Alone With God

Luke 5:15-16 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
 
DO you like to be alone with God? During his incarnation as fully man, Jesus desired alone time with the Father and Spirit. Even though Jesus could have filled his time with preaching, discipling and healing, he deliberately moved away from people to spend considerable time withdrawing to lonely places and praying.
    Is it difficult for you to be alone with God? We can easily find many reasons to avoid that alone time. Perhaps you find it easier to engage in your daily tasks and respond to others’ demands. Filling our schedule to satisfy the god of busyness can be our purpose.
    Or do you even feel unworthy to sit with your holy, loving God? You’re not confident or comfortable with what you would say to your Lord if you sat down as if he were next to you. Perhaps, too, you are weary of praying the same words, the same desires while you hear only silence from your Father?
    God has given us a need to be with him. Made in his image, a foundation of our existence is to reflect the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14). One way to cultivate that love is to sit down alone with the One who loves you. As Jesus prayed in those lonely places, so must we. Alone time with God helps us move past our frailties to the One who says, “Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Alone time is the best time to truly hear the Father’s great love for you. Alone time with God enables you to enter your daily life with Jesus’ rest, assured the loving God is with you.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for inviting me to me alone with you. This is a most precious time of my day. I rejoice that you call me into such a personal relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, amen.