Years ago, I found myself with a deal of free time. I had just determined that I no longer had room in my life for secular entertainment, so I was in search of how to spend the extra time. I decided to add more devotional effort to each day. Before I knew it, I had fallen more in love with the Word, found pleasure in daily intercession and grew in hungry pursuit for the presence of God. I spent nearly two years seeking Him first thing every day. My desire for the Lord grew until I was spending hours with Him, only to stop for dinner in the evening. Often times, I returned to Him after. He was my addiction, my obsession and my utter delight. All other pursuits were swallowed up by this one thing. Nothing could compare with the reality of Him with me. I thirsted for His voice, for anything He had to share, just to know I was hearing from Him. I spoke and wrote to Him throughout the day. I soaked in His Word. I worshipped my lovesickness before Him. I called on His help more often as I endured demonic assault, attacks of witchcraft and the testing of my faith. I learned to depend on Him in prayer for every matter under the sun – no matter how big or small.
His response was life-altering. He shared minor counsel like what to eat that day to significant secrets like Biden becoming president. He answered trivial prayers like a request for a free pastry from a popular coffee chain to terminating trafficking rings. I sat in the arms of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Bridegroom. I know He loved me long before and I loved Him from childhood… but this season was an all-out love affair between myself and the best Friend in all existence. I was His and He was Mine and that will never change.
Not only did I learn that time spent in His presence is the ultimate treasure and all the reward one could ever hope for in this life or the next, I discovered that we, mankind, are all of that to Him. He made us for familyhood. Though He loves to see us ministering for Him and running out our race, He lives for time spent with us. Because as nutty as it is, humanity is His treasure – His prize – the one for which He laid down His very life in order to win.
He doesn’t have a desire above mankind. What He wants from us is not just our worship and sacrifice but relationship. He calls Himself a Father and each of us who believe His sons and daughters. Jesus Christ died to bring us into the family. The most fortunate of families spend time together. You don’t get to know and love one another very well without passing the time of day together. An estranged relationship is dissatisfying and unhealthy. What He wants with us is a back-and-forth exchange of love.
Desperation Leads to Encounter
There’s a very special person in the Bible whom Jesus called daughter. It’s the woman with the issue of blood (Matt. 9, Luke 8). This lady was desperate. She yearned for what none but Jesus could give. She was certain that if she could just get one touch of Jesus, everything would be different. What she did not count on was that He wasn’t accustomed to being pursued with quite that much desperation. After all, He is always the one in pursuit. He came to Earth as a human for crying out loud.
Looking at the world around us, I wonder how many take the time to pursue Him like this woman. Because when she grasped His garment for just one touch, it made Him STOP EVERYTHING – the journey to raise a little girl from the dead along with the whole multitude surrounding. He stopped, He turned around and He questioned, “Who touched me?” Jesus Christ was stunned… and He was pleased. Therefore, the woman received what she’d come for with the addition of the unexpected: She experienced an ENCOUNTER. He stopped everything. He marveled. He turned around. He looked into her eyes. He spoke to her. He called her daughter. He was moved by her who came to Him in full faith that He had everything she needed. She would never be the same.
How He Loves Us
The truth is that He is lovesick for us. He was the Word, Who impregnated His own creation with Himself, was raised from babyhood to adulthood by that which He created, made Himself vulnerable to His creation unto death and allowed us to accuse and judge Him, abuse Him to the point of death and then slay Him on a cross all so WE could be forgiven and set free. You don’t just deign to that kind of humility and sacrifice without some serious obsession - loveSICKNESS. He made us, knowing we would fail and that, as failures, He would come to redeem us by dying in our place in order to win an eternity together. And all that was worth it because…
We are God’s dream. Revelation 21 prophecies of His happy ending, how He will dwell on Earth among us, bringing us joy forevermore. Being with us for eternity is His dream come true. It’s His treasure, His prize, His end-goal, His heart-song, His everything. There is nothing left in the Book. It’s His ideal eternity. You + Him = Happily ever after.
Song of Solomon 4 says that we ravish His heart with ONE glance of our eyes, with ONE link on the chain. That signifies YOU. We look at Him, we reach for Him, and His heart is ravished. So, what happens when we love and pursue Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength (Matt. 22:37)? His heart smolders – it ignites with the flame of an undying zeal. When the fragrance of our prayer and praise reaches Him over and again, it becomes an accustomed “high.” He perceives the aroma of our requests and instantly replies, “Yes to that, and that and that. Angels 2 and 3, see to it! Oh, and it’s time to send that message now – Here’s the blessing!” Our familiar perfume develops a perpetual intoxication. In a world teeming with people who have ignored Him through the ages, how could He help but be moved by and respond to an undying flame? If one glance ravishes Him, what of a continuous fire?
For Everything There Is a Season
Once you have spent a season like this, there are drier seasons, weaker seasons, busier seasons… But now He knows your scent. You’re best friends after all. He’s not going to drop you. Rather, He is deep-diving into your concerns, bringing you into new levels of maturity and leading you along paths you never dreamed. He is prepared to order people and events, moving heaven and earth and working all things together for good, in order to get you where He wants, doing what He wants you to do and living in the way He dreams for His beloved. You’ve got serious clout with the Head Honcho. You ask a thing and the answer is sent. You have dreams and they are fulfilled. You step out in boldness and you’ve got considerable backup. Your faith has been tested and grown and that is a constant draw to Him. Have you reached perfection? NO. Do you have all the time you had for Him before? Unfortunately, not always. But are you still burning for Him from the constancy of that former place? Oh, yes. Do you still want Him more than life itself? 100%. Is He still the Treasure, the One Thing, your First Love and First Place? All yes, forever and always. Because you’re married now – not just honeymooning but digging into life together, through thick and thin, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others until death do you unite.
Consider King David as a shepherd in the fields. He was chosen, anointed and favored unto the defeating of Goliath, subsequently overcoming armies and gaining the favor of the kingdom. Then he was unfairly pursued by the reigning king along with many of the Philistines. Here, his reliance on God was tested and triumphed. Eventually, God fulfilled the promises and David became king. How did he use his position when he finally arrived at this juncture? He got a lot busier that’s certain. But he also invented a method of worship that was followed for generations. He prepared for the construction of a temple to be utilized for hundreds of years. He left a legacy of walking with God to be lived up to by the generations
that followed. This man pursued God’s friendship and earned Himself the favoring and forgiving Friend of a lifetime.
Ultimately, all the time you can possibly afford to spend with Him is in no way a waste. It is an investment that never stops producing harvest. Your faith and understanding are grown. You are matured and strengthened. Everything changes when we decide to devote everything we can afford to Him - every aspect of our existence. When we focus our concerns on making God happy, we can abandon the concern for our own life and purpose to Him – the very kindest and capable hands in which it could ever be. From this Ultimate Treasure flows the overflow of His love on the remainder of your life. Though nothing can compare to Him, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. (James 1:17)
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