If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, if you teach a man to fish then he will feed himself for a lifetime. So the message of part 2 is all about the importance of having your own relationship with God. We all hear it time and time again to pray, pray without ceasing, talk to God. But if that's all we do, then what are we doing?
If we speak to God without ceasing, when does God get a chance to speak back? If we fill up our prayer times with words from our mouths, then when does God get to direct us, give answers or lift us up? I guess it's a bit like a fisherman who casts out his line, pulls it in and casts it out, pulls it in and casts it out again time after time all day long without giving the fish any time to catch whatever is on the hook. I guess the fisherman would then expect someone to walk up to them and hand them a fish and then they can leave happy.
But is this thy way we have relationships in life? Do you turn to your spouse, your friend, your child, your parent and talk, then talk and continue to talk until your time has passed then you get up and walk away and carry on our lives? Is this not what we do to God?
Something that I have found extremely good in my life is developing the ability to hear Gods responses and learning to develop the ability to converse with the Almighty. I must admit I don't do it all the time as human habits and business of life creep in, I also struggle to hear answers specifically to my situation or circumstances too. But in our very human nature way we sometimes don't always listen properly to when someone speaks, or if you have a new friend with a different accent it can be a challenge to pick up every word sometimes. But here is where the exciting challenge comes in, developing that relationship so you can understand each other and talk to each other.
One of our key objectives is to help people develop their own relationship with God, so that they are not reliant on others and can talk personally with Jesus. The bible teaches us that after Jesus was crucified the veil in the temple ripped in 2, this veil once separated people from God and we relied on a fisherman (priest) to talk to God on our behalf and come back with what God said (fish). Now we can have our own personal relationship with God, this is us fishing for ourselves and catching whatever God has available. It is incredible to think that we can now approach the Almighty King of Heaven and Earth and creator of all and talk directly to Him. But as we know with any friendship we develop, it doesn't matter who they are we can get on with them and talk back and forth for hours. This is where the true meaning of the bible verse comes in to play, when it says pray without ceasing or continually as some versions have it (1 Thessalonians 5 v 16-18) it is because we would naturally converse and spend time with that person we liked and had a good relationship with.
One thing fishermen are known for is spending hours out fishing, it takes time and patience to fish and you simply cannot rush to get the results you want. So it is with Jesus, you cannot just check in to get a quick answer to a question you have and dip out again, it needs more time than that. God has emotions and needs just like us, although He is all knowing and knows everything in your life, like a parent of a really young and small child God would still like it for you to come and tell them what is going on in your life and hear how your day was. God would also like to tell you about His day and share with you. We must remember the balance of power in this relationship, we cannot become to relaxed in thinking that we are bigger and better than we are, as Job rediscovered when God finally answered his cries and rants, God asks Job to do some of the thing He does on a day to day basis and Job shrinks away, for who can truly compete with the Lord God Almighty!
However in saying this, we can still come to God at any time and talk, spend time with our loving Father in Heaven and share what is on our heart and mind. It is therapeutic, relaxing, helpful, fun, joyous and a miracle in itself. That we can talk to God is incredible, but what is truly amazing is that God will talk back to you. They say lambs an pick out their mothers in a flock and vice versa because they know each other's voice. Jesus even says this Himself, it is true. However with the amount of things going on in our head we too must distinguish Gods voice, is it a thought, is it our conscious, is it the enemy, is it the tv, music, background noise, emotion, replay of something someone else has said? There is a lot Gods voice has to fight through especially as it often tens to be a calm and quiet voice. But it is there, it is a case that we need to be open to it.
When you are first trying to establish Gods voice in the crowd we must be aware and remember that not everything we hear or think is God's word is actually His. Therefore we must test it, Not God, but what we hear. does this stand up to who God is? We test it by reading and knowing the bible, by learning and knowing the heart and character of God Himself, this way we can match up what we hear with God and if it doesn't match, then it is from somewhere else and not what we are looking for. If it matches, then it is Him and feel free to start a conversation. Something that truly helps with this is having the Holy Spirit in your life, more on this in part 3.
A small note I want to add here is that we have prophets and messengers still in this world, people whose gifts from God is to see something more a glimpse of the future either for you or a community you belong to, there are also people who get visions/pictures and words from God that pass them on to you. These people are specific fisher mongers and when you struggle to hear things about yourself and your circumstances (not the same as talking to God in conversation) then it is great to know someone like this who can clearly an objectively inquire to God about you and come back with what God says. My giftings fall into this category yet personal feelings and emotions can override my ability to hear God clearly and objectively on a topic, so I have a friend who I reach out to who can always hear God clearly for me and pass on any message He wants to say to me.
So is this a message on prayer, partially. but its more than that, its about developing a relationship with Jesus, one that is 2 way where you speak to Him and He speaks back to you. This is the glorious privilege Jesus died so that we could have it now rather than waiting to go to Heaven. I want to encourage you all to take sometime and talk to God, but in that time try to listen to Him to. Helpful tip is that in the early days but something that can be continued on is that you write down what you hear, this can be reviewed and compared scripturally to God and His character but also can be looked back on in times of difficulty to know God is real, He talks, He talks to you and you have a relationship that develops you and you can se that in the evidence of your conversations.
I pray that you develop this relationship personally with our wonderful and majestic God Jesus. Let me know how it goes.
Bible Christianity Conversation Fisherman Prayer Relationship with Jesus Teach a Man to Fish← Back to Teachings