meeting our God

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?"
-- Psalm 42:1-2

God will meet with his children anytime, anywhere, no matter what. Nothing can pull us away from God's love. He is with us constantly, throughout the day, whether or not we realize it. If you are a child of God, and you are reading this, then God is with you. It's that simple. And God wants to talk with us. He wants to reveal himself to us. He wants us to spend time with him. But sometimes it is hard to dig deep into God with all the noise--worries, problems, anxieties, hopes and dreams--surrounding us.

Quiet time is "hanging out" with God, one-on-one, conversing with him, talking, intimate communion with God. Too many of us here 'quiet time' and cringe. We see it as a dirty, boring, laborous chore. But it's not: it is an experiance, an awesome privilege to meet with the Creator of the universe. It can seem like a chore, but when one dives into it in the real mindset--spending time with God, listening to God, etc.--it takes on a whole new meaning and the experiance is often overwhelming. God has a tendency to do that. It's his forte. But yet some very well-meaning Christians don't have quiet time because they think that they don't need to spend time with God; after all, Jesus died, so we're saved, right?

But what if we were MADE to have such an intimate communion with God? What if we just couldn't function right without that intimate communication? What if we are hotwired to live--really live--only off that deep communion?

My friends, that is why we are here.

Relationships need time and work; ignorance in a relationship turns the relationship into a mere acquaintance? Just as we need to spend time with those we are in relationships with--be it friends, family, whoever--we need to spend time with God to grow in our relationship with him. A 'quiet time' is one way that we can draw ourselves to God.

There are no formulas to God, so there ought to be no formulas to quiet times. In fact, one doesn't NEED to have a quiet time per se: it is just one way of having that communion with God that our souls thirst for.

Many different people do many different things in their quiet times. Worship by music. Prayer. Read Scriptures. Think on God. Cry, laugh with God. Listen to God.

I don't want to jump into any formulas, but I have found three things that help me personally in my quiet times, things that give me energy, joy, and a passion for God as he moves in me. 1) Prayer. 2)Scriptures. 3)Silence.

1)Prayer is simply a conversation with God. 2-way conversing. Some just do the 1-way thing, praying to God and expecting everything to work out, not really listening to God, not probing for answers. But God wants a two-way conversational relationship with us, as we would have with our parents or spouses or dates or friends or whoever. If we speak, he will listen, and when he speaks back--listen, you can hear his voice!--you ought to listen. Prayer draws us deeper into our walk with God. Prayer is generally made up of four parts, in no order, often blended, not black-and-white: praising God, confessing sins, thanking God, sending specific requests to God.

2)Reading the Scriptures is essential. The Bible is God's written Word to us. Just as Jesus is the Living Word, so the Bible is the written Word. The Bible is often like coffee--at first it may seem stale and bland and uninteresting, but as the more you taste it, the more you will salivate for it, and thirst for it, and looking forward to its awesome words. What are some ways I study God's word? Sometimes I take out passages and tear them apart, absorbing; other times I pick a book of the Bible and go through it chapter-by-chapter. Still others read it out loud. Don't shirk the Bible. Too many well-meaning Christians do, and it is rotting away the core of the body of Christ (church).

3)Often I just sit in silence, close my eyes, and do as Mary did when Jesus visited her and sister Martha in Luke 10:38-42: forget everything, and just place myself before God, listening and absorbing anything he has to say. Some may think I am insane if I tell them God has spoken to me. Sometimes he doesn't speak, other times he does. Sometimes he floods my heart with emotions, other times he surfaces some problem and gives an answer. He is unpredictable. Just listen, and maybe you can hear him. Though if you don't hear him at once, don't give up. God loves to enact patience in us.

What may we get from having a quiet time? As John White writes in his essay, "Why Have a Quiet Time?":

"Our values alter... things that once seemed important shrivel and lose their fascination, while others swell in significance... we will see people differently... pity people we once feared... pray for people who once enraged us... because we have a new way of seeing, a new way of savoring life on earth. We will, to be sure, approach problems differently, feel different about our work, our studies, our job, our future... goals will have changed... life slowly takes on new meaning."

God loves you. And he wants to meet you. He wants to change you.

God wants to talk with you. He wants to speak with you. Will you listen?