To Live Is Christ

Check out this awesome video posted on the Reach Records website! The video is a "typography" of a song by Trip Lee called "To Live Is Christ" (from the 13 Letters album). This album features songs for all 13 of the Pauline epistles, with the above song detailing the book of Philippians.

The Glory of God & True Contrition

The other night I was reading a sermon by Jonathan Edwards called "Praise, One of the Chief Employments of Heaven." As Edwards spoke about the "transcendent glory and divine excellency of God," I had a revelation of how right John Piper is when he says that true remorse for sin only comes from beholding the glory of God. Here are some thoughts I wrote down at the time:

Man can be made to see that his actions are evil in relation to other men, but this pales in comparison with the profound sense of shame and humiliation he will feel when he sees the infinitely bright and glorious excellencies of Christ and realizes what he has traded them for — the complete and total opposite. This is why evil men will hide their faces in shame when the glory of God is displayed to them at the Judgment. Imagine people seeing all of the infinite perfections of God, his infinitely glorious and sweet love and mercies, and realizing that instead of pursuing and embracing Him, they sought satisfaction in Jerry Springer and South Park. As Paul Washer says, "They will melt like wax figurines in front of a blazing furnace." Imagine how the man will feel who, while beholding the supreme beauty of Christ, realizes that he has spent his entire life excelling in things that God utterly abhors and leading others to do the same. Hugh Hefner's soul will implode into a million pieces when he stands before the glorious throne of the Almighty and fixes his eyes on the breathtaking beauty of Jesus Christ!

Stunned by the Beauty of Christ

When you think of great religious leaders and what they are like, what comes to your mind? You may picture Moses and his miracles, the Pope and his piety, or perhaps Gandhi and his non-violent reform. But what I would like to do in these next few paragraphs is show you something that stunned me about the greatest religious leader that ever lived—Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus sits down to dine with a Pharisee, a strict religious man among the Jews. A “sinful” woman (or prostitute) comes up and stands behind Jesus. She then begins to weep over his feet, wet his feet with her tears, wipe his feet with her hair, kiss his feet continually, and anoint his feet with perfume. The Pharisee objects, knowing that she is a prostitute...but how does Jesus react? Does he preach against prostitution? Does he stay quiet? No. He defends her and loves her with intensity. He tells her, “Your sins are forgiven”—a powerful declaration of his love—and finally, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus—being one with God the Father—is perfect in righteousness, complete in holiness, and fierce in wrath against wickedness. But this same Jesus also loves contrite prostitutes. He loves those who are sorrowful over their sins, even if they have committed unspeakable acts against him. He loves them intensely and personally. He is not unwilling to befriend the lowest and most despised of our world. He humbles those who are proud and raises up those who are humble. When I read this passage from the gospel of Luke, I could not help but be struck with the beauty of Christ as he—the supreme leader of all religious leaders—condescended to this sinful woman and loved her openly among the Pharisees. And when I compare this wonderful blend of perfect righteousness and compassionate love to the gods of other religions—Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.—I am stunned with the all-surpassing beauty of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Be Afraid You Women!

2:04 am

I woke up from a filthy dream tonight. Graphic, perverse lewdness passed through my mind that makes me angry and causes my heart to cry out, "Why does this filthy distortion of God's creation of sex run so wild and free in our world!?" Unchallenged and unpunished in most cases. But these men and women are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of God's wrath (Romans 2:5, as I once was too, but so thankfully my Lord delivered me). Oh, how I hate the lewdness of ungodly women! Men, I know, are perverted even more, but you perverse women! So pure, so delicate, so sacred has God made your sexuality - meant to be given purely and beautifully to your husband for the glory of God. But NO! You have fallen captive to the desires of wicked men and succumbed to the crowd of other vile women! Such perverse distortions of the goodness and holiness of godly sexuality. It makes me want to cry and burn with anger at the same time.

But my sinful flesh enjoyed it (at the time)! What tragedy! What corruption of a pure and holy spirit. I craved more, I wanted to hear, to see, to know. Why no conviction in this dream world tonight? No eschewment of sin, no sensitivity to the Savior's repulsion of it?

