intimacy with jesus

ok - this devotion follows what I've been studying - this one is from Joyce Meyers and it really made me stop and think!!!!! Prioritizing our time......man - that's hard sometime isn't it..........it's funny how we "never" have time to spend with Jesus - but boy, we sure have time to do everything else that we need to do that day don't we.....lol........

It's kind of like people who can get up everyday of their lives for work on time and make it to their desk by 8:00 AM with no worries - but come Sunday morning for church - late, late, late......I have never understood it except that they don't necessarily put the same emphasis on church as they do their everyday life........

I am really working on having my devotional time - sometimes it is in the morning before I wake Jake up - sometimes it's in the evening after everyone is asleep - but I'm trying to do so much better. How can I not make time for him - when he is the one allowing me to continue breathing....he is the one who gave me life, he is the one who gave me the 24 hours a day to get everything done - including spending time with him..................I've really been studying this and trying to get it into my spirit that spending time with Jesus - spending intimacy time with him is soooo important in our everyday walk with him.......

Here is Joyce's words on the subject:

"We know from Luke 10:1 that Jesus appointed at least seventy people to travel ahead of him to every pace he went. We know that Jesus chose twelve disciples to share a deeper level of intimacy with him, and out of the twelve there were three - Peter, James and John - who were taken by Jesus into situations that none of the others shared (see Matthew 17:1,2) But of these three, who was closest to Jesus? Only John felt comfortable enough to rest his head on Jesus' chest (an act of intimacy) as he listened to the Lord talk at the Passover Feast (see John 13:23). When Jesus was dying on the Cross, he told John to take care of his mother. He knew that John loved him enough to do whatever he asked of him.

Jesus had seventy acquaintances, twelve disciples, three close friends and one who loved him even more deeply than all the other. Jesus loved them all and they all loved Jesus, but there were few willing to make the same level of commitment as those who entered into a more intimate relationship with him.

Not everyone is willing to obey God and pay the price required to be close to him. Intimacy with God requires an investment of time and not everyone is willing to invest the same amount of it.

God does not ask for ALL of our time, but he does ask to be kept in first place at all times (see 1 John 5:21). Some people think the only way to be close to God is to do nothing but spiritual things. However, God designed us with a body, a soul, and a spirit; and he expects us to take care of each area of our being. If we keep God first, then everything we do can be spiritual. Even something like cooking breakfast can be an act of worship if we do it unto the Lord and for his glory.

However, the main issue of intimacy with God involved how we PRIORITIZE our time.

We may say we do not have time to seek God, but we take time to do the things that are the most important to us. "I am busy" can be an excuse. We all have to fight distractions every day to protect our time to seek God. he is the most important requirement in our lives, so why does he not have that place of importance in our time? Perhaps it is because when we start making a spiritual investment, we want instant gratification. But to seek God means to continue craving, pursuing and going after him.

We will not experience instant gratification when we seek God. We must sow before we reap: we must invest before we get a return. In other words, we must lose before we gain; we must give up time before we can experience intimacy with God." This is my FAVORITE part of the whole devotional - it spoke volumes to me......why should we expect instant gratification when we haven't spent anytime with him......wow...very powerful!

I have so used the term "I am too busy" today - I'll catch up tomorrow - and tomorrow turns into a couple of days before I realize that I have put him on a back burner and that is not how God wants our relationship to be. I want to wake up with him on my mind and go to bed with him on my mind. Wake up acknowledging that "This is the day that the Lord hath made"......and I'm going to spend time with him during this day!!!!

Love to all - be blessed and find your "intimacy" time with Jesus.....what a great reward when that is accomplished.