How do you wake up in the morning? OK. OK. I get that. You wake up breathing. That’s good. Keep doing that. But really how do you wake up? To an alarm? To music? To someone shaking you back to consciousness? Does a song ever wake you up? This morning I heard someone singing, “I miss my time with you. Those moments together. I need to be with you each day.” Now that was a blast from the past! It’s been years since I’ve heard Larnelle Harris sing.
Hearing that song reminded me that God wants a relationship with me. Hebrews 8:10 says, God established a covenant (promised) “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Relationship.
There is nothing singular about relationship. It takes you and something else. Another person, a pet, God. See how that works? The way to strengthen the bond of relationship is by being together. Since I’ve been pretty good about spending time with God it’s a mystery why I heard that song, but decided to honor the prompting and start praying for everyone God brought to my mind. I know what you’re thinking – that could take all day, and you would be right about that.
I think God does want us to spend time reading scripture, his words, his commands, his promises, his love letter to us. I think our relationship with God is strengthened when we take time to talk to him without distractions, like entering a prayer closet – just God and me. You know. Like Matthew 6:6 describes it, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
If you look up the word prayer in an exhaustive concordance, you will find hundreds of references to prayer and the people doing the praying weren’t always standing at an altar or on their knees in a temple. How often do you think shepherds and warriors excused themselves from duty and traveled to the nearest tabernacle to pray? No. We can pray anyplace, anytime, for any reason. Over and over in the Psalms we hear David call out to God. Anyplace. Anytime. Any reason. Psalm 17:6 “I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.”
God desires a relationship with you. The song continues “and it hurts me when you say you’re too busy trying to serve me, but how can you serve me when your spirit’s empty”. I don’t know about you, but when my spirit is empty, everything is drained from me. I love these few verses where God assures us that he is always there to fill us up when life empties us out. Jesus understands everything we’re going through because he lived through the same trauma on Earth. “So let us hold on to the faith we have. For our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. Let us, then, feel free to come before God’s throne. Here there is grace. And we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.”
I can’t think of a better prayer of relationship with God than this from the Apostle Paul: I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong in spirit. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love. I pray that you can understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ’s love is greater than any person can ever know. But I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:126-19
Larnelle Harris – I Miss My Time With You
I miss my time with you
those moments together
I need to be with you each day
and it hurt’s me when you say
you’re too busy,
busy trying to serve me
but how can you serve me
when your spirit’s empty
there’s a longing in my heart
wanting more than just a part of you
it’s true
I miss my time with you.
Because of Grace we Press On