Have you considered how God feels about not getting enough one on one time with you?

31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

INSIGHT:  We can see that Jesus places a priority on rest and quiet time with Him, even over being able to help more people.  Jesus regularly got away from the ministry work to pray and spend time in solitude with His Father.  This is what we desperately need today, not more church activities or busyness, or sermons, or connection groups, or service projects, but a returning to our first love through simple alone time spent in His presence.  Look again at “Martha Martha” worried and upset about all her daily duties, but the Lord telling her that only one thing was needed, and that Mary had chosen what was better, and that it would not be taken from her!  This really goes against the thinking of our human nature which so easily values work, over resting in the Lord. 

I have worked very hard in the Lord over all these years and the pains in my body testify to it, but my time alone with God is still the most important time in my life.  I have had to protect it with from distraction with the violence of Mat 11:12.   I would not have made it through my valley of the shadow of death without that time, nor would I know the Father like I do today, nor would I have survived Satan’s many assaults against this ministry.  I really found God through all those hours of morning daily Bible study and walking all those years in the woods before Him in prayer.  I often entered the trailhead saying, “I’m here Father…please meet me in this place.”

I have grown way more in the Lord, outside of the institution called the “Church” than I ever did inside of it.  I have had unforgettable mountain top experiences with Him.  One time, His presence was so strong that I had to hold myself up with my hands on my knees.  There have been a few other times when I thought the heavens would break open and an angel, or the Lord himself, might show up on the trail.  The Father knows that most of us need some of those very special moments of manifestation early in our walk with Him, as a reassurance of His approval of us.  However, most of the time, our alone time will be nothing spectacular, but perhaps the sweet satisfaction of our fellowship with His Spirit.  Many times, I left the prayer trail feeling disappointed because He had felt distant, but I continued in faith, not by feeling. 

I was delighted when I read this quote from the great Reformer Jonathan Edwards, knowing I wasn’t the only one who went to the woods to spend time with God. “I spent most of my time in thinking of divine things, year after year; often walking alone in the woods, and solitary places, for meditation, soliloquy, and prayer, and converse with God.”

How would you feel if your spouse, or beloved, didn’t want to spend alone time with you, but instead they always needed to have other people around to stimulate them?  That would make me feel sad and unimportant in the relationship.  How must God feel when one of His children admitted to me, “Michael, God alone, is just not enough for me right now…I need someone else.”

He is a Living Person!  Have you considered how He feels about not getting enough one on one time with you?  Please start doing this if you aren’t already; find a special place or room.  No matter how weird it may feel at first, go by faith and this will change your life and walk with the Living Christ.  Step into it by faith and put a regular time and place on your schedule to do nothing but spend time alone with Him.  This is not Bible study time, but you can take your favorite verses or promises if it helps you.  Remember, the Bible is a means to an End, not the end.  The End is the Person we are pointed to in the Bible, the Living Jesus Christ.  Just go spend time with Him, and He will be found by you if you are diligent and He sees your heart motives are right (Deu 4:29, Ps 119:58 Jer 29:13).  Go in faith my friend!  Yes, I tell you, go and keep going until you find Him.  Go find Him and when you find Him, NEVER LET GO!