God always invites a kind of conversation. Even if God will always have the last word! We sometimes forget that prayer is a two-way street and that God doesn't just give us a series of commands. Plenty of people have claimed to have been ordered by God to do something, but failed to enter into a conversation with God to determine whose voice they were actually hearing.
God allows us to bring those fears and feelings to the table when we converse with the divine. Yes, God wants our obedience, but it seems that God desires that obedience to emerge out of a deep relationship rather than out of mere obligation.
Regular prayer is a running conversation with God that allows us to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God." God invites us, both individually and collectively, to test the spirits in prayer and in fellowship with others, so that we can hear God's voice clearly.
