Episode 9 - Connect to God Through Prayer

In this episode, Val guides listeners through a heartfelt exercise to open their hearts to God, addressing barriers like hurt, disappointment, and unanswered prayers. Discover practical steps to deepen your relationship with God and experience His love and trust.

Welcome to Valetha's Greatest Moments with God, a podcast for women who desire to hear God's voice, find healing, and grow closer to Him.

Each week, Val Mitchell shares personal stories, biblical insights, and powerful revelations from her own walk with God. Through real-life experiences and practical faith lessons, you'll discover how God speaks in everyday moments, guides us through difficult seasons, and invites us into a deeper relationship with Him.

Wh

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Valetha's Greatest Moments with God.

If this message encouraged you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with a friend who may need to hear it.

To continue the conversation, connect with me on Facebook at Val Mitchell, where I host weekly Let's Talk LIVE discussions and share additional encouragement throughout the week.

Remember, God is always speaking. Take time to listen, spend time in

Thank you for listening to Valetha's Greatest Moments with God.

If today's episode encouraged you, be sure to follow the podcast and share it with a friend.

Until next time,

Hear God's Voice.
Find Healing.
Build Intimacy and Trust.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Today, we are going to be focusing on how to connect to God. He is our Father, and He desperately wants to hear from us as much as we love and hear from Him. Many of us are sending prayers up. We are looking for God all over the place. And we are following the instructions that they say, just come to God through prayer. But we are not getting the answers that we're seeking. We're not hearing personally from God. Do you know that God wants to talk directly to you and not through someone else to get the word to you? Amen. So in our search of getting God, especially when it comes to us, when it comes to our children, when it comes to circumstances, we recognize we cannot do it alone, but we can only do it through hearing then voice and instructions from God. So I want to be able to talk to you about that today. In Jeremiah 29 and 13, it says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I want to dive into that verse before because everyone knows if you knock, he should answer. If you seek, he should find. So let's do a heart check this morning. Amen. I want you to think of one word that describes the relationship you feel it you currently have with God. If you have a moment, drop it in the chat. If not, just think it and write it down out loud. What is that one word that can describe what kind of relationship at this moment in time I feel I have with God? Is it tired because you're stressing and you're trying to get from God and you're pleading, but you're not hearing anything, so you're exhausted? Is that relationship like numb where you're not hearing anything from him? So you're kind of tired of sending stuff up to him because you're feeling destroyed. I mean, you're feeling ignored. Are you distracted? Is it a case where you're always going after God and you're really trying to seek him? But there's so many things that is pulling you away that you don't find the time, like you really, really, really desire to be in his presence and to be able to seek his face. Amen. Or hopeful. Hopefully because we know we have a father that loves us. We know we have a father that really, really wants to be with us. And so you're desperate to do anything to seek and hear his voice. So you're hopeful about it. So, with that, as you know, I like doing little exercises and illustrations to really kind of dig into our current heart status and what's driving us from not being able to connect to God. Is it being busy, um, just to go after prayers that we said, hey, we sent them up, they haven't been answered. So, you know what? My heart is saying, I can't do this anymore. Let's dig into that. What I have here in front of me, if you have boys, you already know what this toy is, but just imagine that this toy is our heart. At one point in time in life, maybe when you were really, really little, your heart was fully open without anything around it, and you could desperately run to the father. You could desperately just enjoy life and have a good time because your heart was open. Something happened that caused you to take a wall, to take a locked box, and seal your box, seal your heart in and close it up. Where now your heart is fully guarded. There's nothing getting into your heart, and there's nothing coming out of your heart. This heart posture can come from just being hurt, being disappointed, where you put up this big wall and shield with the lock sealed tight. It can come from trust or trusting something, and you got disappointed because you got hurt as a result of it. Sometimes this lockbox with your heart guarded on the inside