Talking To Jesus (Live From The Ryman)

Brandon Lake recorded “Talking To Jesus” live at the Ryman, and it shares how prayer was passed to him. His grandmother prayed out loud by her bed every night, which sounded like mumbling to a boy, but she told him that kind of praying “is what saved my life.” His mother dragged him to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, and he put up a fight, but she said one day he would thank her. Now he says, “I know she was right.”

The chorus is a refrain of gratitude, “I'm talking to Jesus,” and a nod to the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” In the second verse he is the parent, with three children, and the oldest is fifteen. When his son walks in on him praying and offers to come back later, he says it is not an interruption and invites him in. The bridge sums up the message: “There's no wrong way to do it, not a bad place to start. It don't have to sound pretty, just tell Him what's on your heart.” It describes faith as a friendship and not a religion. The live setting adds a call-and-response with the crowd, and the song closes with a plea to keep talking to Jesus.

Praying without ceasing is 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Praying in secret is Matthew 6:6, and training a child in the right way is Proverbs 22:6.