”
Prayer, the sacraments and living in the grace of God can develop man’s creativity to unimaginable proportions, multiply success, protect man from misfortune and give life full meaning. A naturally creative man will develop his creativity even more through a prayerful relationship with God, and keep it on the same level or even lose it without a prayerful relationship with God. “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Matt. 13:12).
It is not possible to be enterprising and successful to a man who looks at others negatively. A cold approach and trade relationship with God, fulfilling minimum prayer requirements, rejecting His will and the Law can have a tragic outcome for business and life. Prayer transforms negative and lazy people into proactive and hardworking believers. When we interpret the need for prayer in this way, we rightly ask ourselves what are God’s channels of communication, that is, in what ways does God communicate with man?
To be continued…