Here is a reminder of just 3 of the many reasons we spend daily time with Our Lord!
1. KNOWING CHRIST: INTIMACY WITH A FRIEND
Where are you? Is Christ a deep personal friend to you or merely an acquaintance? Would you recognize him if you bumped into him on the street (cf. Luke 24:13-27)? Do you desire his company and do you know him well or are you fiddling around in life with second and third best? Listen to God through the prophet Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight” (Jer 9:23-24). The quiet-time is a specific time in which we seek the face of the Lord, to know his friendship personally and to worship and understand him better.
2. BECOMING LIKE CHRIST: FINDING STRENGTH FOR HOLINESS
Not only do I spend time with Jesus in order to know him better, that is, to deepen the friendship and to enjoy him, but also to receive both his values and the strength it takes for living them out. It is through personal communion and friendship with the Lord, especially in quiet-time when there are no distractions, that I listen and am able to receive from him. Over the years of fellowshipping intimately with the Lord, a most unusual thing happens: I start to think and act like him, albeit imperfectly. I notice myself hating what he hates and loving what he loves. Have you noticed that? This is the heart of the new covenant ministry of the Spirit wherein he focuses our attention on Christ and in the process transforms us into our Friend’s image from one degree of glory to another. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul says: “And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
3. LIVING FOR CHRIST: A VISION FOR THE WORLD
But there is a third reason we seek to fellowship daily with the Lord in quiet-time. It is so that we can get on our hearts what is on his heart, namely, his church and the salvation of lost sinners. It is when we are with him that we are impacted by his mind on the issue. Again, there has never been a movement of God that is not in one way or another connected to prayer and the saints communing with their Lord. Remember that Jesus called the disciples to be with him so that by being with him he might make them fishers of men. In Mark 1:17, Jesus says: “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Later he chose twelve “that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach…” (Mark 3:14). Notice the order: (1) they spent time with Jesus, and (2) he sent them out. The inevitable result of being with Jesus, as the pattern in the life of the disciples illustrates, is a desire and commitment to serve Him both by serving his people and by carrying the gospel to the world.
