So I turned on some worship music and instantly the Lord started speaking to me. He started by reminding me that, "being intimate with someone requires sacrifice." Then He reminded me of the story in Song of Songs, in chapter 5:3 when the guy was pursuing his lover for a moment of intimacy. He's at the door wanting to come in and this is what she says to him, "I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?"
Then basically, she just makes excuses until her lover leaves. Then she goes looking for him and she couldn't find him. A moment of intimacy...gone. All because she wasn't willing to let go of the excuses and say "yes."
This story is a perfect parallel with our relationship with the Lord. We can be so much like the girl when God pursues us with moments of intimacy. We rattle off our excuses and reason it away until the conviction lifts. Now that the convictions gone we just assume it wasn't God or perhaps indigestion and move on with life never knowing what we missed.
Every morning I get up and spend time with the Lord deepening my relationship with Him. But there are moments through out the day, not every day but a lot, where God wants me to come away with Him for a few minutes to share a moment of intimacy with Him. In those moments I have a choice to push it away, reject the voice of God and keep moving... or in faith say 'yes' knowing that I will miss out on something good if I ignore His calling.
A few months ago, God used the marriage relationship to really drive it home for me. I shared the analogy with a girl friend of mine and we both laughed and agreed about how true it was. My married girl friends will most likely understand this analogy to a whole other level but either way, it's an analogy that stuck with me.
Many times in marriage when a husband is pursing his wife for a moment of intimacy:
a) it is most often at an inconvenient time
b) the wife can always think of a million other things she needs to be doing
c) BUT after she says yes and the moment of intimacy is over... she's always really happy she did.
The analogy showed me that even though spontaneity may not always be convenient, it's usually great for the marriage.
In the same way, when the Lord pursues us at those highly inconvenient times we must lay down our schedules and be convinced that if we say 'no' and push away His calling, we will miss out on the intimate things God wants to share with us.
I know the times I respond and don't throw out the excuses...I always feel like a million bucks when I'm done and am so grateful I didn't miss what He shared with me in our time together.
So my prayer for you and me is that we won't settle for just maintaining relationship but will spice things up and respond to the Lord when He desires to be intimate with us and take us to deeper and deeper levels in Him....no matter how inconvenient His timing may seem. =)
Thank you for sharing this, Alicia! I'm so inspired how God speaks to you, because it's so similar to how He speaks to me! I'll be praying you continue to respond to his call, please pray for me as well!
ReplyDeleteOne question: How often to you get on facebook? The Lord has been convicting me very much in this area but I tend to just brush it off. I feel like I should get on once/twice a week, but I'm getting on 4-5-6 times a day! What has God taught you about time management, and what scriptures do you use when tempted to get on? Would love to hear back from you! God bless you Sister!!!!
Thank you so much for your encouragement. I'm so glad the blog perhaps confirms some things the Lord has been speaking to you.
ReplyDeleteTo answer you question. I've been seeking that same thing out with the Lord. I, too, realize I check facebook way to much. As of this past week I just started setting a limitation to check it once in the morning and once at night. I know that's still a decent amount but it's a good start for me. I've found that even doing that is hard. From that I've definitely seen that I've become too addicted to stimulus and am trying to fix the underlying problem. As of right now, I don't have any scriptures but that is a GREAT idea. I know to conquer other things with the word but why I didn't think about that with this is funny. I will look into that and share with you what I find. If you find some that are good definitely let me know as well. It's so interesting to see how many people God is speaking to about this same thing (i've talked to many others). I def. think he is trying to encourage us to push away the distractions of this world so we can hear his whispers. God bless!
btw, who is this? ha =)
It's Lindsey Craig! I added you on facebook a couple of weeks ago... remember? I was blessed by your older post and was compelled to be your friend:)! I will be praying about certain scriptures this week and let you know! ... we'll keep in touch and I like the twice a day thing!!!
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