The Requirements for Spending Time With God
What is needed for successful times with God?A Sincere Prayer
In Exodus 33:13, Moses prayed to the Lord, "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you..." (NIV) We began our relationship with God by saying a simple prayer. Now, to deepen that relationship, like Moses, we must ask Him to teach us about Himself.It's easy to have a shallow relationship with someone. You can know someone's name, age, and where they live, but not really know him or her. Fellowship is what deepens a relationship, and there is no such thing as "fast fellowship." In a world of fast food and instant everything, we must realize that we can't have fast fellowship with God. It won't happen. If you really want to get to know someone, you've got to spend time with that person. To truly get to know God, you need to spend time with Him. And as you do, you'll want to inquire about His nature—what He's genuinely like. And that begins with a sincere prayer.
A Pure Heart
A pure heart is a cleansed heart. As a Christian, I have been forgiven by the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His blood has cleansed me of all my sins. But a pure heart also means a single-minded heart. The best example I've heard to illustrate this point is a particular brand of soap. I loved it as a kid. It's the soap that floats—IVORY SOAP. They say it's "99-44/100% Pure®." In other words, it has no added ingredients to make you smell better or sweat less. It's just plain soap. Now, you can use Irish Spring to make you smell better. You can use Dial to keep your sweat in check. But Ivory is just pure soap with no additives. The additional ingredients of others soaps aren't necessarily bad, but they do add to the soap.Like Ivory Soap, a pure heart is one without added ingredients. It's a single-minded heart, a single-minded life. It means your number one ambition in life is the same as that of the Apostle Paul, who said in Philippians 3:8, "...I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." (NIV) And by the way, that's the definition of eternal life. Jesus said in John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (NIV) Eternal life is not something you have to wait for until you get to heaven. You can experience it now. It's knowing the living God, and the Savior, Jesus, whom He has sent. As someone has wisely observed, knowing God and fellowshipping with Him on a personal basis is the privilege of all and the unceasing experience of but a few.
We have the privilege of getting to know God. He already knows us—backwards, forwards, and inside out. Now we have the privilege of knowing Him. But we must make it our life's number one ambition.
Read Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI or Part VII.
