On Weak and Lost Connections

I recently saw this request from a young person (I think the age was around 16) on a Christian forum I frequent:

Do any of you experience a loss of connection between you and God? Do you feel that society today chips away at your faith all the day? My connection with God is turning on and off and its been off for a long time.
I am experiencing these problems and have been advised to read my bible and pray, but thats not enough, unless it works over time.
Can anyone help me?

The following is what I believe the Holy Spirit was showing me about this problem:

I have been praying about how to address your dilemma, because I think the "lost connection" syndrome afflicts way too many of us Christians these days (Isn't it ironic - in the age of instant, space-age communication systems in this world, one of our biggest problems is communicating with God!), and the Holy Spirit gave me a really neat illustration to describe the problem, and how to resolve it! I hope that I can "do justice" on relaying this to you, because I think that it is really good stuff!

Let me ask you something: Do you have a cellphone? Most likely, since they have become a cultural phenomenon around the world, you do, or you have used your parents' or friends' phones and you are familiar with how they operate; so let me ask you this: What would you say are the top three complaints about the operation of cellphones? I would say they are, in order from biggest to smallest: 1) Dropped calls and lost connections; 2) Weak or no signal; and, 3) Discharged or dead battery. Now, there are various solutions to each one of these problems, but did you know that there is one "surefire" answer to all three? I'll give you three guesses as to what that solution is, and the first two don't count. That's right! It's the good old, everyday, cheap, plug-in-the-wall, basic hardwired telephone; and I'm not talking about those portable "jobs", either! I'll have you know that I have caught myself wondering what to do about a weak signal or dropped call when there was a "land line" telephone not 5 steps away from where I was standing...Pathetic, isn't it? Just think, less than 20 years ago, no one ever lost a connection during a phone call, unless you had one of those new-fangled portable phones in your home, or the phone lines were knocked out during a storm.

Now, here is the application to your situation: The cellphone represents our trying to communicate and stay connected with God while trying to conduct our busy lives in this world on the move; The old fashioned telephone represents a place we go to be alone with God (think of a phone booth); the telephone wire represents the Bible, our primary means of connecting with Him; and the phone call and resulting conversation represent our prayer time. That old time telephone call which we make using the “land line” system (which, by the way, is still available in our everyday life) represents our best and most reliable way of staying connected with God. True, we often have to drop what we are doing to use it, but you know what...I don’t think God is much impressed with our “multitasking” prowess anyway.
In fact, I think that one of the main questions we need to ask ourselves when we are having trouble maintaining a connection with God is this: Exactly where does He fit into our prolific use of video games, CD and DVD players, HD TVs, high powered computers and, of course, cellphones? If we think that Almighty God, Maker of the universe and all that is in it, the “Ultimate Multi-tasker”, is going to compete for our time with these manmade gadgets, we are being sadly misled. I believe that He provided the knowledge to create all those “tools” so that He could direct us Believers on how to use them to be more productive in spreading the Good News of the Gospel; but like we often do with the things He provides, we have turned them into a means for our own personal pleasure, perversion and profit - and yes, I’m including “yours truly.”

You can download a book called The Prayer Directed Life for free at www.theprayerdirectedlife.com to help resolve your connection problem, but until you go to your “phone booth” and make that “telephone call,” early and often, you’ll continue to be plagued by weak connections.