How incredibly precious and important a daily withdrawal into quiet meeting time with God is!
There's not really a manual for how to get there and how to spend intimate with Him - and I'm beginning to see that as a cool, instead of frustrating, part of it. It's an art, learning how to meet with God.
I feel like one thing God has been teaching me in this, is that while it should be part of our daily routines (meeting with God), the way to go about it is not really to-do list, routine-mentality. When we're able to meet in deep communion with God, it's a result of wits-end, genuine, passionate, urgent desires to have Him help us, guide us, fill us, and a recognition that only He can teach us what we want to know, and that we are coming to meet before Him out of desperation and a posture that says we're not even going to waste our time trying to do it ourselves.
While the interaction and communication of a quiet time has to come from deep in our hearts. Beyond our hearts, our bodies are actually somewhere, doing something during these times. We don't just disappear while we meet with God, there is a setting and an environment that we our IN when we meet with God.
I've been finding that these peripheral and seemingly unimportant details of meeting with God are sometimes the things can make or break my time with God. Considering our frail will, and easily distracted minds - our preparation of not only our hearts, but our environments too, can be hugely beneficial. Sure, God can meet intimately with us anywhere, at anytime, but I think there is something to be said about us creating environments to cater to that.
I got to listen to a man of God who, for 18 months, everyday, spent 8-12 hours in solitude sitting in the presence of God, learning to spend time with Him, and one of the things that he stressed is that the care in which we prepare before a quiet time is important to think about - and is an act of worship.
Trying to squeeze meeting with God during a shower before we go out and hang out with friends for the night; is different than excitedly anticipating that place 20 minutes away that you're going to drive to, bring a blanket, Bible, journal, and music to meet with God, and be eager to hear from Him and take great care in processing what He shares with us.
*nothing wrong with meeting God in the shower :) just to illustrate the point of loving God and being more excited to go and meet with Him than we are to go on a date with the someone.
I'm sure He enjoys that.
This is a very individual and unique thing for each of us. An opportunity to enter in a creative worship process to step outside conventional scripture at bedside styles, and do anything and everything to Meet with God! The quiet time that suits my personality, wandering mind, and back aches will look different than yours.
God, You are so great Lord! Thank you for allowing us to meet with you. It's the most incredible experience on earth. Please take the place of intimate lover and friend over any other relationships in all our lives! Court us as your bride, Lord. Praise you for your faithfulness in revealing yourself to us when we seek you!
Wow Billy, thank you for phrasing it this way. I am often flippant about my quiet times. And God is not flippant. I schedule them in, rather than scheduling the other parts of my life around my quiet times.
ReplyDeleteIt should be a time of eager anticipation, expectation, preparation. One line from that Confessions handout has been ringing in my head lately-If only you spent as much time preparing your heart for a worship-filled ENCOUNTER with me as your do preparing your body to go to church...
Thanks for the reminder, it really resonates
This is exactly what I feel like God is trying to teach me right now. It is so hard for me to be still and meet with God at times, but I am learning more and more what that looks like. I love that quote you mentioned about preparing for quiet time. I never really thought about that. Preparation is just as important to help our hearts be ready to receive and spend time with Gods. Thanks for sharing these thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteBilly I absolutely LOVE this, and I think it's something that we don't reflect on often enough. Like you said, it's not a bad thing to pray in the shower, or in the car on the way to work, etc, etc. But, I do think that God is most honored when we give him our BEST and we set aside time for Him specifically...just like we do for our friends, our families, significant others...who else is MORE significant in our lives? Our actions are really telling about what and who we place as most significant. Thanks for this reminder...I think I needed a little kick in the butt in this area of my life, and I am really encouraged by you!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of how there is a huge difference between making time for God and anticipating and preparing for time with God. I think the intentional, wholehearted time we spend with the Lord is very important. How I SO admire that man who spent 8-12 hours with the Lord, most days I find it hard to spend even an hour with God. I'll say a prayer for you after I write this and pray that God will meet you so intimately during these times you've set aside for Him. I think its really wonderful.
ReplyDeleteJust like what Ashley did, I really want to value my time with the Lord. And like you said, I think that God is really honored in that we intentionally make space for him. God is just awesome.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with this too. I want to schedule time for God when I know that I should be bringing God with me everywhere and include Him in anything and everything I do. I pray that we will all start having dates with God and bringing Him into every part of our day through prayer and discussion.
ReplyDeletewhat an excellent reminder of what the motivation behind my time with Jesus should look like. i think in creating a special space for us to meet gives my heart and mind more time to prepare to meet with and hear from Him. so good. i love spending time with Him outside. being out there i can't help but see His fingerprints all around me.
ReplyDelete"we're not even going to waste our time trying to do it ourselves" so TRUE.
ReplyDeleteintimate, INTENTIONAL time with God is so precious. we have the best resource allotted to man at our fingertips, the Holy God-breathed Good Book, and we take it for granted.
I am learning the beauty and fruits of seeking intentional time with Him and how to best honor Him with my time. it is absolutely incredible. the more time I actually set aside specifically for Him, the more I yearn for our next "date."
I'm so happy that you too are coming to this place. It is an incredible place to be, and literally changes everything about the day.
great great great insight. I feel that this is one of those places that I am at. I want to spend that intimate quiet time with God and so I say I'm gonna spend X amount of time. So I just sit there in quietness and then my mind gets distracted and I calm it, but in the end result I really feel like I accomplished nothing and I did not connect with God as I wanted to. My prayer was nothing more than the usual. But through your post I have realized it is not from deep down within my heart, and I have not done a very great job at preparing my heart and self Before spending time. For me it has just become a to-do list type of activity. So thankyou Billy for helping me process through this, and I am glad that you have provided such great insight like I said earlier :)
ReplyDeleteBilly this is awesome bro. I truly met me where I am at. Just this week I began waking up at 3am and reading the word and praying for an hour and then going back to bed at 4am. It has been some of the best moments of prayer and supplication and expectancy with the Lord I have ever had. Thank you for the encouraging post brother. This was such a confirmation that I ought to be spending more and more time in prayer and meditation! Blessings brother.
ReplyDelete