Lost in Conversation

 

For those of you that are married, do you remember the early days of getting to know each other? Do you remember the extra long conversations? The lengthy phone calls, or in my case, the pages and pages of handwritten letters about life. (To my frustration, I couldn’t have long phone calls as my dad, being a Pastor, always needed the phone). And yes, I am showing my age by referring to handwritten letters.

I can vividly remember taking days to write a letter, adding to it, a little each day, wanting to share the best and worst parts of my day with my special person, wanting them to know who I was, what I loved, what I hated, what I wanted in life. And more than anything, wanting to get to know them better.

Do you remember getting so lost in conversation because you longed more than anything to get to know this person so fully, that you lost track of time? Hours went by and yet it seemed like only minutes, and the ‘curfew’ was up, or the phone was needed by someone else (sorry, no mobile phones in those days) or maybe you had talked for so long, you needed to take a break to think up more to talk about as you had exhausted your list of discussion topics.

Okay, let me get to my point. I’m going to be blunt and upfront with you,

When was the last time you spent so much time with God that you lost track of time? Time flew by because you just wanted to talk to him. You wanted to be in his presence.

When was the last time you got lost in conversation with God?

When I was going out with my husband, the more time I spent with him, the more time I wanted to spend with him. The more I learned about him, the more I wanted to know about him. The more I heard his stories of his everyday life, the more I wanted to hear.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

The more time you spend with Jesus, the more time you will want to spend with him. The more the time flies as you sit and meditate on the Words of Scripture. The more you find yourself digging into the Bible, spending time in prayer, in worship, in study.

It wasn’t passion that led me to spend more time with my then future husband. It was the time spent with him that led to passion. The more I got to know him, the more I loved him and the more I wanted to be with him.

And I personally feel that it’s the same with God.

We often think that our passion or desire leads us to spend time with God, but it’s actually the other way around.

Passion and desire don’t lead to time with God. Time with God leads to passion. (Disclaimer: once this cycle begins, it becomes a little blurred as to what came first, but I hope you understand what I’m trying to say).

Time with God leads to loving him more. Desiring what he wants. Longing to follow his will. Wanting his best and not our own.

Now, for those of you reading this, maybe there is someone that is struggling right now with a desire to spend time with Jesus, can I speak to you for a moment?

If you are waiting around, just hoping the desire will come upon you, just waiting to feel excited before you open your Bible and pray, you could be waiting a very long time.

If you are waiting for ‘feelings’ to develop before you get serious about reading and studying God’s Word, then you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Our duty as a Christian is to strive to become more like Christ. We are to be daily following in his footsteps, watching him, imitating him. You can’t do that if you’re not in the Word, looking for instruction on how to do it.

The truth is….the passion and excitement for spending time in God’s presence will grow when we choose to lay aside how we feel about it, and just do it!

Yes, it’s a choice. We have a choice to obey. And it is a step of obedience to discipline ourselves to be in the Word daily.

But what a blessing it is and how amazing it is when the desire begins to grow as you cultivate the seed that is growing within you, watering it with God’s Word, feeding it with his teaching, pruning it with his loving rebukes.

There is so much in life that we do, even though we don’t feel like it. And yet we do it. Why is it that we don’t apply the same dogged determination when it comes to God’s Word?

Why do we think we can go a day without hearing from him? Why do we think we have to ‘feel’ something before we act?

I know from experience, that time after time, when I have made the choice to put aside something else, in order to be in his Word, despite my feelings at the time, my desire for him grows and my desire for more time with him lengthens.

I find myself lost in conversation. I bury myself in some beautiful truth and before I know it, the minutes have flown by, and I rise up to go about my day eager for my next encounter in God’s presence.

There is a beautiful verse found in Psalm 16:11 - Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Did you know that there is joy in God’s presence? And not just joy, but fulness of joy. Abundant joy. Satisfying joy.

King David knew something about being in God’s presence and he longed for it.

Psalm 27:4 KJV - One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

David’s longing for close fellowship with God caused him to continually seek God’s presence. The ‘one thing’ that he desired was so important to him. He wanted to know God intimately. He longed to be in his presence continually.

Psalm 26:8 KJV - LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

Morning by morning, day after day, David desired to experience God’s goodness and God’s presence. He wanted to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. He desired to worship him. He adored God not for what he could get from him, not for God’s hand, but for his face. His presence.

Pursuing God’s face is about developing an intimate relationship with him. But you can’t have this without putting in some effort. For any relationship to work, both parties have to be intentional about communication.

God has already done his part. He gave us his Word. He gave us his Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us.

It is our job to do our part. We have to come into his presence and seek his face. We have to communicate with him. We have to read his Words of life. We have to meditate on them. We have to come to him in prayer and humility.

Just as Mary chose the ‘one thing’ (Luke 10:42) that was needed, sitting at Jesus feet, listening to his teaching and spending time in his presence, so too do we need this ‘one thing’.

The apostle Paul pursued the ‘one thing’ in life as well. He longed to know Christ for who he was, so he could worship him and serve him better. (Philippians 3:10-14)

Do you have a desire for the ‘one thing’? Is the greatest longing of your heart to seek God’s presence?

If your soul is running low on joy today, maybe it’s time you spent some time with Jesus, getting lost in conversation as you get to know him better. Allow him to bring renewal. Allow him to refresh you as you gaze on his beauty and his holiness.

Sometimes we read our Bibles simply to answer our questions or highlight Bible verses, or to find thoughts to jot down, but how about getting lost in conversation with God? How about spending some time in admiration of him. Talking to him about his goodness to us.

Take time today to come into God’s presence and sit with him. Commune with him. Listen as he speaks. Learn from him. Worship him.

Get lost in conversation and watch the desire grow.