There is no greater joy and privilege in this life than to meet with God. I absolutely love how Pastor Charles Swindoll shared this thought: “To be used of God. Is there anything more encouraging, more fulfilling? Perhaps not, but there is something more basic: to meet with God. To linger in His presence, to shut out the noise of the city and, in quietness, give Him the praise He deserves. Before we engage ourselves in His work, let’s meet Him in His Word… in prayer… in worship.”1
Imagine the Creator of the universe and the sovereign Lord of all eternity allows us to meet with Him and get lost in His presence as often as we desire. Let’s take a minute to look at the three main ways, according to Pastor Swindoll, we can meet with God.
What a wonderful way to meet with the Lord! When we read the Scriptures we get to view God’s full majesty in a myriad of way. At creation in (Genesis 1) we see His unlimited creative power invoked by His just speaking the universe into existence. In (Psalm 139) we see how God was intimately involved in creating a masterpiece called you. And in the New Testament we are introduced to Jesus in the flesh and his amazing compassion for all of humanity. Wherever you choose to look in the Bible we see God’s amazing love for us, His hallowed holiness, and a host of other divine attribute such as His grace, mercy, and sovereignty.
Reading the Bible allows us to hear God’s wonderful commands, discover His perfect will for our lives, and realize that even though we are sinners we can see God’s master plan to win us back, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, into the most marvelous relationship of a heavenly Father with His earthly child. As we read and study the Scriptures we see God constantly speaking to us through the real-life biblical characters. In addition, as we mine the Word we are guaranteed to unearth gems and nuggets of wisdom, joy, and peace as we meet our maker in its pages. My friends the Bible simply put is God’s magnificent love letter to us – enjoy!
Meeting God through prayer
Prayer – what an awesome privilege God gives us to communicate with Him, both in public, but most of all in private. Private prayer is so much more than just asking God to meet our needs – though our God delights to do so. When we pray we can also delight in God through praising Him and thanking Him for who He is and all the blessings He showers on us. Prayer is also a time to confess our sins and shortcomings to the Lord and tell Him how sorry we are to disappoint Him.
And yes, praying for the needs of others as well as our own needs is what makes our divine/human relationship so special. Imagine, we can come to God with a hunger to know Him better and do His will, and in return God supplies all our needs and lets us know how much He enjoys our company. Christian, don’t just make prayer a vehicle to have your needs met but take time to praise, thank, and show your love for just how wonderful a God we serve.
Meeting God through worship
Worshipping God. Can there be a more intimate way to express our love toward our Savior. Worship to me is the crown jewel of our Christian experience. It is a time when we can just get lost in the presence of the Lord by meditating and magnifying the entire array of our God’s attributes. And while worship can involve our feelings, it is so much more. For you see we don’t just worship our God based on how we feel but based on who He is. We read in (Psalm 150:2): “…Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!” Notice, this verse says that we praise God according to His excellent greatness. Thus, since God’s greatness is totally off the charts, our praise and adoration should be likewise. And I have found in my own life that worshipping Jesus allows for an inimacy with Him that frankly can’t be obtained in any other way.
So, the next time you want to meet with God get in His Word, get on your knees, and praise Him with your whole heart!