I tend to make everything all about me. I don’t mean to, it just happens.
Never have I been as aware of this as I was a couple of weeks ago when a speaker at a conference I attended said, “God is saying to you, I MISS YOU!” It was only three words but they were powerful and I’ve been stuck on them ever since.
Here’s the deal. . . I know how important prayer is. Every message I preach and every class I teach points to the importance of a relationship with God and a two-way conversation with Him. I am a major fan of journaling your prayers and keeping record of God’s responses to those prayers. I know what you miss when you don’t have an active ongoing relationship with God.
And therein lies the problem . . .
I’ve always focused on what I miss when I don’t spend time with God. I miss the blessing of His wisdom and guidance. I miss experiencing His peace. I miss the opportunity to feel and experience His love. I miss Him.
How shortsighted and one sided I’ve been. While I’ve been focused on what I miss when I don’t spend time with God, it never occurred to me that He misses me.
It’s not just about what He wants to say to me or what I might say to Him. It’s about a love that aches for one another. Not only do I ache for Him, but He aches for me. We understand this in our earthly relationships. In fact, many don’t stay in a relationship if they don’t feel their love is reciprocated. And there it is. . . He loves us! So, why wouldn’t He miss us when we don’t spend time with Him?
I am thankful for the reminder that I’m not the only one who misses out when I skip my time with God. What about you? Do you, like me, tend to make everything about you? Have you failed to see that when you don’t spend time with God you are not only cheating yourself, but Him too?
Today, God is saying to you . . . “I MISS YOU!”
Here are three things I’ve done to help get my relationship with God back on track. I hope they will help you too.
- Put God on your calendar. Everything else that is important to us gets put on the calendar. Why not make a standing appointment with God? If it’s on the calendar, it has a better chance of happening.
- Meet Him without an agenda. At least once a week spend time with God without an agenda. Don’t ask Him to fix anything, do anything, or be anything. Like any relationship, if every time you get together it’s all about what is needed, you’ll miss out on the good stuff.
- Plan a getaway. We plan getaways with our friends and our spouses, but we rarely plan a getaway with God. Even if it’s only one day or half day, plan to get away from the pressures of life and spend some extended time with God. Plan out where you will go and what you will do during your date with God.
