JUST LET ME GET THERE
March 02, 2021
Prayer: Lord, You are so great and powerful. There is no one greater than you. I love you and love being in Your presence. I am grateful that You will never leave me. I cannot make it without Your spirit, Your glory, Your mercy, and Your grace.
Scripture: O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Isaiah 25:1 NKJV
I have had some days when I would say, “If I could just get in my prayer closet; if I can just make it to prayer service.” Don’t get me wrong, I know God is omnipresent, everywhere at the same time. There’s just something about a designated meeting place with the Lord that is powerful.
There is something unique that happens when we are in His presence. When I am in His presence, it is incredible and indescribable. I wish I could put into words how I feel when I ask to be invaded and engulfed with His Holy Spirit. Nothing else matters when I am focused on getting into His presence and communicating with Him. God’s presence shifts the atmosphere.
The best way I can get you to really understand this is to explain my need to be in God’s presence as a craving. It is like I cannot breathe without His Word. Luke expounds on a similar feeling in Acts 17: 28. We cannot do anything without Jesus. We need Him when things are going well and when we are going through a rough time. The same passion you have for teaching can fuel into a deeper relationship with Christ. You can be on fire in the classroom and for the Lord.
I feel like the church is described as a bride and Christ described as a bridegroom in the scriptures because a bride and a bridegroom have a relationship in the marriage. And our Lord wants to have a relationship with us. How is your relationship with Christ? Do you only call Him when you need something? Do you look forward to when He calls on you to do something? Are you excited to spend time with Him in prayer and worship? Take a second and think about that. The relationship is only as good as the communication that you have with one another. If you only talk once a week, that is not much of a relationship. If you only spend time together two Sundays out of the month, that is not a very good relationship. Jesus wants to spend time with you every day. He loves you. He should be your first love.
Christ longs for a deep, solid relationship with us. He is standing at the door of our hearts knocking. When someone is knocking, that person seeks your permission to answer. Having a relationship with Jesus means knowing His voice. Jesus explains this relationship in John 10: 3-5. When you meditate on and spend time with someone on a daily basis, you undoubtedly know their voice. Are you ready for a deeper connection with the Holy Spirit? Are you willing to sacrifice something so He can move freely in your life? About three years ago I began making lifestyle changes so developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit became a priority. I began setting my alarm for 5 a.m. three days a week to call my church’s prayer line. We pray from 5 until 6 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also exchanged three of my favorite TV shows for studying the word and reading books about spiritual warfare and deliverance. These TV shows are an hour long. So that was three additional hours given to the Lord. My drive to work is 45 minutes one way. I stopped listening to secular music during my drive. Instead I use that time to worship. I do not tell you all that to get any reward. I just want to share practical ways to get closer to Jesus. You must give up some habits, but what is gained far outweighs any TV show or sleep.
Copyright 2020 Niccori Thomas-Brown. Email [email protected]
If you’ve enjoyed this devotion, Niccori has more topics in her book, Doing All God Has Called You To Do: A Devotion For Novice Teachers. Available for purchase here.