Closer Than Before

How would you define your devotions in one word? I asked this question in a Bible study recently. While the group had been chatty up to that point their silence spoke all I needed to hear. I heard answers like quick and lacking. I had hoped to hear things like rich, satisfying, growing, intense, sweet, prolonged etc. 

Let me ask you another question I'll also pose to myself. Do you want to grow closer to Jesus than ever before? I realize not everyone wants this. Some are satisfied as they are. They are perfectly content to continue in a nominal relationship with Him. If you happen to fall in that number you need not bother to finish reading this for it was not intended for you.

I am writing to those who want to draw nearer to the blazing center of God's heart. So near you become part of what A.W. Tozer called "the fellowship of the burning heart." Do you desire more of Him?

That is where it must start. It starts with desire. Hunger. Thirst. Craving. Desire for Him. Hunger for Him. Thirst for Him. Craving for Him. Desire for Him.

That all starts with love. I love Brenda Edwards. I loved her when we dated. After 27 years of marriage I still love her. I love to be with her. I don't mind serving her. When we dated I could to talk to her for hours on the phone. Once we talked all night on the phone and both of us had to work the next day. Love does that. Love will pay the price. Love will sacrifice. Love will readjust priorities to give more time to the one you love.

Those same principles are true for a follower of Jesus. I am convinced many people in church like Jesus a lot. I am less persuaded the majority love Him. If you do not truly love Him you are not going to desire to get closer to Him.

If you want to get closer than ever before we have established two starting points. Desire. Love. Once these things are established another thing is needed. Time. You don't get closer to Jesus than you have ever been by rushing through devotions. The more you desire Him and the more you love Him the more time you will make for Him.

When I first started having quiet times as a teenagers I could do all of it easily with time to spare in 15 minutes. That included  Bible reading, reading a devotion thought about the passage, journaling my insights and prayer. Over time the desire for more of Jesus, more encounters, more revelation, more time with Him increased. So did my desire to read His word. Before long those once 15 minute devotions became extended. Now they are the most important part of my day. I am no longer in a hurry to rush through them. I enjoy lingering in His presence.

So to recap, if you want to grow closer to Jesus it starts with these three things.

Desire
Psalm 63:1 (ESV)
1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 42:1-2 (ESV)
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
2  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Love
Matthew 22:36-38 (ESV)
36  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

38  This is the great and first commandment.

Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)
4  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
5  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Time
Mark 1:35 (ESV)
35  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Luke 22:39-46 (ESV)
39  And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
40  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41  And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
42  saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
43  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45  And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,
46  and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”