Get alone with God (1)

To grow spiritually, you must get alone with God. When you come into His presence, you should have these attitudes: (1) Anticipation. Expect to give and get from your time together. Make it a time of intimacy. It’s impossible to have a love affair in a public place; intimacy calls for being alone with the one you love. The Bible speaks about Christ as the groom and us as His bride (see 2 Corinthians 11:2). Think of the anticipation and excitement shared in such moments. (2) Reverence. Don’t rush into God’s presence. Prepare your heart by being still before Him and letting the quietness clear away the thoughts of the world. Remind yourself who you’re meeting with – God! The One who is “worthy…to receive glory and honor” (Revelation 4:11 NIV). (3) Alertness. Go to bed early so you will be in good shape to meet with God in the morning. He deserves your full attention. Give Him the best part of your day – when you’re the freshest. Follow Christ’s example: “The next morning [Jesus] was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.” Hudson Taylor astutely observed that you don’t tune up the instruments after the concert is over, you tune them before you start. (4) Willingness. It’s crucial that you don’t come to your quiet time to decide what you will or won’t do, but with the purpose of doing anything and everything God wants you to do. John says, “We will receive…whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him” (1 John 3:22 NLT). When you get alone with God, make up your mind to do whatever He says.