Wicked things passed through my mind: the way disgusting women dress, the way they flaunt their sexuality to their "lovers," the way they talk about perverted private things so openly and freely. SEX IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED PRIVATELY BETWEEN MAN, WOMAN, AND CHRIST! Do not trample the sanctity of it and thus dishonor your God by publicly talking about private things!

Women walking about in Frederick's gear! Women describing their sexual exploits and desires! Women defiling their bodies with other women! I hate it!!

But why, O sinful flesh did you enjoy this so? Had you been exposed to this horrific lewdness while awake, you would have burned with hatred...or perhaps been utterly repulsed by its sickening and complete ungodliness to say the least...or vomited.

But now I have a renewed passion for upholding God's sanctity, God's supremacy, and God's authority over His design and gift of sex. An unmovable zeal for the repulsion of sick, sexual distortions and an upholding of sex inside of heterosexual marriage. I now quake at the thought of dishonoring my God by recalling one of these filthy images. May God receive the glory for His creation of sex, and may man receive the gift in a holy fashion, as a reflection of what intimacy and love is like with Christ. In this and in unflinching devotion to purity before marriage, I am convinced lies the most fulfilling way to experience the gift of God.

A Description of 2nd Century Christians

Listen to this description of what 2nd century Christians were like, presented by the Christian philosopher Aristides to the emperor Hadrian in A.D. 125:

Those who oppress them [the Christians] they exhort [with the Word] and make them their friends. They do good to their enemies. Their wives, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest. Their men abstain from all unlawful sexual contact and from impurity, in the hope of recompense that is to come in another world.

As for their bondmen and bondwomen, and their children, if there are any, they persuade them to become Christians; and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction.

They refuse to worship strange gods; and they go their way in all humility and cheerfulness. Falsehood is not found among them. They love one another; the widow's needs are not ignored, and they rescue the orphan from the person who does him violence. He who has gives to him who has not, ungrudgingly and without boasting. When the Christians find a stranger, they bring him to their homes and rejoice over him. When a baby is born to one of them, they praise God. If it dies in infancy, they thank God the more, as for one who has passed through the world without sins. But if one of them died in his iniquity or in his sins, they grieve bitterly and sorrow as over one who is about to meet his doom.

Such, O King, is the commandment given to the Christians, and such is their conduct. As men who know God, they ask from him requests which are proper for him to give and for them to receive; and because they acknowledge the goodness of God towards them, lo! on their account there flows forth the beauty that is in the world. The good which they do, they do not shout in the ears of the multitude, that people may notice; but they conceal their giving as a man conceals a treasure. They strive to be righteous as those who expect to behold the face of their Messiah and to receive from him the promises.

(taken from Richard Wurmbrand's book The Answer to the Atheist's Handbook, pp. 48-49)

This glorious description of the lives of 2nd century Christians shows that they were clearly obeying Jesus' words found in Matt. 5:16 -

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Let us examine ourselves and ask this question - If a philosopher from our age gave a detailed description of our lives, would the description resemble that of the 2nd century Christians, bringing glory to our wonderful Creator, or would it instead bring shame to the beautiful face of Christ?

Letter to the Addict

My heart breaks for you. You are dead. Yet you live as though you are alive and healthy. I just want to scream WAKE UP!! To try to wake you from your coma of drugs and lies before it is too late. Oh Jesus, I've never experienced anything like the agony of hopelessness and emptiness I see in an addict's eyes. You don't fool me, and you don't fool yourself. Your soul is writhing in misery. Why do you try to satisfy the deep longings you have with drugs, pornography, alcohol, anger, sex?? You are a child of God, made in His image to portray who He is to His creation. Such potential for beauty, but such capacity for evil. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. Oh, how I pray you would be broken! That your heart would break under the unbearable shame, guilt, fear, and pain you have. Pain and suffering do more to reveal the heart of a person than anything I've ever seen. They strip you of everything and leave you bare. You see how weak you really are. How you desire to be beautiful and clean and good. And how you can't! Oh the desperation to discover yourself. What a wretched person I am, you will say. But thanks be to God that He broke through the realm of His creation and entered as a man, Jesus Christ, and redeemed for Himself a people to be spotless and blameless through His blood. Spotless! Blameless! Guiltless! Do you see how your soul longs for this? Do you see that even after all your hands have wrought, He forgives? And that He does so by taking on Himself all the nasty, disgusting, embarrassing, humiliating, regretful, painful, evil things you have done?

