‘O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water’
- Psalm 63:1 -
Why are we here? To have a relationship with the living God! He truly desires a close, personal relationship with us. He created us to be His family, and to set us on the stage of redemption. This is why our fall into sin was so devastating. It broke God’s heart that sin would hinder our closeness to Him. But Jesus came to throw the doors wide open for fellowship with God. Therefore Jesus prays in John 17: “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know You, but I do; and these disciples know You sent Me. I have revealed You to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for Me will be in them, and I will be in them” (25-26). So salvation is about entering a relationship with God. Let’s learn more.
God wants us to walk with Him the way Enoch did: ‘Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him’ (Gen. 5:24). Imagine that. Enoch walked so closely to God that one day God just took him home to heaven. Noah also walked with God: ‘Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God’ (Gen. 6:9). Noah walked with God habitually, and to grow spiritually, we must all do the same.
It must be our habit to walk with God. Many encounter God early on but then stall in their Christian walk. There’s no movement in their life, so their relationship with God stagnates. They may be saved but there’s no fellowship with the One who saved them. Walking with God is not a one-time experience. It’s a journey where God takes us from one level of glory to the next, to the next (2 Cor. 3:18). Lean into that adventure and the Christian walk becomes joyful.
Having a healthy, close relationship with God means spending time alone with Him. Fellowship determines how we can grow spiritually. Not only are we to know Scripture, but we’ve got to know its Author. Paul boasts: ‘I know whom I have believed’ (2 Tim. 1:12). He doesn’t say what I have believed but Who he had believed. Faith and fellowship with God are inseparable. Knowing Bible without knowing God produces a form of godliness that lacks power. Therefore Jesus says: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Again, it’s all about relationship!
John begins his first epistle by saying: ‘We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy’ (1:3-4). This joyful fellowship with the Father and His Messiah truly distinguishes believers. It’s what sets us apart from the rest of the world.
Exodus 33:11 says: ‘The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.’ Now that’s fellowship! David says: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life’ (Ps. 27:1). David made his relationship with God personal. He looked to Moses and sought the Lord his God’s face. We ought to say with David: ‘One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life’ (Ps. 27:4). Is it any wonder that David was called a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22)?
Fellowship with God leads to confidence. 1 John 5:14-15 says: ‘Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.’ This confidence produces powerful Christians. Moses led Israel because he fellowshipped with God. David slew Goliath because he fellowshipped with God. Like the psalmist, fellowship must be our strongest craving. ‘As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God’ (Ps. 42:1-2).
God loves us and desires fellowship. He wants us to walk with Him like Adam before the fall. So strong is His desire that He says: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16). Therefore, we must make a habit of time alone with God. This goes beyond casual Bible reading or skimming devotionals that we forget ten minutes later. We must fellowship with other believers, but time with God is primary. How many churchgoers get alone with God in the privacy of their own home on top of attending on Sunday?
Some people perform religious rituals each day of the week without being acquainted with the great God of the universe. They don’t know Him because they don’t fellowship with Him. They may hear about God at church but they don’t experience Him. When Jesus died on the cross, the temple veil was torn in two, granting all believers one-on-one, face-to-face encounters with God. But it is our responsibility to get alone with Him, to enter that Holy of Holies where God’s presence dwells. To come before the Lord in such a way that His Word and Spirit transform us into the image of Christ.
David says: ‘Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved’ (Ps. 62:1-2). David says his soul waits in silence, but in truth, most of us don’t wait very well. We need to realize how different life can be if we only wait on God. We are to stop being consumed by the things of this world. This world is not our home and it’s certainly not our friend. We are merely pilgrims passing through: ‘For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Phil. 3:20).
You’ve fed your flesh long enough, now it’s time to feed your spirit. It’s time to hear what God has to say about your life instead of hearing what the world has to say. Set aside a time and place where it’s just you and God. Say “no” to all distractions and commit. Consider what Jesus did: ‘Great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed’ (Luke 5:15-16). Jesus withdrew from the crowds because He knew time alone with the Father was vital to finish the work He was sent to do. Jesus told the disciples to do the same when they felt depleted and lacked time to eat, saying: “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).
When ministry weighed heaviest on Jesus, He made time to be alone with God. The opposite is true for most of us. And yet it’s during this time alone with God that He transforms and gives us the direction we need. God tells Ezekiel: “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you” (3:22). When Samuel was a boy, he heard God speak when he ‘went and lay down in his place’ (1 Sam. 3:9-10). We must do likewise to effectively and powerfully hear from God, entering His presence quietly and alone.
The Holy Spirit changes us into the image of Christ, but it is our duty (and privilege) to live where the Spirit can work. If we commit to spend quality time alone with God, we will be transfigured like Christ, with our lives growing brighter and more beautiful. We make time for things that are important to us, so it’s the degree of that desire that will determine if we change our calendar and make time with God. Tell the Lord what the boy Samuel said: “Speak, for Your servant hears” (1 Sam. 3:10). Then allow God to speak to you through His Word.
We are commanded to look beyond today’s horizon, setting our hearts on eternity. Paul tells brothers and sisters in Christ to ‘fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise’ (Phil. 4:8). As Christians, we are told to ‘set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God’ (Col. 3:2-3).
We are new creatures in Christ with brand-new desires. This world is temporary and unworthy of our constant attention. But God is eternal and worthy of all attention. He is the One we must keep our eye on. He is the One who deserves our thoughts and time. David’s desire for God drives him to write: ‘O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water’ (Ps. 63:1). Learn this desire and you will find true satisfaction in Christ and Christ alone.