)-so he still seeks men and women today. He calls again, �?I>Where are you? �?/DIV>
Having restored-at great cost to himself—your potential for being part of his family, he now wants you to know him intimately in a strong and ongoing way. This relationship began when you accepted God’s solution to the problem of your sin and believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, but it needs to be continually nurtured by spending good quality time alone with him.
A daily appointment with God-whether you call it a quiet time, a daily devotion, a morning watch, or whatever-provides this concentrated time with him that is so powerful and refreshing. So it is that two searching hearts can meet: the heart of ‘God, who calls out to his child, “Where are you?�?and your own heart, perhaps weary, perhaps confused, but wanting to know and experience God, and calling out to him, “Where are
you?�?/DIV>
THE PRICE OF NEGLECT
What would happen if you neglected your relationship with God?
(1) You would fail to reach your full potential as a person. The spiritual maturity that comes only through staying in close touch with God would elude you. Even if you achieved maturity physically, mentally, and socially, you would be an imbalanced person because you failed to reach your potential in the all-important spiritual aspect of your life.
(2) Your unique gifts and abilities would not be fully developed. Because these were given to you by God, they depend on him for their full outworking in your life. God had a specific, perfect purpose in mind when he designed you with your special gifts, and without the energizing and divine guidance that comes only through intimate knowledge of the Lord, your gifts and abilities would be unrecognized or misused.
(3) Your weaknesses would cripple you. Just as we all have unique gifts, so we also have individual weaknesses, and we depend critically on God’s strength to overcome these liabilities. God is sufficient in whatever area of weakness we have. But we cannot experience his sufficiency without getting to know him.
(4) You would be out of touch with reality. Since reality is rooted in God (
Acts 17:28 ,
Colossians 1:17 ), we cannot truly understand the world around us or relate properly to other people or even fully accept and understand ourselves unless we begin to see all of this as God sees it. And we do not naturally, on our own, see things from God’s point of view. We must spend time with him to learn his values, his perspectives, his purposes.
As you can see, a neglected relationship, with the Lord is not a pretty picture. In contrast is the life of one who actively cultivates that relationship: He can learn to relate lovingly and meaningfully to other people; he can learn to accept himself because he continually experiences God’s acceptance; he can gain victory over adverse circumstances because he knows firsthand that the God of love and justice and mercy is in control; he can live a life of effective and fulfilling service because he relies habitually on God’s strength and guidance; he can be a channel of God’s love to a lost world, for he regularly and deeply experiences this love himself.
RELATIONSHIP ESSENTIALS
In building a house, some essentials simply cannot be overlooked-the foundation, walls, the roof Other things are not essential-a sundeck, flower boxes in the windows, a chrome-plated bathtub.
The same is true in building a relationship. There are at least three essentials for the relationship to be successful: time spent together, good communication, and right attitudes. These essentials apply as much to our relationship with God as they do to our other interpersonal relationships.
Time together -Obviously, if we are going to get to know someone we will have to spend time with him. Jesus recognized this when he chose his twelve apostles “that they might
be with him�?(
Mark 3:14 ).
Good communication -Transmitting thoughts and feelings from one person to another is also necessary in a good relationship. A listening ear is important. We cannot understand someone without listening to him, and we will never feel understood by others until we feel we have been heard. In our relationship with God, he talks to us through the Bible and through his Holy Spirit living within us, who interprets the Bible for us. God also allows us to talk with him and to be understood through prayer. He longs for us to tell him what we think and how we feel.
Right attitudes -If we feel a person is unworthy of our time, we will never give that person our closest attention, no matter how often we are together or how much he talks to us. An attitude of mutual respect is necessary. We know that God treats us with respect and dignity-even though we by no means deserve such treatment. On the other hand, God totally deserves our reverent honor, yet we often fail to give him this due respect. Therefore our relationship with him suffers.
MAKING IT WORK
In developing the habit of meeting alone with God each day, first ask whether you actually desire a closer relationship with him. If your answer is yes, commit yourself to working at this relationship-doing whatever it takes on your part to make it succeed. You may also want to tell a friend about this commitment of yours, so he or she can be faithful to encourage you.
God is seeking you. He wants personal fellowship with you, rather than your adherence to a ritual.
Therefore you can feel free to vary the methods you use in having a daily appointment with God. If you marry yourself to one method, you run the risk of having your relationship with the Lord strangled by legalism. So be creative!