Please. Look around you. Look up! We live in a world that screams "Glorious is our God." The sky sings of His beauty and expanse. The wind boasts of His mystery and power. But you are the loudest of all. Of all creation, only mankind was created in the image of God and shares in His emotions, spirit, desires, beauty, and glory. Please look deep into your heart. You were made for Him. You will find satisfaction in nothing else. Please consider my plea.

Dearest Jesus, may you open their eyes to your beauty, take away their despair, and satisfy their souls for the sake of your Name.

With tears and trust,
Rian

In the Midst of the Wilderness

I wrote this poem a while ago when I was "walking through the wilderness." Some of you may be experiencing this very thing right now, but find hope in Jesus and never give up the journey, even when it is hard! Pursue a passion and desire for truth, and seek God until He blesses you (Gen. 32:26). I was rescued from the wilderness recently, and God gave me a taste of Himself. If He allows me to go back into the wilderness again, I know that He will use it for good and will give me rest in Him. So, stay strong and fight to know the very God that created you to know Him!

Oh Lord, I am in the midst of the wilderness,
Heartache, yes, sorrow, depression, no rest.

I have felt you so near, many times,
Now it's hard to see, and you I can't find.

I get stuck in the swamp, and I can't get free,
Why, Lord, do I sit and think only of me?

I want you, I need you, it's easy sometimes,
But now, more than ever, please come to my mind.

Prayer and conversation, I think not of you,
I am so caught up in me, what do I do?

Help me escape from depending on myself,
Oh God, I am ready, can I cry out for help?

Lord, where I am, will you hear my call?
Or depending on myself, will you let me fall?

Teach me, rebuke me, please use discipline,
Then I will love you, instead of the praise of men.

One thing, Lord, I ask you now - please help,
I always will fall when I depend on myself.

You sent me your servants, they teach me so well,
I must humble myself, then I will be able to tell,

How to make it through the wilderness,
Show me your glory, save me from hell.

Truth and reality, I must seek your face,
Show me, Lord, in the midst of this fog, your grace.

The light in the darkness, shall not disappear,
If you grant me a new heart, eyes to see, and ears to hear.

I want it, I need it, how can I survive?
Breathe in my body, you're the One who keeps me alive.

Truth, more Truth, I need more of Christ,
I want to know more of his sacrifice.

So, in this body, I may also be,
Like your precious servant, the One who died for me.

He walked in the wilderness 40 days,
Let me not forget temptation he had in so many ways.

He endured it with the Word and stood against Satan,
He glorified God, the Maker of Earth and Heaven.

Grow in faith and love, you have to go through this,
Keep going and trust me, to the end of the wilderness.

With my strength, you shall stand,
Don't grow weary, hold my hand.

I will walk with you, let me lead you,
With Christ, there's nothing you can't do.

Yes, the wilderness may come and go,
But everything has a season to grow.

You, my child, are a seed that I shall nourish,
Soil you, protect you, water you, then you shall flourish.

Be patient, as I am with you, my daughter,
You had a bad dad, now I'm your new Father.

I must teach you and love you, and some discipline,
Then go to the sea, become fishers of men.

You'll grow in knowledge, a new heart within,
Loving the Truth, and hating sin.

Set your eyes on things above,
And your mind on my Love.

The hope that awaits if you finish the race,
Seeing my glory, yes, even my face.

Run to win, persevere, and fight,
Run from the darkness, seek only the Light.

You are being trained in righteousness,
So stand firm, dear child, in the midst of the wilderness.

