God speaks to us through his Word, the Bible. Amazingly, we have the privilege of speaking to God through prayer. There are good ways to pray. There are bad ways to pray. Our prayers can grow our faith. The selfless prayers of a dedicated Christian can change history. Our prayers can also be misdirected and selfish, for instance when we beg God for things we don’t need. It takes work to pray well, which means anything we can use to help our prayer life is worth considering.
Somewhere between 1950 and 1970, the age of electronics began to change much about the way we live, including how we relate to God. Invented in 1947, the tiny transistor launched a revolution. Radios, calculators, computers, and cell phones wouldn’t exist without the ubiquitous transistor. Today, we live in a world where the number of people who live in homes without toilets exceeds the number of those who don’t have access to a mobile phone.
The science of transistors can be complex, but their practical role in our lives is simple and straightforward: they amplify words and messages. This amplification is what makes hearing aids work, and cell phones too. Transistors help you hear better and louder. So I’d like to make a connection here, which is to say that prayer is the transistor of spiritual disciplines. Having a healthy prayer life allows you to hear God better and louder.