of it can come that you think God just didn't intervene. You sent the prayer up, and you still seen the thing you were praying against come to pass when it comes to your son. So you don't trust God anymore, you don't want to answer God anymore, so you don't want to seek his face, so you cover up your heart and you put it in this box. And like I said lastly, it can also come from unanswered prayers. Many of us got plenty of prayers sent up, and you're wondering why they haven't been answered. So you lock your heart in this box. Today, I'm gonna ask you. So let's try to unseal the lid and open it up to expose your heart just a little bit to allow God to pour in His love for you. Now, we're not gonna just snatch this off and pull the covering around your heart because it took whatever caused it to go in here, the heart itself is still sensitive. It's a muscle, it's still very sensitive and tender. So, what God wants to do is He wants to slowly unveil by pulling this lid off one layer at a time, in order so that your heart feels comfortable, can trust a little bit more, and to be able to say on its own terms, I'm ready to come out. I today want to take us through an exercise that will be able to unlock this heart, open up this chest, and let um God to freely be able to come in. Amen. So, one thing I want you to do is as your seal is on, I want you to pray a prayer out loud. Lord, you can have all of me, even my heart, which I kept locked. We're gonna ask God from Psalms 51 and 10 to create in me a pure heart and renew steadfast spirit within me. So, how we do that? How do we start to unlock this heart and slowly allow God to uncover the veil? 1 John 1 and 9 tells us if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. With that, some of this, the reasons why we had to seal our heart, and the reason why it is blocked because of this big, big barrier inside, is because of some sins that we also have. Well, God really wants to just pull it out and love on you, but he's blocked because of the sins that we currently have that we have not repented from and asked for forgiveness. We all sin, we all have some things that we have done against him, against his word, and against his love. I want you to take a few minutes now, and I'm gonna pray the Holy Spirit reveals to you specific sins that you have done, that you need to ask for forgiveness. And remember, repent means turn away, which means you're gonna pray, Lord, I I know I can't do that anymore. Please forgive me for doing that, and then from there, Lord, I I repent and I won't do it no more. Take a few minutes now as the Holy Spirit ministers to your heart for the specific sins that you need to release. Don't you put that in the chat? That's between you and God. Amen. Amen. Let's do that right now. I'm going to pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you right now. We ask for repentance in this specific sin. Call it out, call out that sin. We have to speak it in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank you for allowing us to um give this sin over to you as we confess it according to 1 John 1 and 9. We commit to turning away from this specific sin or sins. Father, in the name of Jesus, according to 1 John 1 and 9, you said, because we have confessed our sin, you are faithful that you will forgive us of that sin. And now that we have been forgiven of that sin in Jesus' name, you will purify us of all unrighteousness. In Jesus' name, amen. Now that we have asked God to forgive us of our sins, He has slowly helped us to remove the lid that was once covering and sealing our heart. Now our heart is still inside of the bin of the case with the wall on it. We have now opened it to allow his love to pour in and to allow trust to start building. One thing with me, personal testimony, when I first came to God, I definitely had, and my heart was sealed tight because I was hurt, not from God per se, but mainly from people. That when they stabbed me in the back, that heart went right on lockdown. Didn't let anybody in, not even God. And then when I finally got into a position where I too repented my sins, asked for forgiveness, turned to God and said, I trust you and I've given you my all, including my heart, he took the lid off. And then slowly and slowly, God gave me specific things, specific things related to me, related to a prayer I asked for and I received, but especially as we talked in the last thing, when he intervened with my son, he started building up trust that hey, because that person did something to you, because that person turned against you, because that person wasn't there for you. Let me show you I am of love, I am faithful, and I can be trusted. And I started receiving and receiving and receiving till eventually my heart came out of the case, and I no longer needed this shield protection because I gave God my whole heart. I'm asking today because Matthew 5 and 8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Now we heard in Jeremiah already that if you seek me, you will find me, as long as you do it with all of your