Crucifying the American Dream

I was going to write up something formal and technical for this topic, but instead I’m just going to explode on this page, because a passion for the violent crucifixion of the American Dream has been burning in me all day long. The American Dream is a phenomenon that causes lethal problems for both unbelievers and believers alike. For unbelievers, it stands in the way – like a mighty fortress – of them ever coming to know and treasure their Creator. For believers, it looms overhead, threatening to choke out their seeds until they spiritually die (Matt. 13:22; Luke 8:14). Sometimes it may have more subtle effects in the life of a genuine Christian. Small slivers of the American Dream can creep in unnoticed and slowly weaken our love, passion, and joy in our glorious Savior. The American Dream causes distractions in our lives that can divide a true Christian’s sole passion for God Himself to other “good” things like career advancement, enjoyable family time, and other vain happenings that do not count for eternity. Now this may sound a little harsh, but we need to make sure that we do not let so-called “good” things keep us from the best things. Enjoyable family time may be nice, but it is a burger and fries compared to the filet mignon of suffering, striving and giving everything you have for the Kingdom of God. For those of us who have tasted of the Heavenly gifts, who have experienced the profound, supernatural joy and pleasure that only comes from God and true fellowship with Him, we must declare all-out nuclear holocaust against the American Dream and its many manifestations. At all costs, do not let America suck you away from your infinitely glorious Creator so that you waste time you will never get back on fleeting pleasures instead of feasting on the glory and majesty of God Almighty!

Crucifying the American Dream in our lives could play out in a number of different ways. It could mean getting rid of your house that is filled with “stuff” and various distractions and moving into a cheap apartment that requires much less time and attention to maintain. It could mean quitting your soul-shrinking, secular job and volunteering to become a missionary for your church or some missionary-sending organization. It could also mean identifying some alternative, godless enjoyment that has taken root in your life, such as watching sports or some sitcom, and cutting it off so that you have more time to spend building up your treasures in Heaven by serving God and doing things that matter for eternity. If you’ve ever drank from the Fountain of Living Water, you know that you didn’t do it by watching Everybody Loves Raymond, or some other “clean” television show. You drank deeply from the Fountain of Living Water when you and your small group went out in 10-degree weather to give food and clothing to the homeless, and Christ’s love was poured out and displayed mightily through your actions. You drank deeply from the Fountain of Living Water when you joyfully dug into the Scriptures and God revealed a new and glorious truth to you through His Word. Do not allow yourself to settle for small, worldly enjoyments that leave your soul feeling empty. Embrace the Glory of Christ, cast off each and every hindrance you have, and run your race in such a way that Jesus is magnified to the world as such a great Treasure that someone would sell everything they own in order to have the magnificently glorious Son of Man instead! (Heb. 12:1; Matt. 13:44-45)

Treasuring Him

We just went to the Don't Waste Your Life tour last night in Lima, Ohio, and they began by playing this amazing video!

Father I Turn To You

I recently listened to the song "Father I Turn To You" by Jahaziel, and I thought it would be encouraging to people who are trying to overcome addictions to pornography. In this song, Jahaziel gives his own testimony about his previous addiction to pornography, and he explains how Christ set him free when he truly surrendered his life to Him.

This World Is Not My Home

I can’t help but say ‘amen’ to this passage by Joni Tada in her book, Heaven, as she shares her thoughts during a trip to the LA airport:

With eyes of faith I looked beyond the sight of bumper-to-bumper traffic, the smell of sweat, cigarettes, exhaust fumes, and the sounds of my harried co-travelers, and began humming quietly...

This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through,
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue,
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door,
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

For me, it was a moment of faith. Faith merely the size of a grain of mustard seed. Remember, that's all it takes to be sure of things hoped for - future divine fulfillments - and certain of things you do not see, that is, unseen divine realities.

Of what was I so sure and certain? Here, let me sing it again: "The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, / And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore."

I hum that haunting tune in other places besides the Los Angeles airport. Sometimes I get that "can't feel at home" sensation ambling down the aisles of K-Mart, watching women grab for the blue-light specials. Sometimes it happens sitting with Ken watching Monday Night Football’s fourth instant replay of a team’s third-down conversion. And I definitely feel "this world is not my home" as I sit on the Ventura-Freeway-turned-parking-lot.

