Another vital way of experiencing the presence of the Lord Jesus is in the area of your communication with Him. As in any other relationship, a breakdown in communication means a breakdown in the relationship. As I suggested earlier, there is a tendency to communicate with God in a formalised manner and to allow Him to speak to us through Scripture (which He does, of course), but in a way that becomes impersonalised. Over the last year or so I have been trying to share everything possible with the Lord. This includes the most intimate and personal details of my life and feelings that I would be reluctant to share with anyone else. It includes the joy as well as the sadness, hurt, pain and frustration - the every day things that are happening in my life. He is the only person who really knows all about them and He longs for me to share them with Him. If you are with a very close and intimate friend who knows you better than anyone else, there will be times when you relate to that person the things that are happening within you and around you, even though you know your friend is experiencing them also. Likewise there will be times when you are just aware of each other's feelings and presence in a situation, rather than verbalising what's going on. I can work at the same kind of relationship with the Lord Jesus. It does make His loving presence much more real and personal.
