Connect to God (Part 3)
When Jesus talks about abiding in John 15, what does that actually mean? What does abiding look like, and how do we do it?
One very practical way is spending time with him. Just like we connect to other people by spending time with them, we connect to Christ by spending time with him. Growing up, I heard this referred to as “quiet time” or “devotionals”. In French, the term for this concept is “culte personnel”, which translates personal worship. So we have corporate worship, and we have personal worship. We very much need both.
Generally speaking, most Christians have a pretty good handle on the importance of corporate worship and make an effort to meet with the body of Christ weekly. I wonder though how many Christians see the value of personal worship and make the effort to practice that discipline daily. Because here is the thing: You can’t expect to get all the spiritual nourishment you need out of one hour on Sunday when you need the daily abiding that comes from intentional, extravagant intimate time spent with Christ through personal worship.
One very practical way is spending time with him. Just like we connect to other people by spending time with them, we connect to Christ by spending time with him. Growing up, I heard this referred to as “quiet time” or “devotionals”. In French, the term for this concept is “culte personnel”, which translates personal worship. So we have corporate worship, and we have personal worship. We very much need both.
Generally speaking, most Christians have a pretty good handle on the importance of corporate worship and make an effort to meet with the body of Christ weekly. I wonder though how many Christians see the value of personal worship and make the effort to practice that discipline daily. Because here is the thing: You can’t expect to get all the spiritual nourishment you need out of one hour on Sunday when you need the daily abiding that comes from intentional, extravagant intimate time spent with Christ through personal worship.
Guard your personal worship with your life. Guard your personal worship as if your life depended on it. It does. As the life of the branch depends on its abiding in the Vine, so our life and fruitfulness depends on our abiding in Christ.
I recognize that some people may be intimidated by personal worship, either because its a foreign concept or perhaps just an unfamiliar one. For those of you who feel that way even now, start here: Consider the love of a God who wants to meet with you. He ripped down the curtain of the temple by the death of his son so that YOU could enter into his presence. He wanted to see YOU come near him, not a high priest. So you do not have to “do quiet time right”, you just have to show up and God will meet you there.
However, it does come with practice. It makes me think of when I took piano lessons as a child. When I was learning to play the piano, I forced myself to practice with a twenty-minute timer, a workbook, and exercises. Now that I know how to play, I am drawn to every piano in the corner of a room that beckons me to sit and play the first worship song that comes to mind. Now playing is natural, but I never would have learned to play if it weren’t for the practical exercises at the beginning.
The same is true as we learn to spend abiding time with Christ. At first, it may seem hard and we will need to set reminders and use resources to guide us. (And the resources out there are endless! See the bottom of this post for a few starters.) But the more you spend time with him, the more natural it will become until you are beckoned into his presence every moment of the day.
The point of this post is not to teach you a method for personal worship. You’ll never fall in love with a method. You fall in love with a person. You don’t get life out of a method. You get life out of the Vine. I just want to share with you a love for the Vine; we can talk methodology later. I want you to taste what it’s like to desire time with a person so much that you wither up without him and you’ll do whatever it takes to be connected to him.
I read a sweet book recently called “A shepherd looks at Psalm 23” (download for free here) written by an Arabian shepherd. When explaining the verse from Psalm 23, “You lead me beside still waters”, he said that the still water we imagine does not exist in the middle eastern desert. There are no large pools of still water. Instead, what the shepherd does is wake his sheep early in the morning to lick the drops of dew off the ground. If the sheep do this, they will get enough hydration for the entire day from this still water.
Friends, the Lord is offering you still water in the dew drops of the early mornings, if only you will wake up and let him lead you out.
For the not-morning people who are still doubting me on this, can I be bold with you? Is getting up earlier worth the health of your soul and the fruitfulness of your life and ministry? Give it a shot and see if getting up and spending time with Christ doesn’t entirely transform you into a morning person.
My grandmother used to read the newspaper cover to cover every morning, that is, until they stopped printing the paper recently. One morning I found her sitting in her chair as was her habit when reading the paper, only this time with her Bible in her lap. “They stopped running the paper,” she said to me. “So I’ve been reading my Bible instead. And you know what? I’m a lot happier.”
If you don’t believe it from me, then hear it from my sweet grandmother. The Lord has refreshing drops of dew for us when we meet with him in the early mornings. Don’t miss it.
Sabbath was given to Israel by the Lord in a day and age when their very livelihood depended on their productivity in the fields. God know today that we are still addicted to productivity, which means we need Sabbath now more than ever. And yet respecting the Sabbath seems to be the one out of Ten Commandments that we don’t mind anymore, like that one doesn’t count or apply. The Sabbath is God’s command to us to stop, cease working and striving, and abide in him. It is a call to surrender our need for productivity and trust God to provide. For many believers today, this might just be one of the most relevant and needed out of all the Ten Commandments.
(Bonus side note: Does anyone ever feel forgetful? Especially when it comes to spiritual things? It’s almost as if we are plagued by a vague spiritual amnesia. If the Sabbath was given to us that we might rest and remember, could our spiritual amnesia be directly related to our failure to practice Sabbath?)
How could you better practice the Sabbath in your life and with your family? Would you consider spending some time listening to the Lord on this and brainstorming some ways to obey God in this way?
