A constant cry of my heart is to be drawn closer to Him. It seems this cry has possessed my very being. It is to the point that my mind becomes aware that my heart is crying out, “draw me close to you.” It used to be that my frayed emotions would prompt me to pray—out of despair—for God to show up in my situation. As long as my emotions were in a happy place, I would be fine. I may sing a song about the Lord, but crying out to him was limited to times of desperation.
This is important to recognize, because a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, isn’t about setting the godhead on the sacred shelf of my heart until I have my time of devotion, or have a crisis that causes me to turn to him. A close personal relationship is about developing a strong awareness of the presence of God—as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in every moment of my life.
I noticed in my Bible reading this week, that the Apostle Paul speaks of this in he letter to the Christ followers in Rome. I find it interesting that in the countless times I have read the New Testament book of Romans, that I have not seen this portion of the apostle’s writing like this. There is a page on this site, Word of God Speak, that deals with this. I have written my observations of things I have seen while reading the Word of God.
The Word of God is alive, and as such, possesses the ability to “speak” every time it is read. The reason it does—or does not—has to do with the condition of the heart. Think about it. I mentioned that as long as my emotions were happy, I had no need to turn to my sacred shelf to seek God. As such, I was not at a place that I needed to hear from him.
However, when my emotions were in trouble, I became more open—desperate—to what he had to say. I was looking for an answer, or solution that would return my emotions to their happy place. As such, I was at a place of willingness to hear from him.
Back in the day, I saw a church sign that said, something like this: “Desperate men (by then it was understood that the word included all of humanity—male and female) pray…and prayer keeps you desperate.”
The point is that a desperate heart is an open heart; and an open heart is more readily willing to hear the voice of God the Holy Spirit.
I suppose it can be said, that this unexpected journey to simple church, has brought me to a path of opening my heart. It would appear that the result of opening my heart has brought me to a place of realization of just how much I need the godhead in my life. This means that the focus of my heart is shifting—it certainly has not fully shifted—from the things of this world—worries about income, family matters and being happy for instance—to being close to God, my Father, God my Savior, and God my ever present help.
Wow, what a revelation that is.