As I am getting older, I find that I am seeking more than I am finding. I need a pair of scissors, and I can’t remember where I put them. Then, the search is on. Finally, I find my scissors but now can’t remember why I needed them. Sometimes, that’s the way our talking to God goes. Have you ever got on your knees to pray and everything you plan to do that day floods your mind? The more you seek to concentrate the more you are bombarded with thoughts of other things. It’s almost as if we must be desperate for God before we are willing to focus on Him and spend any time with Him.
I find the times that I really pray from the heart is when there is a pressing need. Someone we love is sick, or there is a trying situation approaching. We may even be in the middle of the trial. Why, oh why don’t we love God enough to feel an urgency to talk to him every day before the trial comes. Just to be alone with him, because we want to know him better. It seems as if it takes a pressing matter for us to have “honest to God” praying. Are we so selfish that selfishness dominates our prayer life?
I wonder if there would be fewer trials if I loved God so much that I couldn’t wait to run to him each day. If I would seek him every time an opportunity arises, better yet, if I would spend my thoughts looking for an escape to get alone with him.
I remember very well falling in love with my husband Ron. There wasn’t a waking moment that he was not on my mind. I was constantly thinking of a way to see him again. Making plans so I could see the person I loved most in this world.
I wonder how many trials I could avoid if I truly loved God this way? It could be that circumstances wouldn’t change that much, but they would be perceived differently because of my closeness with God.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:33a “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;”
First, not second, third, or somewhere down the list when it is convenient. Not just seek his kingdom, but his righteousness. When you seek something there is diligence, there is an urgency, and a passion to find it. If it is valuable to you it becomes a mission. One that cannot be thwarted by anyone. It is consuming and controlling!
In Exodus 20:30 God said “Thou shall have no other gods before me”
Are you anxious to run to God in the morning, to search Him out until you know you have connected? Jesus set the example in Mark 1:35 of desiring to spend time with His Father. He got up before daybreak and went out to pray. He sought out a place where He could be alone. A place far away from the distractions of the day. He had slept all night, and after hours of no communication with His Father, the first thing on His mind was to be alone where He could talk intimately with Him.
Mark 1:35 “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
If Jesus, who is perfectly holy, felt the need and had the desire to be alone and talk to His Father how much more should we want to pray. We struggle with sin day in and day out. We struggle with physical pain, injustice, misunderstandings, emotional issues, and relational problems and seemingly try to handle them on our own. We talk to everyone we think has an answer, and sometimes pay doctors to listen to us. Yet, all the time we are struggling, the God of the Universe wants us to come to Him. We need to stop searching and start running to God. We need to seek Him FIRST!
Do you plan out time to spend with him alone in prayer and study?
How often do you think of him throughout the day?
