My husband recently upgraded his cell phone.  When I say, “upgraded” I really mean he traded his fairly new, solid, QWERTY key padded, 4 megapixel camera smart phone for a retired, somewhat used looking, leftover phone from his father.  His old one looked great and like it could withstand being run over by horses.  There was one problem: it didn’t work.  He was having trouble receiving texts and phone calls.  When I say “having trouble”, I mean he wasn’t getting them.  I know that I found it very frustrating to try calling him or texting him and he wouldn’t respond.  It would just irk me to no end because I just knew he was either ignoring me or treating something else as more important than talking to me!  How dare he have other things higher up on the priorities list than responding to my text messages!!  Of course, later I would find out that he hadn’t received my calls or texts.  I even witnessed others try to call or text him while standing right next to him and he still wouldn’t receive the call or text.  But all that has changed now that he has a phone that works.  It’s not fancy, no QWERTY key pad or 4g speed, but it works and that’s what really matters.  It’s simple and it messages get through.

I’m thankful God has more patience than I do.  When Brett wouldn’t respond my patience would quickly expire.  Fortunately, several hours would pass by before I would see Brett and my patience had revived itself.  God has messages for us and I know He tries to get through to us all everyday.  He has text messages for us (the Bible–get it, ‘text’ messages!) as well as wanting to have conversations with us (prayer).  And this entire experience with Brett and his faulty phone made me think;  how often is God not able to get through because our reception is faulty or we really do put His communication down on our list of priorities.  There are many things that can interrupt God’s messages for us;  our favorite TV shows, gossiping with friends, being obsessed with a toxic relationship, day-to-day worries and frustrations–even calling and texting our friends.

So here’s an idea: To help clear our communication connections with God, make your first “call and text” of every day to Him.  It sounds so simple and is said so often it tends to lose it’s importance.  But its the simple tools that always work: Conversational prayer and reading His word.  It’s a great way to restore our connection and His “3-G” network has no drop zones anywhere and is never down.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18