Don’t think I’m strange. Christians have felt the same for centuries. Malcolm Muggeridge, a British journalist who spent most of his years battling Christianity, finally succumbed to Christ in his seventies. The intellectual world had always been home to him, but now, in the hallowed halls of university life, he found himself saying,

I had a sense, sometimes enormously vivid, that I was a stranger in a strange land; a visitor, not a native…a displaced person.... The feeling, I was surprised to find, gave me a great sense of satisfaction, almost of ecstasy.... Days or weeks or months might pass. Would it ever return - the lostness? I strain my ears to hear it, like distant music; my eyes to see it, a very bright light far away. Has it gone forever? And then - ah! the relief. Like slipping away from a sleeping embrace, silently shutting the door behind one, tiptoeing off in the grey light of dawn - a stranger again. The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth. As long as we are aliens, we cannot forget our true homeland. (Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered, 47-48)

(Joni Eareckson Tada, Heaven, 96-97)

Oh how there is more to life than what is seen. Although I am filled with such awe at the sky as the sun is setting, or the smile on the face of someone I love, there’s just something about the unseen realities to which they are pointing - love, hope, trust - things that are eternal - that is so beautiful...and oh how Jesus is the most beautiful of all.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

Come quickly, Jesus. Amen.

Why Hell Is Hell

When most people think about hell, they think about torture, eternal fire, and other physical punishments. Although these things will take place in hell, there is something far worse that will be the defining characteristic of what makes hell result in eternal suffering. When Jesus returns, the glory of God is going to be revealed to all people. The Bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, "to the glory of God the Father" (Philip. 2:10-11). In other words, God will be glorified when all people bow before his Son and confess that he is Lord over all. So, which would glorify God more - if he forced people to bow down to him who really didn't want to do so, or if all unbelievers saw how amazingly glorious God is and genuinely fell down and worshiped the One who they had shunned their entire lives? I think God would be much more glorified if the most hardcore atheist in the history of the world fell down and worshiped him genuinely than if he was merely forced to do something that he had no desire to do. Thus, I believe that the greatest suffering in hell will result from people seeing how amazing and glorious their Creator is and facing the reality that they are shut out from this amazing glory forever because they shunned him while they were on earth. Emotional pain can be much worse than physical pain. Imagine that you have deeply fallen in love with someone, but because of the way you have treated him or her, you are thrown into a dungeon forever. It is really cold in this dungeon, and you feel the pains of hunger since you only get one slice of bread per week, but your deepest pain comes from being eternally separated from the one you have fallen in love with and the overwhelming remorse you feel from having treated him or her so badly when you've now realized how kind and loving that person was to you all the days of your life.

So, why does God send people to hell who reject him while they are on earth? Although there are a number of reasons why he does this, I believe the most convincing one is that when people die, God just gives them what they wanted their entire lives. If you live a life pursuing non-God things instead of your Creator, then he gives you the very thing you wanted (separation from God) when you die. Why should God force people to spend eternity with him who desired other things instead of their Creator? Nobody can blame God for giving people what they want when they die. If God himself is your heart's desire, then he will give you what you want when you die (himself). How can we know if God is really our greatest desire? Do we spend our time pursuing him instead of godless things? Is he the chief object of our affections, the One who gives us the greatest joy and satisfaction? Do we reject the things that God hates and pursue a life that is pleasing to him? Are we unashamed of the glorious Son of God who bore the full wrath of the Father as the price for our sins? All of these things are evidence that a person has truly come to know Christ as their all-satisfying Treasure!

Love So Amazing

Listen to a young Slovak Christian girl beaten and locked up in a Communist prison as she describes her “boyfriend” to her torturer:

“I have a boyfriend, the sweetest of all. Not that He loves me. He is love, the most exquisite love, love of a kind that does not seek pleasure so much as to fill the beloved with joy. Since knowing this boyfriend, I too can only love. Whether I am caressed or hurt, I can only love. You love hatred now. I call upon you to love Love.”

("The Overcomers" - Richard Wurmbrand, p. 18)

This love is described even better by a tortured Romanian prisoner in solitary confinement:

From my bed of planks they will make my coffin. Stretched upon it, I try to find why my thoughts run to you, why my writings all turn toward you? Why is this passionate love in my soul, why does my song go only to you? I know I am rejected; soon I will putrefy in a tomb.

The bride of the Song of Songs did not love when she asked if You are “rightly loved.” Love is its own justification. Love is not for the wise. Through a thousand ordeals she will not cease to love. Though fire burns and waves drown her, she will kiss the hand that hurts. If she finds no answer to her questions she is confident and waits. One day the sun will shine in hidden places and all will be made plain.

