Getting Closer To God
Yesterday I challenged us to get into the prayer closet and spend time alone with God. But sometimes I find that when I start doing that consistently, it becomes a routine, a ritual. Sometimes I find I start going through the motions, praying mindlessly and wishing I were somewhere else.
The Point of the Secret Place
This is an awful mindset when we’re in the quiet place! In the end, it’s not just about growing in consistency. It’s not even about growing in knowledge, as important as that is. The real point of the secret place is not information – but it's love. It's to grow your love for God.
Do you love God more today than you did 5 years ago? Are you more enamoured by Him? More blown away by Him than ever? Or has He become a bit of a bore to you?
It was 11 years ago this year that my wife and I met. I was studying in Pretoria, she was living in the Free State. So we would only see each other on weekends. And those weekends couldn't come fast enough! We missed each other. When we would finally see each other Friday nights, the goal of our meetings wasn't information. It was delight! We would delight in each other's presence, and as we enjoyed each other's company! So we would get to know each other too. Our knowledge of each other would grow, but our love for each other would grow deeper.
I think sometimes our time alone with God is too focused on information. You read His Word to try and get answers. That's fine - it's the best place to go for answers. But when last did you read the Word because you love God and want to marvel at Him in His Word? When last did you open your Bible with a goal of falling more deeply in love with the God who loves you? When last did you settle down to pray – not to run through a list of requests, but to tell God how much He means to you?
Falling in Love With God
Growth in the Christian life is not just amassing knowledge – it is growing deeper in love with God and friends the only way to do that is to spend more time with Him.
Daily... spend time with God, seeking His face.
Daily... read His Word and seek His beauty and majesty and love and greatness.
Daily... pour out your heart to Him in prayer.
You will grow more by a daily practice of sitting in that prayer closet with God than by anything else – if you remember that it’s not just about information. It’s about falling more deeply in love with the God who is deeply in love with you.
