I have been asking myself why is it so difficult to find time to be alone with God and read His Word and then wait and listen for His Holy Spirit to speak to my heart? There have been times in my life when this happened but sadly, I confess, I struggle to find a good daily routine. I do not want it to be a routine either. I want it to be a very meaningful time alone with God. Even if that is only a few minutes.
I know He wants to be first in my life. I like my time with God to be early in the morning before anyone else in the house would even want to get up. No distractions. When I do this, it is a special start to my day. When I don’t, I miss it and Satan makes me feel guilty all day long.
My relationship with God started as a young adult in 1978 when I accepted Christ as my Savior. I grew close to him then I separated myself from him for a couple of years. It was not until 1982 that I came back to His waiting arms. He did not leave me, I left Him. I knew He was pursuing me, I just felt it. I started going to church again and plugged in and started serving Him. I have been building on that relationship for many years. In 2010 I felt myself coasting as a Christian. I would go to church and even serve but I just wanted to slide into heaven just before the gate closed. I had lost my drive to finish strong.
I was invited to a Men’s Encounter weekend and God used that weekend to start making changes in my life. I plugged into the ministry of Men’s Encounter and started speaking at those weekends and then I found a Men’s group at church. I started coming on Wednesday nights and have been involved with a Men’s group ever since.
I think we are all born with an emptiness in our hearts that we want filled. We try by our jobs, our marriage, money, cars, boats, our kids, etc. Nothing can fill that emptiness in our hearts except Christ. He is the missing piece of the puzzle that fits there. Until we turn our lives over to Christ and surrender our will to His will, we will continue to search to fill that void in our hearts.
You can have a relationship with someone but if you do not work at it and cultivate it, it will not survive the test of time. Our relationship with Christ is special and it must be cultivated daily. If you have a close best friend, how often do you talk? God wants to be that closest best friend you have but how often do you talk with God and even more importantly how often do you listen to God. We are called to be slow to speak and quick to listen. God wants to talk to us also. I know it is not an audible voice, but you know when His Spirit speaks to your heart. So often we pray to Him with wants and desires. We must make it a priority to offer thankfulness when we pray first and then petition our requests to God.
About 15 years ago I had a Facebook account. I was on it way too much. It was consuming my time every night and day. One night after spending 2 hours on it, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart with this simple question. “How come you find hours upon hours to spend on Facebook, but you can’t seem to find just 15 minutes to spend with me? I closed my Facebook account that night and have not been back. That question hit me like a bolt of lightning. OUCH? It was true.
Did I start spending those 15 minutes a day with God? Yes, initially I did, but then the world crept back in, and I diverted that time somewhere else. I have struggled ever since to find that again on a permanent basis. I need that early morning time with Jesus. Just the two of us. I miss it. I am sure He misses me too. I must find a way to cultivate my relationship with Christ daily and keep it fresh and full of life, a personal intimate closeness that no one else has in my life except Him. He desires that relationship with everyone.
Check your relationship with Him today and make changes if needed to grow closer to Jesus every day. None of us want to hear these words when we face Christ, “I am sorry, I never knew you.”
Colossians 2:6,7: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