Forgiveness of many sins only increased the prostitute’s burning love. But she gave perfume and shed tears before You said Your forgiving word. And had You not said it, still she would have sat and wept for the love she has toward You, even being in sin. She loved You before Your blood was shed. She loved You before You forgave. Neither do I ask if it is right to give You love. I do not love in hope of salvation. I would love You in everlasting misfortune. I would love You even in consuming fire…

("In God’s Underground" - Richard Wurmbrand, p. 70)

This poem was written by the founder of the Voice of the Martyrs during some of the darkest days of his 14 years in Communist prisons. What is it that these two suffering prisoners, along with many others like them, know that makes them love so madly? Or is it the Who that they know that makes them love so truly? We all know the One that they are talking about, and yes, I believe it is the Who that they know that fills their hearts with such ardent love.

Healing, forgiving, accepting, embracing, ruling, providing, creating, and reigning is the One that their hearts have completely fallen for. And taking their sins upon Himself as if they were His own to atone for, this One has captured their love by all that they have found Him to be.

These faithful saints have seen in Jesus Christ a goodness, and truth, and power, and love that surpasses anything they have ever known and fills them with such adoration that its expression comes out in a form of deep romanticism.

I would advise every reader to learn from these afflicted saints, stripped of all worldly comforts yet overflowing with consuming love, and cast off everything that hinders to seek and find this great Love to their soul’s satisfaction.

Going Hard for the LORD

The most God-glorifying CD I have ever heard is Lecrae's newest album, Rebel. I have never seen a musician with as much passion and genuine love for God as Lecrae, and these traits are stunningly displayed throughout his CD! My favorite line on the whole album is from the song "Go Hard" -

"Take me out the game, Coach, I don't want to play no more, if I can't give it all I got and leave it out there on the court"

This statement describes - with wonderful precision - how I feel about God and my blazing desire to serve Him with everything that I am! I used to play a lot of basketball growing up, and I know what an amazing feeling it is to fight with everything you have and come out victorious at the end of a game. How much more satisfying would it be to be able to do this for the glorious Lord of Heaven and Earth! Like Lecrae, I feel like I don't even want to bother playing if I can't give God the best of the firstfruits of my life (Exodus 23:19). God is worth more to me than everything I could ever give Him, and laying my life down for the Gospel is the only way my meager life can bring Him the glory He so exceedingly deserves!

A Letter From Missionary Adoniram Judson

I had to share this amazing letter I read just recently. It's from an 1800’s missionary named Adoniram Judson, written to the father of his beloved Ann Hasseltine, asking permission for her partnership in marriage and missions. I don't believe I can give adequate commentary on this letter, so I'll just let it speak for itself as you read carefully:

I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?

("Don't Waste Your Life" - John Piper, p. 158)

Ask yourself this question: How would you respond if you were Ann's father?

“Her father let her decide. She said yes.” (p. 158)

Prime Time With God

I'd like to share something with you that I call "Prime Time With God." I took this expression from a pastor I knew when I was younger, and although I don't remember exactly how he used the expression, it has come to mean something very important for me. "Prime Time With God" is a period of time where I find a private place (without any distractions), and I go to meet with God one-on-one. During this time my primary agenda is to draw near to God so that He might draw near to me and I could know Him better (James 4:8). I'm generally not interested in praying for specific things or people during this time (although this can happen on occasion), but I simply want to have sweet fellowship with the Glorious Creator of the Universe who created me to love Him as the sole Treasure of my life!

While spending "Prime Time With God," many different things can happen. The Lord may give me insights into His Word or some aspect of Christian life. He may provide me with direction for my own life or clear up something I have been confused about. He also may lead me to examine myself before Him to see if I have offended Him in any way so that I might recognize and turn from my sin and strive to honor Him in this area of my life in the future. I can often evaluate my behavior in light of God's Word much better while having "Prime Time" with Him, so this is my ideal time for self-introspection. Finally, sometimes nothing too exciting at all happens when I spend "Prime Time With God." However, I still view these times as beneficial, because I get the chance to get away from the world and sit in the presence of God, even if I don't feel His presence next to me or gain any profound insight.