God needs space to speak. He will not compete with your busy schedule. You cannot squeeze him in. Consider Christ’s example, “As was his custom, Jesus went to the mountain to pray.” (Luke 22:39) If Jesus withdrew and retreated to be with God habitually, do we not need to do so ten times more? John Piper put it this way:
I recognize that some people may be intimidated by personal worship, either because its a foreign concept or perhaps just an unfamiliar one. For those of you who feel that way even now, start here: Consider the love of a God who wants to meet with you. He ripped down the curtain of the temple by the death of his son so that YOU could enter into his presence. He wanted to see YOU come near him, not a high priest. So you do not have to “do quiet time right”, you just have to show up and God will meet you there.
However, it does come with practice. It makes me think of when I took piano lessons as a child. When I was learning to play the piano, I forced myself to practice with a twenty-minute timer, a workbook, and exercises. Now that I know how to play, I am drawn to every piano in the corner of a room that beckons me to sit and play the first worship song that comes to mind. Now playing is natural, but I never would have learned to play if it weren’t for the practical exercises at the beginning.
The same is true as we learn to spend abiding time with Christ. At first, it may seem hard and we will need to set reminders and use resources to guide us. (And the resources out there are endless! See the bottom of this post for a few starters.) But the more you spend time with him, the more natural it will become until you are beckoned into his presence every moment of the day.
The point of this post is not to teach you a method for personal worship. You’ll never fall in love with a method. You fall in love with a person. You don’t get life out of a method. You get life out of the Vine. I just want to share with you a love for the Vine; we can talk methodology later. I want you to taste what it’s like to desire time with a person so much that you wither up without him and you’ll do whatever it takes to be connected to him.
Mornings
I read a sweet book recently called “A shepherd looks at Psalm 23” (download for free here) written by an Arabian shepherd. When explaining the verse from Psalm 23, “You lead me beside still waters”, he said that the still water we imagine does not exist in the middle eastern desert. There are no large pools of still water. Instead, what the shepherd does is wake his sheep early in the morning to lick the drops of dew off the ground. If the sheep do this, they will get enough hydration for the entire day from this still water.
Friends, the Lord is offering you still water in the dew drops of the early mornings, if only you will wake up and let him lead you out.
For the not-morning people who are still doubting me on this, can I be bold with you? Is getting up earlier worth the health of your soul and the fruitfulness of your life and ministry? Give it a shot and see if getting up and spending time with Christ doesn’t entirely transform you into a morning person.
My grandmother used to read the newspaper cover to cover every morning, that is, until they stopped printing the paper recently. One morning I found her sitting in her chair as was her habit when reading the paper, only this time with her Bible in her lap. “They stopped running the paper,” she said to me. “So I’ve been reading my Bible instead. And you know what? I’m a lot happier.”
If you don’t believe it from me, then hear it from my sweet grandmother. The Lord has refreshing drops of dew for us when we meet with him in the early mornings. Don’t miss it.
Sabbath
(Bonus side note: Does anyone ever feel forgetful? Especially when it comes to spiritual things? It’s almost as if we are plagued by a vague spiritual amnesia. If the Sabbath was given to us that we might rest and remember, could our spiritual amnesia be directly related to our failure to practice Sabbath?)
How could you better practice the Sabbath in your life and with your family? Would you consider spending some time listening to the Lord on this and brainstorming some ways to obey God in this way?
Linger
“Satan devotes 168 (thats 24/7) hours a week trying to deceive you. Do you think you can maintain a renewed mind with a ten-minute glance at God’s book once a day?”
I was challenged recently to tithe your time - that’s 10% of every day, which is approximately 2.5 hours daily. I dare you do this and not be changed. But if that seems daunting to you, start with 10 minutes every morning, and you’ll see how your affinity and affection for the Lord will grow until you crave 2.5 hours with him.
Yet think about it this way: How much time does a branch abide in the vine, 2.5 hours a day? Of course not — It’s all the time. In the same way, our goal is not on a specific amount of time, but on a heart that longs to linger with Christ. A heart that willingly pours out extravagant time on the Lord Jesus. As a branch on a vine, we need to be pressing into Christ, mindful of him, and in communication with him all the time. And spending 2.5 hours or 10 minutes with him is how we train our hearts to enjoy being in his presence, until we are abiding in him all the time like a branch on the vine.
She Reads Truth: Website and app. Available reading plans. https://shereadstruth.com
Love God Greatly: Free downloadable Bible studies. https://lovegodgreatly.com/lgg/bible-studies/
Resources for Personal Worship
Love God Greatly: Free downloadable Bible studies. https://lovegodgreatly.com/lgg/bible-studies/
PRRP personal Bible Study method:
- Pray, asking the Holy Spirit to guide your study and reveal truth to you.
- Read a passage slowly 2-3 times, pausing to reflect after each reading.
- Respond by answering these questions. Use your answers to write a reflection or prayer.
- What is God teaching me about himself?
- What is God teaching me about myself (or humanity in general)?
- What do these things mean to my life today?
- What is this passage calling me to do/obey, and how will I respond?
- With whom can I share what I have received from God today in his Word?
- Pray for God to help you apply what he has shown you.
Click this google doc link for even more ideas: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kpteqBmoZ_BRRmiciDL35rs0zbL8igU7FwpaxnIXJXo
Comments
Post a Comment