Cuddles, love and laughter—these three words pretty much describe my mornings. The first thing that Judah and Sairah do every morning when they wake up is come into our room, jump onto our bed and just spend time with us. And we love having them in our room every morning—we have never grown tired of seeing their smiling faces every morning neither have we taken it for granted.
This got me thinking, my Heavenly Father also desires for me to be in His presence—to spend time with His daughter. Just like how I long to spend time with my children, God looks forward to my time alone with Him.
Growing up, I sat down to pray or read the Bible mainly out of fear or as part of a ritual. It was a religious activity. But it was when I truly understood my identity in Christ and who my Heavenly Father really was, that I desired to spend time with Him. I thoroughly enjoyed His company, and I have no doubt that He has enjoyed mine. And now, I spend my mornings with Him, along with my family—without fear, without force but with hope and expectation to know Him more intimately and to receive new revelations from Him.
I have learnt to be still and ask the Holy Spirit to minister to me. Just like how eating nourishes my body, spending time with God nourishes my spirit—which in turn nourishes my body, soul and mind. The Word says “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength” (Mark 12: 30). Our heart, mind, soul and strength must be nourished and attuned to God for us to love Him according to the Word. Deep understanding of who God results in deep love. The Word of God feeds us with this understanding. It is definitely for us—touted as God’s greatest love letter—but more than that, it is about God and His love for us. The Word transforms us inside out.
One-on-one time with God is the only way we can renew and rejuvenate our mind—peel off all the callouses of doubt, worry, insecurity and unbelief, and let the new skin of confidence and dependence in the Lord form. It helps one understand the ‘Great I am’ deeply. When one truly understands our Great God and His Great Love, there is no more identity crisis—the awareness of one identity as son or daughter of God is established. This is the point when a religion turns into a relationship.
When I got married to Joel, I loved him deeply. But today, 13 years later, I love him exponentially more because I know him better; my knowledge and understanding of him is more than before. For this, I had to spend time with him, talk to him and actively take effort to know what he likes and what he does not. No, true love does not fade with time—it only grows.
All my fears and insecurities disappear when I know who my Father God is. I have come to realise that the more I understand God and His character, the more I realise who I am—I begin to see myself through the lens of a perfect God. And this also aids in understanding my sin and shortcomings—resulting in giving me fresh perspective of the nature of God and what He expects of me.
God has often gently called out areas I need changes, pattern I need to break and toxic bonds that I need to let go off. Just spending time with God and His Word, in His stillness, helped me to identify corners of my life that needed some cleaning. His presence is so saturated with goodness, mercy and love, and surely, we need a refill of these in our lives every single day.
I urge you to go beyond religion and pursue a relationship with God. Be it 20 minutes, 15 or 10, spend time with God, delve into His Word and converse with Him daily. The more you understand God, the more you know who you are in Him and more you will love Him. Be intentional about your relationship with God, about spending time with Him—it is an enriching and transformational experience, to say the least.
God is waiting to talk to you, are you ready to talk?—Tell Him your big and small details, He loves to hear. Spending time with my Father God has truly been the best thing I have done, not just for myself but, also for my family.
Consider this:
You might be busy with routines and things of the world. But, it is about time that you take a ‘time-out’ from your very eventful life and ‘Check in’ to God’s presence. It is all about spending TIME:
T- Turn up. God is waiting to spend time with you and all you need to do is show up. If you have set a time, be there on time. No, God is not sitting on His throne with a stick to beat you if you don’t show up on time but I believe that keeping one’s word is the highest degree of respect that can be given to someone. And won’t we show up early when we are meeting Royalty?
I- Involve and include. Yes, one-on-one time is important but so is family time with God. They say a family that prays together, stays together—indeed, bonds are strengthened every day when they are rooted in Christ’s love. Prayer brings deliverance, repentance and, most of all, unconditional love—it aids daily repairs in relationships.
M- Make time. One has to be intentional about spending time with God. When we love someone deeply, we would find ways to squeeze them into our busy schedules, don’t we? How much more should we be doing that for God?
E- Expect new revelations. We need to come into God’s presence with expectation, not passively as a ritual. Expect to hear something new, experience something supernatural and get revelatory knowledge of the Word. God never fails to surprise us when we come to Him with expectation.