Radio Head: How to Pray Effectively

"Be still, and know that I am God" - Psalm 46:10

We all know someone who doesn't let us get a word in edgewise during a conversation…if you can call it that. Yesterday I was frustrated about something trivial, so I took a minute to take five slow, deep breaths and five slow exhales. I said, "God, I'm just giving this to You; only You can change my attitude." A split second later, my mind had moved onto something else that frustrates me. Immediately I realized I had asked God to change my attitude about what was bothering me, but I hadn't stopped talking to hear His answer—I just kept rambling on. I suddenly realized I was that person who drives me nuts during conversations. I didn't allow God to speak.

Learning How to Pray Effectively Through Listening

Our minds operate like a radio stuck between stations—constant static of worries, to-do lists,

and mental replays of conversations. When I turn on the radio, I'll flip through channels because I'm not really sure what I want to listen to. Once I realize I can't find what I'm

interested in hearing, I often just turn it off. The same thing happens with prayer. If we start a prayer and ask for something but then check out right after we've "said our peace," we're not really engaging in the full prayer process.

Even when we finish praying, our thoughts immediately jump to the next concern. We've trained our brains to never truly be quiet. But here's the deeper issue: do we really want what we're asking God for? If we're not willing to stick around and listen for His response, maybe we're not as invested in the conversation as we think we are.

The beautiful truth is that God wants to speak into our lives even more than we want to hear from Him: "Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3). He's not causing static to garble His guidance or peace. The barriers to hearing Him aren't on His end—they're on ours.

Jesus Himself modeled this for us: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed" (Mark 1:35). Notice that He didn't just speak—He withdrew to a solitary place, a quiet place, to listen. This is how to pray effectively: balancing speaking with intentional listening.

Next week, we'll consider what listening to God actually looks like in real life. But for now, simply recognizing our tendency to dominate Divine conversations is the first step toward genuine dialogue with our Creator.

Daily Practice: This week, after you pray about something, resist the urge to immediately move on. Sit quietly for just thirty seconds. Don't worry about hearing anything profound—just practice being still. Notice how your mind wants to race ahead. That awareness alone is progress. You're training yourself for the sacred art of listening, and God is already preparing to meet you in those quiet moments.