Pressing Into More Of Him

The morning dawns bright, crisp, and filled with new expectation of meeting alone with my Father. We visit together daily. What joyous times we share. I ask and He listens. I listen and He instructs and reveals great and mighty things I do not know.

There is nothing I desire on this earth than to draw closer to Him and to hear His voice. I do not read His word dutifully. I do so delightfully full of anticipation that He will show me something I have never seen before, like He did this morning.  Maybe He will reveal some new truth I have never understood before. Many times He reminds me of things I learned long ago but have neglected. Sometimes He shows me things He will do in the future.

I love to be alone with Him. No other sounds. No distractions. Just an open Bible, a prayer journal, and uninterrupted time to seek, pray, and listen. A thousand things can compete for my attention. The telephone. Email. Other people. Text messages. Television. And yet time communing with my Father is more enticing than all of them.

I have met alien with Him in my living room, my home office, walking around the neighborhood, walking across pastures, through forests, on top of mountains, and in offices a corporate worship facility.

I live for those moments when I get so lost in God's presence I lose track of time. Often I am reluctant to leave when other responsibilities call. What a privilege God has given us to be able to walk with Him and to commune with Him.

How could the Creator of the universe ever truly want to commune with us infinitely lesser beings like us. Do our thoughts, complaints, concerns, and conversations not bore Him who knows all things. Do our questions and doubts not tax His patience. Yet He desires us to commune with us. He desires our private devotion and worship. He longs for us to forsake the company of others to keep company with Him.

He is loving, kind, patient, merciful, compassionate, and slow to anger. We don't deserve communion with Him but I  hope wecrave it. More and more I crave more of Him. More time alone with Him. More fresh words from Him. More encounters with Him. Most everything I write, preach, teach, and share comes from my private times alone with God. I can still remember a man named Lynn Sasser who taught us teenagers about the importance of having quiet times back in 1983 at a youth camp. That is where it began for me. Only God knows where our times together will lead and eventually end.

I have walked with God for over three decades since then. I see I have so much more to learn, discover, understand, and to know of God, about Him, and His ways.

It is a lifetime pilgrimage. A relentless quest for more of God. An adventurous journey. One sadly so few followers of Jesus are taking full advantage of. May we press on into more of Him.