I phoned my friend the other day just to hear his voice. There was no pressing issue, no need for a favor, no desire for clarification on something; none of that, all I wanted was to hear his voice. In hindsight, the conversation was pretty non eventful consisting of “how are you” and “Uh Hus”. But that was OK, I did not need a profound revelation or deep philosophical insight, all I needed was to touch base and hear his voice. This is normal among friends.
Shouldn’t it be the same with God? How many times have I “called” Him just to hear his voice without needing a favor, a clarification on something, profound revelation, or even some Theological insight? How many times have I just sat down and given God my ear, just because I wanted to hear his voice? And why is it that my prayers have to turn into these elaborate “OH Omnipotent God of the Universe” monologues. I mean, true, He is the Omnipotent God of the Universe…of everything, but is He not also my friend? Must I really approach Him on my knees; with my head on the floor; with a sad and solemn expression on my face? I don’t think so. Mind you, there is a time for that, but I think that most of the time, God wants us to approach Him as we are. I think He wants to laugh with us, talk with us, sing with us, dance with us, in short share life with us.
We are the ones that complicate things when it comes to God in spite of the fact that God is not the author of confusion. We are the ones that somehow need to make the simple grandiose when Jesus was never grandiose while here on earth. We are the ones that make having faith a 12 month lecture series when God says to have faith as a child. Yes, God is big, too big for our full comprehension. God is wise, much wiser than our cognitive abilities can handle. God is powerful, more powerful than anything we can possibly imagine, but this same God can also relate to us. And since He knows that our frame is but dust, then he knows that our joys are found in simplicity.
I think God is calling us into the deep truth of simplicity. Complexity is normal for us; it’s something we do every day. Simplicity is counter intuitive for it is something our minds cannot equate with God. Therefore, seek the simple my friends. Remember, Elijah did not find God in the “great and powerful wind” that tore the mountains, he did not find Him in the earthquake, nor did he find Him in the fire, Elijah found God in the whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13).
Tales from a Nut Shell cracked open 
Substantially everyone in the world has a person that talks to them as a friend does, and they have a person that they talk with as a friend. In most cases it is reciprocal, sometimes not. Why? It could be any number of reasons, but one is that there may be a disparity of respect between them.
Heads of state, eminent statesmen, priests, bishops, teachers, pop stars, rock stars, and movie stars all have friends that speak to them as friends, using first or nicknames, joking about something random they saw, and so on. Not everyone has the same privilege with all people.
One reason may be that the only circumstances under which you might meet such a person is a very impersonal setting. Another reason may be that they are set on a pedestal such that you can’t imagine that people of such stature have friends like you and I.
So my opinion on whether you can talk to God as a friend? If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to him at all. Just be on the respectful side of friendly. Just my opinion, based only on what I’ve observed in living life.