God is unhurried. Shouldn’t we be unhurried too if our desire is to be Christ-like?
I am a fairly private person and I have my fair share of introversion, so by the grace of God, it’s not hard for me to shut down distractions and tune out the noise. I deeply enjoy quiet moments because that’s when I usually meet God. Don’t get me wrong, God can be found in crowds and in the hurry of life; I have seen Him literally in all circumstances of my life, but there is something about one-on-one moments with Him. Isn’t that mainly why He said, “But whenever you pray, go into your innermost chamber and be alone with Father God, praying to Him in secret. And your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6)? The best moments of my life will always be coming to the throne of God.
I hear God whenever I linger longer in God’s presence. God never changes and He is never in a hurry, and whatever wholehearted time you give Him He will gladly receive it. But I know whenever I spend unhurried time in His presence I can always feel His smile upon my life.
We find our story in God when we spend unhurried time with Him.
Do you know how sometimes you spend time with people you love and you literally lose track of time? And this happens naturally, right? As people, no one ever has to force us to be with those we love or to spend quality time with them, we simply desire to do so. So it is with God. There is a lifetime of pleasures in God’s presence (Psalm 16:11)
Intimacy
“And Jesus answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind…” Luke 10:27
Love God. All your heart. All your soul. All your strength. All your mind.
Something I have realized is that in seasons where I have a consistent prayer time with God, it becomes natural for me to just pray. Yes, there are times I think I have nothing to say to God, which by the way is not true at all, but all the times I have simply pushed through and just prayed I have never regretted it. One of my favorite moments with my family is when we are hanging out, and not really doing anything significant. Wouldn’t it be wrong if I only spent time with my family only because I wanted something out of our time together?
But isn’t that what we do with God? I know I am guilty of it. I can trace my disciplined prayer time with God to a time where I had a dire need. I am ashamed to write the following sentence but it is true: the hardest times of my life have been my intimate times with God. I know, I know, I should be ashamed of that, but believe me, I am. But does God really deserve all our time only in hard times? Like, what does that say about how we see Him? Yes, God wants us to call upon Him whenever we are in hard times.
But wouldn’t you want people who love you for who you are not for what you do for them?
Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.
Intimacy. Here is a definition of intimacy I am using: the state of being intimate : familiarity.
Are you familiar with God? Sure you may know all the facts about God, you may know the wonder of His hands, and all these things are good but do you know Him? Let me give you an example, I may give you all the facts about my mother: her height, where she was born, what food she loves, and so forth. With all these basic information about her, could you agree that you are still not familiar with her? Here are some of the ways I am familiar with my mother: I know the rhythm of her laugh, her hugs are one of my favorite things, she often has an adoring look towards me, and many other things. So what’s familiarity you ask? Familiarity with a person can only come with that person’s presence.
Familiarity comes with presence.
God’s presence
Lord? Where can I even start with Your presence?
How does one describe the indescribable? Our minds can’t truly comprehend the breadth of what God’s presence entails. “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:2
God, even in the now, Your Spirit is moving over my frail being. Your Spirit is moving over Your bride, the Church.
God, I am undone by Your steadfast love. Truly. Truly. Truly.
Your presence Lord, has turned coward men into valiant men , it has turned timid souls into bold men and women, and truly Lord, there is nothing impossible in Your presence. Your presence transforms o God of wonder. Your presence sanctifies every filthy fiber in our flesh. I know, there is much that we still don’t understand about Your presence but even the little we know and that we have come to experience truly revolutionizes our lives.
Your unceasing invitations to Your children always leave me speechless.
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord…” Jeremiah 29:12-14(a)
God, what mystery is this? The Word testifies that You dwell in “unapproachable light” 1 Timothy 6:16 and yet there is the promise that You can be found by us.
Those who wholeheartedly seek You will find You. That’s the promise. O God, please never let me stop having joy in the glory of that promise.
In Your presence Lord, we are stilled. We are comforted. We are seen. We are known. We are healed. We are rescued. We are found. What’s there not to be found in Your presence? Absolutely nothing. For in You alone Father God, do we “live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28).
Friendship and faith
I have been memorizing Hebrew chapter 11. I want the truth of this chapter to be a part of me just like my hands and my heart are part of me. Verse 6 of Hebrew 11 boldly says this, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, for He who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him”
You want to please God? Quite simple: have faith. Period.
We can never please God by what we do because what we know how to do fairly well is to sin against God (Romans 3:23). But. O the glory of the “but” of history. But Jesus came and changed forever the trajectory of those who put faith in Him.
Faith in Jesus changes our name from sinner to saint.
Yes, you read that correctly. In Christ, we are saints. If you have ever read any letters of Paul to the different congregations he wrote to, you know he called believers saints multiple times. Few examples are below:
* “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ who are Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” Colossians 1:2
* “… to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 1:1
* “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours” 1 Corinthians 1:2
Biblically, “The word “saint” is derived from a Greek verb (hagiazo) whose basic meaning is “to set apart”, “sanctify”, or “make holy””.
As a Christ-follower, guess what your calling is? “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, For I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15
Saint, have faith in God and so please God. Live a holy life. That’s your calling.
We walk with God by faith. We intimately get to know God through faith and prayer. We intimately get to know God through obedience as a proof of our love for Him (John 14:15).
“If any man desires holiness, he must get it through communion. The way to be transformed into the likeness of God is to live in the company of God. That, which you look upon, you will soon be like; and if your eyes look on God, your character will become like God.” Charles Spurgeon
You find your story in God only through walking with Him. And Your Father is in no hurry. Go with His pace and watch your life sparkle with His glory and utter pleasure.
And there will never be any better story than being in Christ and belonging to Him and Him alone.
Colossians 1: 13- 20
The Incomparable Christ
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Amen.