How much time do you spend with God? Are you the type that only spends time with Him on Sunday, from entering
the church doors, till leaving? Or are you the type of person who spends more time, other than just Sunday?
We often, as believers can sometimes become so frustrated with our christian experience when things either
do not go the way we would like, or we are disssappointed when our spiritual life seems to suffer. We are left "wanting more".
We often wonder why is my spiritual life so dry? Why do I feel so far from God?
We need to ask ourselves though, "do I spend enough time with God?" "How well do I know Him intimately?"
If your answer is, "I feel dry", theres something we need to consider in this. You see any relationship requires work,
whether a friendship, or a marriage, or any kind of relationship. If you have a close friend and you never spent much time
with that person how good would you think that relationship would be, how "healthy", etc.? You could also apply this to a
marriage! How close would you and your spouse be if you almost never spent time with each other, how well would you know the
other one? Chances are, not too well!!
If you want to be closer to God, then ask yourself, what do I do with my time?
Lets do a little "fundamental" excercise. Now first let me say I am "wanting" in my math skills, so please bear with
me me here.
Lets "break our time down".
There are approximately 168 hours in a given week. Lets take the average person. The average person works about
40 hours per week. That leaves you with 128 hours of time left. Now lets say that as the "average person" you sleep about....let's
say...56 hours per week. That would give you 8 hours of sleep per night (so we'll subtract 56 from 128). So that would leave
you with 72 hours per week left. Now let's take into account that there are unforeseen things, such as going to the store,
eating meals, emergencies, "down time", etc. So with this said we will subtract another 36 hours. That would be about 17.5
hours for meals and 18.5 hours for the "down time" and the "unforeseen".
So with this said that leaves you with 31 hours left. So ask yourself this, "what do I do with this 31
hours?" Do you spend it with the one who gave you unconditional love and eternal life? Getting to know him better? Do you
spend half of it, part of it...... or any of it with Him?
You see we often become so "frustrated" with our spiritual lives, but do we realize that the closer to God we are the
more satified we will be? Now of course this does not mean that everything will be great all the time (in our life), but there
is a peace in having a strong intimate relationship with our Father, even through "trials and tribulations". The "human factor"
will always be there, things will not always be perfect, but we do not have to be out of fellowship with Him! And we certainly
do not have to be alone!!!
Someone once told me, in reference to my relationship with Jesus, "you use this Jesus as a crutch". My reply? Of course
I do, I need Him everyday of my life (and what a wonderful peace in knowing this)!!!
The more time you spend with God, in prayer, in reading, in studying and "meditiating" on His word, the more you
will know Him better!!!
Consider this. The Bible says that "contentment with godliness is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). This can only come by getting
to know Him better!!!
Let's take David for instance. David wrote most all of the Psalms.
The Psalms really give us a picture of how much David loved God and was close to Him.
"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great
is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than
the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You."
(Psalm 139:17-18 NKJV)
You see we all are in need of a close relationship with God. Just as we are in need of Him for salvation, we are not
made to "operate" independent of Him!! We need Him everday of our lives!!!
It so easy to become frustrated with all the things around us that "draw" us away from our Lord and savior. We all want
to be closer to God, but we must also take the time to do so. We are such a "get it now" society that we do not want to take
the time it requires to work at anything, including knowing our God!! we read "how to" books, we "skip" reading the instructions.
We seem to want to do anything to avoid putting in the effort!!
Its sad that when it comes to our Father that we often put Him in the same category. We seem to forget that
God has feelings also!!! How would you feel if the one you love and want to have a relationship with you, wants things
from you, but wants little to do wth you? Would your heart not be broken?
You see God loves us with such an "immeasurable love" that we will never fully comprehend it. He redeemed us, to worship
Him, follow Him, to save us "from ourselves". He also wants us to have a relationship with Him!!!
Think about this, Jesus was relational was He not? Did He not live with the "common man", "woman", the "down trodden"
of society etc.? Was He not part of their lives? Not just merily a passing stanger?
You see as believers in Christ we need to remember the trinity. Three persons in one; God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit. We need to undertsand that The Father is as "relational" as the Son!!!
In fact Philip once questioned Jesus about the Father, he wanted to see Him:
"Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
(John 14:8 NKJV)
This is what Jesus said:
"Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has
seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father
in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe
Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."
(John 14:9-11 NKJV)
You see we can gather much from reading the gospels about what our Heavenly Father is like. Jesus said, "if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father". Jesus was very relational, if we know this to be true than we know that God is relational
also. He wants a "close" relationship with us!!!
The question is, are we too busy to spend enough time with Him, to get to know Him better? Or are we actively spending
time with Him. Not only on Sunday, but every day of our lives!!!
The question is, do you want to take the "shortcut" and be left "wanting" more? Or are you willing to take the time and
get to know your Father better?
So take the time you need to get to know the one who loves you with a "deep immeasurable love"!!!
And remember this.....when you spend time with Him, do not do all the talking, listen too!!!