Today in prayer the Lord was laying on my heart the need for us to pause. There are times we get so busy doing FOR Him that we can neglect being WITH Him. There are also other times we can get so busy with life that we neglect our time with Him. It is time for us to pause, put life on hold, and get in His presence. We must silence the distractions that try to steal our time and focus, pause, and sit with the Lord. It is time to put Him first and it is time to invite Him into every area of our lives. He does not just want to meet with us on Sundays at church. He wants to be invited into our homes, our families, our communities, and every single area of our lives. He wants to be part of every conversation we have and every decision we make. He doesn’t want us to close off any areas of our lives to Him. Are there areas of our lives that we try to keep Him out of because we know we are making decisions that He would not want us to make? Are we doing things that we know are not pleasing to Him so we try to hide that part of our lives or justify our behaviors? Do we have ourselves convinced that we can shut that part of ourselves off to Him and still be okay?

It is time for a personal relationship with Him. We have to move from knowing about Him to really knowing Him. We can spend a lifetime learning about Him from others, but never experiencing Him on a personal level for ourselves. It is not enough to learn about Him. We must personally know Him. There are many people that we can learn about. We can read their stories, hear others experiences with them, watch movies about them, and know all about them. We can know their character, know their history, and the things they have done. We can know so much about them that it feels like we are in a relationship with them, but they do not know us at all because we have not created that personal intimacy with them that comes from getting to know each other and not just us getting to know them. We must ask ourselves which category our relationship with God falls in. Do we know about Him, or do we really know Him?

Creating a personal relationship with God takes times and dedication. A relationship does not happen by accident. It takes effort and it takes sacrificing time to be with that person. We often think and say our relationship with Him is worth our effort and time, but do our actions back up our words? Are we seeking Him, spending time with Him, and getting in His Word for ourselves? He is calling us to Him because He loves us and wants to be invited into every area of our lives: the good, the bad, the ugly. He doesn’t want to be left out of any part. The Creator of all things wants a close, intimate relationship with us! That blows my mind when I really think about it. He doesn’t have to be so involved in our lives, but He wants to!

I want to share a story with you from the Bible that God reminds me about all the time because to be totally transparent I struggle with getting really busy doing for Him. I pray every day, but I struggle with sitting aside time to get really quiet and sit at His feet as often as I should. What I mean by that is setting aside more than a few minutes here and there and really taking time to sit quietly in His presence and ask Him what He wants to teach me, say to me, change in me, and spending time talking back and forth with Him with no time limit set. When I have filled my calendar way to much and I am exhausted He reminds me of this story. Please take a few minutes and read it with me.

Luke 10:38-42

Martha and Mary

³⁸ Now while they were on their way, Jesus entered a village [called Bethany], and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was continually listening to His teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was very busy and distracted with all of her serving responsibilities; and she approached Him and said, “Lord, is it of no concern to You that my sister has left me to do the serving alone? Tell her to help me and do her part.” ⁴¹ But the Lord replied to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things; ⁴² but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part [that which is to her advantage], which will not be taken away from her.”

Notice that He didn’t say serving was bad or wrong, but He did say only one thing is necessary. Our time with Him is necessary to our Christian walk with Him. We cannot be in a relationship without spending time with the other person. How many couples get so focused on raising their kids that when the kids are out of the house they look at each other and feel like they are looking at a stranger? It isn’t that they decided to fall out of love, or that they started disliking the other person. The issue was they got so busy and focused on raising the kids and life that they neglected their relationship and grew apart to the point of not knowing each other anymore. What we feed grows and what we starve dies and relationships are no different.

Luke 10:38-42 is a beautiful story that shows the relationship we can have with Jesus. When we stop the busyness of our lives and really just sit at His feet our relationship with Him will go to an all-new level of closeness. That is really where we can learn from Him, grow in Him, be changed by Him, pour our hearts out to Him, be healed by Him, receive our calling from Him, and learn who we are in Him and who He is in us.

I want to encourage you to stop what you are doing and reach out to Him. He is right there waiting for you! No matter where you are in your walk with Him take the time to pause and pour your heart out to Him. Whatever is on your mind share it with Him. Whatever pain you have, worries you are struggling with, decisions you are facing, relationship issues, things that bring you joy, things that are going right, and anything else on your mind—just talk to Him. Once you talk to Him take the time to listen to what He wants to say to you.

Blessings,

Nichole Henson, Fullness of Joy Ministry

Email: fullnessofjoyministry@gmail.com

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