1 Kings 19:11-13
... Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
We are to realize who He is and to speak to him as our Father in heaven.
Another thread here on CF.net said:
Now in the New Testament, under the new covenant, God's role is chiefly seen as Father and we are chiefly seen as sons. Because we entered into a new relationship with God that was not the old covenant. In the old covenant, they were not born again. In the new covenant, we are begotten of God, anew, afresh. The bible calls it being "born of God." Now, being born of God, we enter into a very new and wonderful relationship. In this relationship, God becomes our Father. Jesus becomes our "pattern" that we have on earth. He began every prayer that we have recorded with, "Father..."
Our Example
Every prayer. Read them. Stretch them out. There are seven of them recorded and every one begain by Jesus saying, "Father." And so He is our example. To us, for the position that God takes in our life as being chiefly "Father" because we are born again. Now, very important role, this High Calling of God, that should be taken with a marvelous magnitude of rejoicing but also with great sobriety, but is also so viciously attacked [these days, speaking of the role of "Fatherhood"]
We are to speak in Faith, believing in what we are asking for; we are to speak in obedience to the guidance that He provides through the Holy Spirit and the "more sure word of Prophecy", the Bible itself. And if we lack Wisdom? Look to James chapter 1. Somehow the Lord knows that we will ask for wisdom when our Faith is being tried and when we fall into various trials. That is the very thing that works endurance and patience, that gives us the necessary tool needed to seek Him and continue our walk with Him. "Let him ask in faith, nothing doubting..."
Nobody loves to hear the "obedience words" from God because it means change. We're comfortable with our ways, but commanded to consider Him in all our ways. Change will happen, growth can not happen without it. But what about obedience? Is there benefit? What about the sure knowledge that we are praying according to His will and the assurance that by so doing all of our prayers are answered. That seems to be a benefit, does it not? And how or what is the best way to start practicing such things, how can we put training wheels onto that which will carry us into the strength of heartfelt effective fervent prayer?
Consider the reason that Jesus died, was it not to pay the price for sin? How could this not be the will of God, if we see our brother sinning (and I'm not talking about sin that leads to death here, there is sin that leads to death, but I do not say one must pray for this) but if we see our brother sinning, we shall ask and God will give life. We then become acting members of His body in our prayers, praying according to the Will of the Father, for each other, like individual cells who by exercise are moving with the flow of the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. [NIV]
God also speaks through people and His Word. This doesn't mean you should hunt for everyones words, let it happen when it happens. You will know His voice because His Truth testifies to your spirit and you feel it inside stirring you up with good things. Even if it's conviction, Godly sorrow leaves no regret. The Word of God is literally Words from God, the Bible. Nothing is being preached here that was not spoken first to Jesus from His Father, and confirmed as it was again spoken through the Apostles and recorded in the Bible. We are to pray earnestly, to pray in the Spirit and in our understanding, and in accord with the goal of unification of His body toward the unity of our most holy Faith.
By the way, just talking to God, like He is your friend is good! He is our friend, the one who sticks closer than a brother.