Prayer is not all about talking to God and giving Him our requests. When we have friends on this earth where we talk and talk and never listen to them, our friendship will not go very far. It will become very one- sided and probably not to last. Sadly we all know people who only talk about themselves and their concerns. It is difficult to maintain a friendship in that kind of condition.
Of course, God always wants to hear from us, but it must not be a monologue. We can’t treat God like Father Christmas who is there to give us presents. Some of the things we ask for will not be good for us and in love He will not give. If we never listen to God there will be so much wisdom that we never receive, there will be so much love that we will not feel the effect of.
To listen to Him we need to be still, not doing other things at the same time. When we have to send arrow prayers, we then need to wait for His reply. We need to be undistracted and deliberately listening. It can be a time of Bible reading, not studying, that is for another time. God says, ‘Wait on the Lord’. That needs to be our attitude. If we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.