The Lord wants us to spend time
with Him. He wants us to get to know Him better and better in order
for each of us to be able to grow spiritually and to live our lives
the way He intended. And most importantly, He wants us to spend
time with Him simply because He loves us and wants to be with us.
It is like any other relationship, if you want the relationship to
deepen and to grow, you need to dedicate time to it.
The other day I was sitting in the
garden during my quiet time with the Lord. I looked up to the two
thorn trees we have in the garden. It was spring, but it hasn't
started raining as yet, but we use irrigation to water our other
plants during this time. Some of the irrigation reached the one
thorn tree, but not the other one. I noticed then that the leaves
of the thorn tree that got extra water started to come out, but not
the leaves of the one who didn't. The one tree looked green and
fresh, while the other one still resembled winter. At the end of
the day, the leaves of both the trees will eventually come out,
though one would just be quicker than the other one. And then I
realized that it is the same with us. Our spiritual life will grow
faster if we water ourselves spiritually. At the end of the day all
Christians will go to heaven, but if you want to grow spiritually,
look green and fresh, lead a life of abundance and be the first to
hear from God, then you need to make time.
It is like Paul says:
"Yes, everything else is
worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as
garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with Him."
Philippians 3:8,9
And how did Paul get to know Jesus
better and become one with Him? He spent time with Him. A lot of
it.
A while ago I had to find the
answer to a certain aspect in my life. I needed to find the answer
from the Lord. I asked three Christians close to me to pray about
it and tell me what they hear from the Lord concerning this issue
of mine. Each of them came back with either a dream, text verse or
a feeling that they had. None of it was straight forward. It was
like a riddle I had to solve. I wrote everything down and tried to
make sense of it all. I looked up to the Lord and presented it to
Him and asked Him why He made it so difficult. Why couldn't He just
plainly tell me what to do, why all these riddles? And do you know
what I experienced that He said?
In the first place He said He will
only reveal as much as we need to know/can handle at a certain
stage, but most importantly He said that He speaks in riddles in
order for us to make time to spend with Him. If we make the time,
He will make the riddle clearer and present us with our solution.
If He gave us the answer on a straight forward basis, we will not
have the need to spend the time with Him, but we will rush on with
the task ahead. Jesus also talked in parables. Why? Because people
with their minds fixed on this world cannot understand what He
wants to tell them, only people who spiritually seek to really
know God will find the answers they are looking for.
Don't fall into the trap of simply
rushing to the Lord whenever you need Him. Rush to Him every day,
because whether you realize it or not, you actually cannot cope
without His love and His guidance. You need Him to be able to
function properly and to make the right choices. Your existence
will only make sense and come to life when you realize your role in
His Kingdom and the only way for you to know, is to make Him your
first and only priority. He will gladly tell you and show you the
way.
Lord, we love You and ask
forgiveness that we do not make enough time for You. Other things
always seem more important, while it is not even close as important
as spending time with You. We look forward to feeling Your warm
embrace and greeting You every morning. Amen