Habit Of HappinessSample

Say Thanks for Answered Prayer

If you want to hear God speak, then worship God.

In other words, thank him for being a part of your life and for being interested in the details of your life. Thank him for answering your prayers: “O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe” (Habakkuk 3:2a LB). God gives you a vision. God gives you a dream. You know what God wants you to do, so now you thank him for answering your prayer. That’s part of worshiping God.

What I want you to do is to stop seeing your prayers as a monologue and start seeing them for what they truly are: a dialogue. Prayer is a conversation with God. God hears you when you pray, and he answers you when you ask questions. He wants to talk to you every day. If you will faithfully talk to God every day throughout the day, it will revolutionize your life.

Now, you can't hear God until you know God, and there are three levels of knowing God: recognition, acquaintance, and friendship. You may be at the recognition level; you know God is there, but you don't really know him. Or, you may be at the acquaintance level; you know God a little bit, but you don't know him very well.

God wants you to live at the friendship level. He wants to be your friend, and he wants you to be his friend. God wants you to talk with him all the time.


This devotional © 2014 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.