Unhurried Time With Jesus!

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

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But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Wouldn't you love to have some unhurried time with Jesus? I mean, what would you give to have some moments like that? That's what we're going to talk about today on encouraging prayer. I love the way you put that just now, Robbie, unhurried time with Jesus, because that's such a good description of what prayer is like at its best. I think that sometimes when we talk about prayer, we run the risk of sounding holier than we really are. But if prayer is meant to be anything, it's meant to be real and down to earth like that. Yeah, I seem to recall Jesus telling stories about people who prayed without just exactly the right position, and it just didn't end well for them. Yeah, what comes to mind there is, you know, the Pharisee and, you know, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. And of course, it was the sinner who prayed to have mercy on me, who went away justified, Jesus said.

So that's exactly right. And Jesus talked about this kind of thing more than once. So let's go back to this whole idea of unhurried time with Jesus, because it's so important. And just putting it that way makes you want to go there, doesn't it?

Just to be with him. Oh, it really does. Why do you think we lose sight of that so much? I mean, we become so purposeful in our prayers that, wow, that can be a good thing. Whatever happened to just hanging out?

I like it. Hanging out with Jesus. I mean, doesn't that sound better than practicing the presence of God? You know, not that there's anything wrong with practicing the presence of God.

But sometimes I think we can use terms for prayer, which sounds so theological, that they miss the practical point of spending time with Jesus and knowing him. And our approaches, if you will, can kind of bleed into that so that it becomes almost this rote manufactured kind of thing. I get that.

I really do. I mean, so let's go there. Spending unhurried time with Jesus. What comes to mind when you think about that?

First, it isn't anything irreverent. It's natural. And it can happen anytime, anywhere. The most important thing is that we just let our hearts be moved to him in love and let his own love into our lives in the moment. Yeah, so it's like you were saying earlier. It's praying without an agenda, maybe even letting him take us someplace.

Yeah, yeah, that should happen as well. And if you think about it, when we sit down to have devotions, you know, we usually have an intentional list of things that we're about. Read scripture, praise God, confess our sins, pray for others. Those are all necessary and vital things.

Please don't get me wrong. But there, to use an analogy we've used before, a little like dancing and counting your steps. God wants us to do all of those things, but they are simply indicators of what it means to have a relationship with him.

And it's that relationship, we want to go after more than anything else. Think about Abraham, you know, who was called a friend of God. So again, think of being with Jesus, just being with God, being with the Father, being with the Holy Spirit.

No matter what you're doing without that agenda, what I found is, as we learn to do this, it's like his love just comes flowing in. It's such a joyful thing, such a good place to be. Yeah, you were telling me before we went on the air, that God reminded you of this not too long ago.

Yeah, yeah. And I know you and I were talking about, you know, how this is so important in your own prayer life that, you know, you've, it just is something that has made such a difference. So we were having a prayer vigil at Peace Church, and I had the midnight slot, and I was I had the midnight slot, and that was a bit of a challenge, because I'm one of those obnoxious morning persons, you know, but just not that early. So a number of us who participated in the prayer vigil came away with the very same thing, and that was, we didn't realize how much we needed it.

It was so rich, it was so good just to be with him. And it, you know, it wasn't that we hadn't been praying, that we hadn't been attending prayer meetings, but there was something about that extended time that helped us realize that it was just good to be with God. But it sort of did take a commitment of your time, right, to do it. Yeah, and I think that that's an important thing to realize in this. Instead of having a list of things to do that we can check off to say we've been with God, it's good to just give him time, you know, again, just to be with him.

And you'll find that as you do that, it has a way of flowing over into the whole day, you know, into our everyday lives, because not only do you not want that to end, you just, you want to cling to him, you want to stay close to him. Talking about this makes me think of Jacob at Bethel when he said, the Lord was in this place, and I didn't know it. I think that's a great way to put it, because even though we may intentionally try to be with God, he so often has a way of surprising us. And sometimes more often than I'd like to admit, I don't realize it when it's happening.

Yeah, so what does that mean? Well, there have been times where Jesus was very clearly right there with me, but I didn't know it until I got up and walked out of the room and realized three minutes later what was actually happening, you know, kind of like what they say about dinosaurs. You hit one on the tail, and it only realizes a few minutes later that you did. I'm afraid that's how my brain works sometimes. It takes time to catch up with what God is actually doing in my spirit that I don't realize it sometimes until a little later. Yeah, I know I've actually had that exact same experience, like, oh my goodness, Jesus totally took me someplace on that, and I thought it was me driving, but actually he'd taken the wheel a long time ago.

You know, I think a lot of us have. So again, it really makes a difference, not only when we set time aside, you know, instead of just having a Lister approach, but also when we think of his promise that he's with us always, and then try to live into that, because as we do, I really believe that his love becomes more and more real to us. Yeah, James, as we wrap up this segment, let's both of us pray that we'll learn how to do this more, and our listeners to pray along with us in this. Yeah, let's do it.

Let me start. Father, thank you that you long to be with us, and Lord, we long to be with you, but we also have to confess that we don't long for it enough. We could love you more, and we ask for your help to do just that, to just be with you, just hang out with you. Help us in this, Lord. And Jesus, I pray that you would guide me in setting aside that time to put it on my calendar, so to speak, to say this is time where I just want to hang out and see where you want to go, and the things that you may want to talk about or discuss, whether that takes us into the Bible or wherever you want to take us, Lord. Help me to set that as part of my daily time with you, that I wouldn't be counting the steps, but seeing where you lead me.

I'll look forward to it. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.