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SUNDAY SERVICE July 29, 2007
OUR GREATEST DESIRE
This week, God reminded me of something He has taught me before—but somehow I let it slip into the background.
There is something that God wants from each one of His children—more than good works, ministry, or anything else: He wants to fellowship with us...HAVE INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP. That is why He created us. He paid a great price to redeem us and cleanse us and put His Spirit in us so that we could have intimate fellowship with Him.
Adam walked and talked with God every day—until He and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden tree. But, even then, God gave them a way back to fellowship with Him.
God has always desired fellowship with His children.
Genesis 5:23 24 (AMP)And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him].
Genesis 6:9 (AMP) This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God.
god want us to walk in habitual fellowship with Him!
Who do we talk to the most? Our friends? Our family? How often do we actually talk to GOD? He craves our fellowship and our conversation. I don’t understand why and I probably never will until I get to heaven---but I know it’s true. He says:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20
That verse was written to BELIEVERS--to a CHURCH---because though they believed in Him, they had somehow locked Him outside. How tragic. I wonder how many times God has called to me—knocked on my door—and I have left Him standing outside? He wanted more than just casual talk and prayer. He wanted INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP--TALK AND COMMUNICATION.
Many people pray out loud all the time. I am not one of them. I am more comfortable praying silently, although I have no problem praying out loud in a group prayer or with my husband. I have always liked to talk to God in my heart and in my head…and that’s a good thing. However, God wants to hear our voices too. There is something special about a conversation between us and God. I got a bit of a wakeup call this week concerning this.
I went through a time of grieving this week and I won’t get into the whole thing. I just want to say this: I was feeling lonely and a bit lost going through this time of mourning—not all the time but enough to be really painful. Grief and mourning is a normal thing, a process by which we heal. We suffer losses of all kinds: death of a loved one, abandonment, loss of a relationship or a job, loss of a normal life when become ill or disabled. Every loss leaves a void and this void cannot be filled by anything but God. Oh sure, we get new relationships, new jobs, etc…but that does not fill the void; only God does. We need MORE of Him. It’s a mystery. We have ALL of Him and yet, we need MORE of Him.
I’VE SUFFERED MANY LOSSES IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. THIS WEEK, A NEW LOSS OPENED UP MY HEART AND CAUSED ME TO DEAL WITH ALL OF THEM IN A WAY I EVIDENTLY HAD NOT DONE YET.
I prayed, read the word, and prayed some more. I spoke to God continuously and yet, I felt alone in this, until a dear friend who is bedridden and has a wonderful relationship with God shared something with me.
A bit of background---I do most of my communicating by email. I don’t talk on the phone at all---except to this one friend who doesn’t have a computer. But, when I do talk to her, we usually stay on for at least a half an hour. Yet, when I talk to God (aloud) I only talk for a few seconds. My friend gently reminded me that God desired (yes God has desires too) my conversation. He wanted to be closer to me. Somehow, miraculously, HE—the King of Kings---was wanting my company.
GOD WANTS OUR COMPANY. HE WANTS TO CONVERSE WITH US. HE WANTS TO HEAR OUR VOICES. That’s why there is so much said in the Bible about words and speaking.
I know that there are many of you who know this already and are doing this every day. Praise God for that.
GOD NOT ONLY WANTS TO SPEAK WITH US, WANTS TO BE OUR GREATEST DESIRE. David said:
"How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" Psalm 84:1-2
In Revelation 2:3-4 (NIV) the scripture says:
You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
I DON’T EVER WANT GOD TO SAY THAT TO ME AND YET, I DO IT OVER AND OVER. I let other things, other people—even ministry FOR God—pull me away from my first love, my bridal love for God.
When my friend talked to me about talking to God, I heard Jesus knocking on the door of my heart and I realized how very much He wanted me to open that door and invite Him in to “sup” with me—to have intimate fellowship with me, to talk with Him.
AND SO I DID.
Such a simple thing and it made all the difference in the world. I opened my mouth and let the words come out. And, His presence overwhelmed me---not instantly, but in a relatively short time.
HOW MANY OF US WANT TO BE CLOSER WITH OUR SPOUSES? OUR CHILDREN? We want our spouse to spend quality time with us and talk with us. Marriage takes work and communication. So does our relationship with God.
Sometimes we’re too tired, too sick, too depressed, have too many things to do. But God needs to be first in our lives. We can’t always talk to Him in an audible voice. Sometimes—probably MOST of the time, we are talking to Him in our minds and hearts. We need to talk to Him in our hearts, our heads, and with our words. All of this is so important.
This is my message to you today—a short one. GOD WANTS MORE OF EACH OF US. GOD WANTS TO HAVE INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP WITH US.
GOD WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!
Friends are great…and necessary, but we can’t ever let our friends and brothers and sisters in the Lord be our first call. We can’t lift our voices to them more than we do to God.
PICK UP YOUR SPIRITUAL “PHONE” AND CALL GOD! TALK TO HIM LIKE HE’S YOUR BEST FRIEND, BECAUSE HE IS. HE IS ALSO YOUR FATHER, YOUR BRIDEGROOM, YOUR HEALER, YOUR INTERCESSOR, YOUR COMFORTER, YOUR ADVOCATE, YOUR PROVIDER, YOUR PEACE AND DELIVERANCE. HE IS EVERYTHING YOU NEED.
AND HE WANTS US CONVERSE WITH HIM. HOW AMAZING THAT GOD ALLOWS HIMSELF TO NEED US! LET’S NOT MAKE HIM MISS US!
Lord, I ask that each of us will have continued and increasing fellowship with you. Amen.
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