Decide on a time and a place for your regular appointments. The place should be quiet and private, if you can find such a place, away as much as possible from any disturbance. The time should probably be when you are at your best in terms of quiet concentration. It may be different times on different days, or perhaps a regular time each day is best, especially in helping you make this time with God a habit that you don’t forget.
Many have found that the early morning is the best time for them, allowing them to dedicate their lives that day to the discipline of walking with Christ. Israel’s King David prayed,
Morning by morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. (
Psalm 5:3 )
And�?/DIV>
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my bust in you. (
Psalm 143:8 )
After deciding on a time and a place, think about how you can spend this time with God. One particularly helpful way to occupy this time is to do these five things, in this order: pray, read in God’s word, meditate on what you read, decide on away to apply to your life what you have read and meditated on, and then pray again.
In
prayer you can “approach the throne of grace with confidence�?(
Hebrews 4:16 ). Prayer is not always easy. But it is of crucial importance, and it is a privilege beyond comparison in this earthly life of ours. The Almighty God allows and desires us to talk with him. What an amazing gift!
There are different ways to pray and one that is often used can be easily remembered by the word ACTS-Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.
Adoration means worship. It is selfless prayer because it is all for God. It means expressing your personal recognition of what God is like, and why he is entirely worthy of your love and honor. Acknowledge to him what you understand about his greatness, his power, his majesty, his love.
Confession is making sure every known sin is acknowledged before God and forsaken. Confession comes from a root word meaning “to agree together with.�?Agree with God about sin in your life.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
But�?/DIV>
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (
1 John 1:8-9 )
Thanksgiving is expressing your appreciation to God. Thank him for the specific things he has done for you personally. How many can you recall? Surely he will be pleased if you can remember them-and you will be blessed as you do.
Supplication means asking God for specific things. Ask both for others and for yourself. Your requests can be for your family, your friends, your church’s leaders, your nonChristian acquaintances, your country’s leaders, missionaries you know around the world, people you know are suffering, and others. You may want to develop a prayer list. Make your requests specific. Praying specifically requires faith, but also allows you to recognize specific results.
THE FIRE STARTER
The second part of your appointment with God is reading God’s word, the Bible, which is his written revelation to mankind. Your greatest need in life is to hear the words of God-to allow them to strike fire within your heart.
Don’t rush. You are not trying merely to “find something�?in each day’s reading, but to develop a relationship with God. This is Bible reading for the pure joy of reading and allowing God to speak personally to you. Feel free to stop reading and to meditate if you feel God is speaking to you in a particular way in a certain passage, or if you come across a truth or principle that you know you need to better understand.
Meditation involves reviewing various thoughts by mulling them over in your mind and heart. It means processing spiritual food. You might call it “thought digestion�?-considering a biblical thought deliberately and thoroughly, providing a vital link between reading God’s truth and allowing it to affect how you live.
Meditation is taking a good, long look, just as a craftsman of jewels looks closely at a dazzling gem to see all its light and beauty. Meditating on a portion of the Scriptures is like gazing at a precious stone of many facets, turning it from angle to angle to see its many reflections. Meditation reveals unlimited marvels from the Scriptures which otherwise might not be seen.
A note of caution: Beware of meditating only on your thoughts, and not on God’s thoughts from the Bible. There is danger in rummaging through waste and barren desert-thoughts that can be labeled daydreaming or worse. Let your mind dwell on God.
Application is prayerfully deciding how to put into practice the truth God has revealed to you. You’ll be excited to see how your appointments with God give you a better grasp on the spiritual energy and wisdom needed to live the kind of life that is pleasing to God.
Beware of Bible reading and meditation that does not result in some kind of obedient action-a changed attitude toward God or your fellow human beings or yourself, changed habits, better relationships with others, more effective work and service, more specific and heartfelt prayer-in short, a more Christlike life. Jesus said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and
put it into practice�?(
Luke 8:21 ).
Your appointment with God may not always be the highlight of your day, but it should be the renewing of a vital relationship with him that lasts throughout the day. God will speak to you at other times in addition to your appointment with him, so you will always want to be available and sensitive to him, desiring to experience him in all your activities. After all, your appointment with God does not reflect a devotion to a method, but a devotion to God.
So plan now to guard, nourish, and maintain your daily time with the Lord, so that your relationship with him-which Christ made possible through his death and resurrection-will deepen week by week.
Vast riches lie ahead of you-awaiting your day-by-day discovery!
Adapted from Appointment With God ( 1973).
Illustration by Jim Lamb 
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