A Letter To God Receiving a letter from a family member or friend brings me great pleasure. Communicating through emails is a convenient way to keep in touch, but there is nothing like receiving a good old-fashioned letter or card. The Lord communicates His love, wisdom, and instructions for living a godly life through His letters to us – the Bible. We gain spiritual understanding, emotional strength and insight from meditating on His Word. The Bible tells us to communicate with the Lord through prayer and worship. As Christians, we develop a time and place where each day we spend time with Jesus. It may be at home before we start our day, in the car driving to work, or in the evening before we go to bed. It doesn’t matter where or when, so long as we talk with Him every day. Some people find a sense of communication with Jesus by keeping a prayer journal. Discipline to record my prayer requests and the Lord’s answers is difficult for me, although writing has always been a way of expressing what is on my heart. Jesus tells us in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every thing, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV) Yet, there are times when I have a great burden for my family and peace eludes me after I pray. One day I read in the Bible where King Hezekiah received a letter from his enemy who mocked the Lord and threatened to attack Hezekiah’s kingdom. Distressed, the king took the letter, spread it on the altar before God, and prayed (2 Kings 19:9-19 – NIV). When he placed the letter on the altar, it was another way of communicating to the Lord that he had a huge problem, and only God’s intervention would prevent disaster. These verses came alive to me, so I wrote a letter to the Lord telling him about my concerns and asking for His help and direction. I laid the letter on an open Bible, my altar, and prayed for the Lord to take my petition. After sealing the letter in an envelope, I filed it away to be opened later. I continued praying, but writing a letter was another way for me to communicate to the Lord. Did Jesus need me to write a letter? No, He knew exactly what my burden was, and He knew how He was going to answer. The Lord showed His love and understanding by giving me a method where I could better release my burden to Him. When my mother was living with me, we decided to make every New Year’s Eve a special day of committing the burdens of our hearts to the Lord. We would spend much of the day in prayer and reading the Bible. Sometimes, I would fast. During the day, we would write our letters to Jesus. These were letters for the Lord only, so we did not share with each other what we had written. The letters consisted of thanksgiving for the many blessings the Lord had given our family in the year ending, and our requests for the coming year. At midnight, we placed our letters on an open Bible and prayed, presenting them to Him. The Lord hears the prayers and cries of my heart, whether they are spoken, unspoken or written. However, there are times when I feel a need to write my Lord a letter. This helps me to communicate to Him and enriches my prayer life. ©Barbara Lighthizer 2006