Toure Roberts - Conversations with God

I’ll tell you right now that your life consists of the conversations you have throughout your life. In fact, your life is one big conversation. You may not realize it, but it is. Your life is a conversation, and how you and I navigate through life is determined by the quality of our conversations. That word «conversation» is an interesting word, and if you go back to the origin of it, you’ll find that it is a mid-14th-century word. Interestingly enough, that word had nothing to do with talking. If you trace back to that mid-14th-century word, «conversation» is a noun that literally means a place where one lives or dwells. It means the general course of actions or habits, the manner of conducting oneself. Remember how I said your conversation is your life? It’s your lifestyle. Back in the old days, when they talked about your conversation, they weren’t referring to what you said; they were talking about what you did. Then, that word continued to evolve. If you break it down, the first part, «com-» or «con-» (c-o-n), means «with,» and the second part, «versare,» a frequentative of «vitari,» means «to turn.» So, let’s look at that. Conversation has to do with how you live your lifestyle, but if you break that word down further, it also means «to turn with.» Somehow, my life is turning, but it’s not turning by itself; it’s turning because of the conversations that I’m having. I wish I could break this down the way I envision it; it’s a really powerful concept. So, «conversation» is truly about life—how you live, how you walk. How you and I live and walk has to do with what we are connected to, and what we are connected to turns us in the cycle of life. If you think about your life and how it grows, your life grows in cycles—big circles, right? Over and over again, there’s a cycle, there’s an evolution. It’s about revolutions; I go around the mountain once, learn something, and emerge from that cycle a different person—wiser, stronger, having discovered new things. Are you following me? It was really interesting to study that and align it with God saying your conversation is your life. We were created—watch this—we were created for conversation. That’s why the scripture says it’s not good that man should be alone. What if it was more than just about man and people, or mankind? What if, when He said it’s not good for man to be alone, He was saying it’s not good for man to live life as a monologue? Oh, you’ve got to stay with me today! What if, when He said it’s not good for man to be alone, we were created for conversation? The reason I know that if is true is because we were created by conversation. If you think about creation, in the very beginning, God said, «I’m getting ready to create the heavens and the earth.» The first thing He does is start talking; He moves into this conversation. God is literally having a conversation with creation as He creates it. He says, «Let there be, ” and then creation responds by being what He said. Then He talks again, calling it this or that. Come on, somebody! Are you seeing how God is moving the conversation? When God wants to create something, He starts talking. When God wants to do something, He stops talking. But if what He is talking to does not respond, then it cannot produce what God wants. So, our entire life—are you tracking with me? Just if you’re tracking me, put it right there in the feed and say „I’m still tracking, Pete.“ I’m still trying to break this thing down! So, the whole thing is about conversation. When I look at Genesis, it’s amazing because God says, „Let there be, ” and then there is, and He creates the earth. He says, „Now let the earth bring forth, ” and the earth responds, „Yes, sir, ” and it brings forth. This wonderful thing is happening. Then He starts naming things and calling things. So, life is about a conversation with God. When you think about it, your whole life is a conversation. Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit, and the sooner we recognize this, the better off we’ll be. One example of life being a conversation, and us doing life better as we improve our conversations, is the life and story of Abraham. I love the story of Abraham because you can watch him grow in his conversation with God, and as a result of growing in his conversation with God, his life gets better and better. So much so that in Genesis chapter 24, when it talks about the end of Abraham’s life, it says that Abraham was old and well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. But it didn’t start off like that; he had to learn how to be in conversation with God. Early on, Abraham made a lot of mistakes because he was living a monologue, not a conversation with God. From the onset, he was getting into trouble; you remember?