by Zach Roll

Time Alone with God.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
Mark 1:35 English Standard Version

No, you are not experiencing déjà vu. If you read Monday’s blog by Pastor Doug, this is going to sound very familiar to you. I was hesitant at first to write about what seems essentially the same thing, but Pastor Doug assured me that God probably has a reason for this.

Like Pastor, prayer takes work for me. It has been a lifelong struggle. I have wanted to pray consistently and faithfully, but that has not always been the case. There are so many distractions, and things, vying for my attention, and often times, unfortunately, other things have won my attention, and affection, over God. Finally, all of this came crashing down on me last week. Something had to change, I realized that I hadn’t spent any significant amount of time alone with God, or focusing on my relationship with Him.

We can have good knowledge of God and the Bible, however what we need, and also what our hearts desperately long for, is a relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior. So last week, I made the decision (or God led me to the decision) to take the week off, put everything else aside, and spend time with Him…to truly be with Him. This is so important for all of us.

If our Savior, the only perfect man and True God, got away from all the distractions to spend time in communion with His father we should do the same. Our souls need to be nourished by God in this way. He wants to spend time with us. We need to spend time with Him. Our relationship is nurtured in this time alone with God, and God Himself transforms our hearts in these moments. If we are going to fulfill the Great Commission, and pour out the love of Christ on our neighbors, then we need to receive the love that Christ pours out on us.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO