(My apologies for some formatting strangeness this week – Blogger’s editor is acting funny and I have to get on the road. -AP)
“I haven’t been in the Word that much this week…”
Probably the number one thing that comes up in spiritual conversations with the many men God has put in my life is quiet time guilt. Every year, Cristine and I hear men and women make commitments to “be more consistent in my quiet time”. Sound familiar?
What if we’re setting our hearts on the wrong goal?
Alicia Keys penned these lyrics and hit the top of the chart.
Some people want it all
But I don’t want nothing at all
If it ain’t you baby
If I ain’t got you baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain’t got you…
The apostle Paul penned these words and this morning hits many of us in the heart.
“[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body]. (Phil 3.10-11 AMP)”
Neither of these two writers had a desire to read something in mind when they made these inscriptions. Neither of these writings talk about a yearning for a mechanical daily activity, either. Rather, both had a deep desire to be with someone, to know someone deeply and intimately, they had a magnified longing in their hearts for that person. For Alicia, it was a romantic desire for “you, baby”. But, for Paul, it was a holy desire for the Lord.
Be Encouraged
If quiet time is about a mechanical habit, I might as well wish you “good luck” (some of you got the joke). For so many reasons you will find in scripture, God proves that He wants us to know Him and that it’s even possible to do so. One of the most important pieces of “good news” outside the resurrection of Christ is this one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the depths of who God is. (1 Cor. 2.9-12) God doesn’t want you or I to have a “quiet time”, a mechanical and dry reading exercise – He wants us to know Him.
Pray
What if we changed our goal, altered our prayers, set our sights on a loftier mark? Though you already know this inherently, this week I hope you’re encouraged by the fact that knowing God is possible and practically commanded by God. Further, I hope you gain momentum in your pursuit of Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was commissioned to help you in this process. I hope your prayer this week is “God, by the Spirit, magnify my desire to know you and teach me the depths of who You are.”
in Christ,
AP
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