For me, regularly spending "Prime Time With God" has been more important than anything else (except for His grace) in regard to the health of my relationship with the Almighty. The importance of this time with God can really be understood when considering one's relationship with his or her spouse. Imagine what would happen if you only talked to your spouse when you needed him/her to do something for you. Your spouse would probably notice that you do not truly enjoy being around him or her, but rather you view him/her as your servant who is there to assist you when you need it. Also, it would be impossible to have an intimate, loving relationship with your spouse if you rarely took time to get to know him or her better. Because God wants to have this kind of relationship with His people, it is imperative that we seek Him regularly if we are to truly love Him like He deserves to be loved!

There is a passage in the Psalms that is written by a man who has really experienced the amazing joy and satisfaction of knowing his Creator. Notice how this man's profound longing for God leads him to express his great desire to spend "Prime Time With God" -

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:1-2)

Seeing the Glory of God

I often talk about "seeing the glory of God," so I'd like to provide some clarification for what this means. First, the best definition I've ever heard for what the "glory" of God is comes from Pastor John Piper. In one of his sermons, Dr. Piper defined the "glory" of God as "the manifest beauty of His holiness." Since the word "holiness" means "set apart," we can define "seeing the glory of God" as "seeing how amazingly beautiful and superior God is to anyone else, whether it be His power, His wisdom, or especially His moral character and His love."

Although we can definitely see God's glory in His creation (i.e. sunsets, rainbows), I think we can better see His glory through reading about Him in His Word, drawing near to Him in prayer, and seeing Him work in people's lives. Thus, when I talk about "seeing the glory of God," I am generally referring to one of these things, rather than looking at sunsets and rainbows.

I'd like to close by sharing a passage from John Piper's book "A Godward Life," in which Pastor John describes an experience through which he really saw God's amazing glory -

Sometimes in the midst of discipline, unexpected power will spring forth, and the line between spontaneity and discipline disappears. Early one Sunday morning my discipline was taking me through Luke 18. It was one of those times when God came near with unusual force. Christ stood out from the pages as irresistibly compelling. Every paragraph made my soul yearn to be radically obedient to Jesus. I felt that no one ever spoke like this man. No one ever lived free like this man. No one ever demanded what he demanded and gave what he gave.

God Is My Passion

In an essay titled "God Is My Passion," Richard Wurmbrand writes, "A man who has a real passion, whether it be for gambling, drunkenness, womanizing, pride, or addiction to drugs, will give everything he has to satisfy it - his money, his honor, his health, his family." How true this is, especially for us whose passion is the Lord Himself! We don't want to spend our time watching tv or fixing up our houses, we want Christ, who is the only One who can satisfy the deep thirst in our souls! I find myself constantly desiring to see His glory, which is far more satisfying than anything else in this world. I've purchased Christ-exalting CD's and movies (e.g. Facing The Giants) which give me glimpses of His awesomeness, but I find myself constantly wanting more and more! It is similar to a tolerance developed for a certain drug where increasingly larger doses are needed to satisfy one's cravings. I find the Holy Spirit pushing me to go out of my comfort zone to find Christ "outside the camp" (Heb. 13:13). The normal routines just won't do it anymore, I want to go to the worst neighborhoods where both danger and suffering await, so that I might proclaim the Glory of God to a people who are utterly wasting their lives when indescribable joy is offered to them!

If your passion is something other than God, then you don't know what you are missing! Why are today's church people satisfied with meager lives consisting of work, church, and football when infinite joy and satisfaction are available in Christ? Daily Bible readings and prayer time have simply become "duties" that are less satisfying than what the world has to offer, so people develop their passions in non-God things (e.g. sports, favorite tv shows). You can tell what someone's passion is by the way they spend their time, unless one is simply "forcing" himself to shun the things of the world and "do their Christian duties." Brothers and sisters, don't settle for anything less than what you could have in Jesus! If you find yourself spending your days pursuing non-God things that do not allow you to see God's glory, or if you are caught up in a legalistic rountine of Christian "duties" that do not produce in you an "inexpressible and glorious joy" (1 Pet. 1:8), then turn from these worthless things and seek God with all your heart until you know Him as the infinitely satisfying Treasure that He is!