Asking Or Telling?

I was challenged this weekend to really consider how I approach God in my secret time....so I hope this blog challenges you in the same way. Some of what I'm about to write is credited to the message at our church yesterday, and the rest is what God has placed on my heart since then. I hope as you read today's thoughts that is makes you ask yourself (and God) if the desires of your heart are your desires that you are pleading for God to bless...or are they God's desires that He is asking you to walk out in your life.
My first question to you today is do you have secret time with God? By that I don't mean do you do devotions, go to bible studies or even prayer meetings, but instead, do you have intensional one on one time with God. Do you purposefully set aside a time that you are not doing anything else except spending time with God? It is so easy to fit prayer in during our other activities in life. Our lives can get pretty busy and praying while you are driving to and from work, praying while you are doing things around your house, even praying while you are waiting on that animal to cross your path during a hunt (that one was for the men...haha) is all great, but this is not your secret time with God. Saying that your relationship with God can flourish from only these kinds of talks would be like saying that you can have a good marriage if the only time you talk is on the phone while your driving, or at the grocery store, or cleaning the house...but you never take time to sit down and have a face to face conversation with your spouse. That marriage is not going to flourish because of the lack of attention it is being given, and neither will your relationship with God. A good marriage needs intimate talk time, personal talk time, intentional talk time...and so does your relationship with God. He needs to know that the time you make for Him is more important than just fitting Him in when it's convenient for you....He needs to know you have intentionally set aside time to be with Him. This is the intimacy that God wants with us and this is the kind of intimacy that changes us.
My second question is, what kind of talk are you having when you do talk to Him? Are you telling God who all is sick in your life that needs healing? Are you telling Him the "lack" that is in your life that you need His help with? Are you just telling Him how you need help with this and that...and just making the entire prayer time about requests? If so, then I would say it might be time to stop talking for a bit and just listen for Him. He has things to say to you. He has His own list of requests for you. He has a path that He wants to lead you down and He desperately wants to use you to advance the kingdom. But unless we are doing a lot of listening, we can miss out on a lot of blessing and instructions from Him. Yes, we all have desires in our hearts, and a lot of them are very pure and it only makes sense to us that God would want to do these things for us. But even with those, do you ask God if your desires are His desires? In yesterday's message at church it was said that we can't go to God with a list. We must go to Him asking Him what His will is and allow Him enough room to move in our lives that He builds the list for us. Then we ask Him for the things we need in our life to accomplish His things. Whatever He wants for you, I can promise it will be so much better than anything you can imagine for yourself. It may be hard to see in the moment, but God doesn't live moment to moment like we do. He is always looking at where He wants to get you, not just where you are.
When we make time and space for Him by create a secret place in our life to talk and listen to Him, and then we lay our lists down on the alter and allow Him to show us His will for our life, then we will begin to see changes in our life that take us to a whole different level. He has work for us, He has blessings for us, He has plans for us and He has a blueprint for our lives....but if we are not asking Him, instead of telling Him, it is very hard for Him to show us all of these great things.
God, thank You for the plans you have for us. Plans to prosper...plans for a future...plans with a hope! (Jeremiah 29:11). Holy Spirit help us to lay our plans down at the alter and ask and listen for God's plans. Help the desires of our heart to be in complete alignment with You and help us to know that because of the time we are spending You. Remind us that You do have things to reveal to us and if we would come seeking, You will show us. Thank You for Your plans and Your blessings. In Jesus name, Amen