heart. My prayer is that you were able to take this your heart out of the container. So you can see God because you have given him your whole heart. And if you're not there yet, it's okay too. Sometimes you got to be like me, where God had to, he had to show itself faithful, he had to show itself trustworthy. I had to see it for myself that this is a God that I can be dependent on because he loves me that much. I just had the lid off. And over time, my heart came out of the container. So, but your lid is off if you're in this state, you're in a position where now you can start seeing a little bit clearer, you can start hearing a little bit better. And remember, when God exposes things, even the sin that he asks you to give to him, he's not judging you, he is not condemning you. We have all done some things we are not proud of. The reason God is doing it, because he wants to take the steps towards you that are needed, so that when he speaks, you can hear clearly from him. Amen. So now that your heart has been open, either in this state, or if you're now fully in this state where you have pulled it out of the container. Now that we have a cleansed heart, amen, a purified heart. We're going to take this heart and lift it up and say, God, I give my heart to you. So I want you to do that right now. How do we do this? Take your hand and put it over your heart. And you say quietly to yourself, talking to God. Before we speak, I want you to breathe in, blow it out. Breathe in, blow it out. Because I know this is a step. That's not easy. We're asking to trust a God, to believe a God, to give our whole heart to a God that we have not been in a position to do before. So I'm asking, now that we have cleansed our heart, place your hand over your heart. And we want to say quietly to mys to ourselves, God, my heart is now open. I have removed it out of the locked, sealed, and secure box it was in. No longer is it blocked with distractions, hurt, pain, and comfort. Lord, I give my whole heart to you. And as I give my whole heart to you, I know you are faithful. I know you are just because you already forgave me for the sins we just repented over, and you have purified me. Lord, I am ready now to receive from you, to hear from you all that you have for me. Amen. Amen. Now you're ready. You are now positioned to hear from God. You have been forgiven and your hearts have been purified. So now I pray that as you seek God, that you sit in a position in a stillness, away from distractions, in a quiet moment. Pray a prayer to God. Tell him what you need to tell him. His feelings will not get hurt, believe me. I've had moments like God, what's going on? Give him what's on your heart. Now that we have opened the box and released it. Tell God what's on your heart. Speak to your father. And then when you're done, shh, sit and receive. Pull out a journal. A lot of times God speaks, we'd be like, Oh my god, yes, he's good, he's good. We walk away, and 10 minutes later, it's like, oh my gosh, I don't remember everything he said. Write it down. And one thing I have learned in my journaling, when I'm in that quiet time with God, you write whatever you hear. A lot of times we got so much going on in our head, we don't know if it's coming from us or coming from God. Write it anyway. What I have learned is that even when it sounds crazy in the beginning, God's going to speak to confirm that it is Him speaking. Write it down. And you will be surprised how He responds to you. He may do you like He did me, which just made me boo-hoo the very first time when I opened my heart up and sat in a posture to receive whatever he had to say, journal in hand. First words out of his mouth was, Daughter, I am so glad you found me. I pray he says those same words, or even something special better to you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for being near, near to the overwhelmed, the weary, and the moms who just try to hold it all together. Today we open our hearts to you fully and honestly, not to polished parts, but to the quiet places we kept guarded. Forgive us for the moments we closed you out and leaned on our own strength. Wash our hearts clean. Remove what cluttered, what distracts, and what divides us from your voice. Create in us, Lord, a clean heart, a heart that seeks you above anything else, and renew our steadfast spirit, one that doesn't weary or wavery when things get hard, but stays anchored in the truth. Help us hear you clearly, follow you faithfully, and trust you completely. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Thank you so much for joining. Hello, my sister Tracy. How are you doing? Love you, love you much. I pray this was a blessing to you. I pray everything was great. Try out the tips. I can't wait to hear the testimonies. Please share them in the group. All right, love you much. Have a great rest of the 4th of July weekend. Go see some family you have not seen. Go hug on some loved ones. These times are always great to connect with family and friends who are also family. Have a good night. A good day. Bye bye.