When dating, people don't struggle with time spent with, they are consumed with desire to be together without anyone forcing them to ~ they are drawn like magnets to one another. They are so in love that there's a longing to being together and they count every minute they are apart. Their relationship is all important and everything else loses it's place, they find the time! Why? Because they are in love! If we are struggling to get into His Word and to spend that "quiet time" with the Lord that He longs for, it's our "LOVE relationship" that's hurting.
God never meant our time with Him to be difficult to do ~ sin got in the way! Adam and Eve enjoyed this love relationship with the Lord, right up until the time they sinned and then they ran and hid themselves from the Him. God's love, that they'd known, had not changed, their's did. He came seeking them, but they were no where to be found. He called out to them! Our sin breaks our relationship, it separates us from God. (Just as it would in a dating relationship.) A love relationship is broken by a lack of love; setting it right, brings the relationship back to oneness and unity. So, confession and forgiveness should be a part of our love relationship with the Lord. Hiding His truths in our hearts will help keep us from sinning against Him. He hasn't meant for His commands to be burdensome, but out of His love for us, has given them to set us free!
The secret, to "the secret place" is not to focus on the pressure of having to have a "quiet time." The secret to the secret place is to focus on "loving Him with all your heart mind and soul" ~ fall in love and no one can keep you away! It will be a consuming desire! You won't wake, feeling the dread, "I have to read my Bible."You will look forward to your time spent with the Lord, with expectation and it will go far too quickly, just like a couple dating and in love. Your struggled 20 minutes, will grow with longing, into an hour becoming far too short and the more time you spend with Him the more you'll desire. The more you seek Him, the more you will find Him and love Him, the more you will want Him. It was never meant to be a forced effort!
We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), the more we recognize the depth of His love for us, the more we will fall in love with Him. So, ask God to show you the depth of His love for you, for you to be able to grasp that alone, will be life changing! The key isn't a forced relationship, it's falling in love with Him over and over again! Read His love letters to you, they can be found in His Word! He loves you so much, He longs for you to know Him, more intimately, to know the depth of His everlasting love for you!
Jeremiah 31:3 says,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you with loving kindness.”
1 John 4:9-10
"This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
There's a progression of things that happen when we really recognize the depth of God's love for us ~ not only will we fall, deeply, in love with the Lord, but we will be able to love others more completely. We will put Him first, above all else, because we love Him so much! The more time we spend with Him, the more we will see our sin. We will drop those things from our lives that hurt Him. Our sins will fall away, as we hide ourselves in His truths, because we love Him and desire to please Him. We will become less self centered, as we become more God centered. As we become more God centered, one with the Lord, we come to know the passions of His heart and they become ours. We will have a growing passion for others to know Him too. What happens in worship, doesn't stay in worship, the radiance of His love will go with us. We will be fruitful, because God in us, will be seen by others and they will see our love for Him. We will live with new purpose, confidence, security, peace, love and true joy ~ all that those around us long for! We will have an impact on the lives of others in big ways, with little effort, because our life is being transformed each and every new day by the "Living God" and they will see it. Because we are abiding in His love and in His truths, we will be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ. We will desire to do His will, above our own. Our dreams and wants, will become secondary and we will want to be a part of what He is doing, His plans and purposes. We will come to know His voice and He will show us His will and we will become more confident in walking in it. He leads one day at a time and one step at a time, we will learn to trust that and be able to not have to be so "in control." We will find our security and our peace in Him, and be able to know His rest and much more!
A passion for God's Presence comes with "loving Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength."
Psalm 42:1
"As the deer pants for the streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God."
The secret to the secret place is falling in love! We will abide because we are in love! And we fall in love when we realize the depth of His love for us!
Psalm 91:1
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." ASV
Discover the secret to the secret place and you will abide there, you will long to be with Him, you will run into the Father's arms each morning with longing and great expectation! Why? Because He loves you! Read His love letters, my friend, ask Him to give you a knew perspective ~ to show you the depth of His love! This is the problem, we don't realize how much He loves us or that He really can be known so intimately! I'm praying for you! Keep seeking!
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