Why You Should Pray & Spend Time With God - Pursuing Intimacy With God

Why You Should Pray & Spend Time With God

June 4, 2019May 9, 2019
by Kevin Bart

Why You Should Pray

Why You Should Spend Time With God

God sees you as a precious treasure, and He desires to have close fellowship with you. More than anything God wants you to have intimacy with God, close fellowship with Him, and a partnership with God in His kingdom work & mission.

Why You Should Pray & Spend Time With God

God desires for you to spend time with Him daily and intimately communicate with Him, to hear His voice, to enjoy fellowship with Him, to trust and follow Him, and to join Him in His kingdom work. He wants to give your life great value and meaning and purpose through these things.

There are many reasons why you should pray and spend time with God. Here is why you should pray and regularly spend time with God:

#1 REASON: GOD DESIRES YOUR FELLOWSHIP:

“God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:9
The Greek word for fellowship is “koinania” – this means the closest possible intimate fellowship with God, complete unity with God (being one with Him), and also having a partnership with God in His Kingdom work and mission.
God has a desire in His heart for you… to have close fellowship with you. Because He loves you so much and you are so special and precious to Him.
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:26
“ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business; I have called you friends…” – John 15:15
See “Your True Identity In Christ” (Who you are in Christ)

Another reason why you should pray and spend time with God:

* GOD DESIRES FOR YOU TO KNOW HIM, TO BELIEVE HIM, AND TO UNDERSTAND THAT HE IS GOD.

John 17:3 ” Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
- Being a Christian is much more than being saved and then waiting around to go to heaven
- God wants you to grow closer to Him, and to know Him in real and personal ways
- God wants you to fully trust Him no matter what, as a result of knowing Him personally
Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. “
Psalm 27:4 “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

Remember, God wants much more for you in your fellowship with Him than just to know about Him. God wants you to know Him in real & personal ways, by seeing and experiencing Him in and around your life. This is a much better & more intimate and real knowledge of God than just knowing about Him.

Other reasons why you should pray and spend time with God:

BECAUSE JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF ABUNDANT & FULL LIFE, AND ETERNAL LIFE:
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
- God wants you to have full abundant life here, and then eternal life with Him in heaven
- Abundant life is a full life with great meaning and purpose

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life…”
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

GOD’S WORD LEADS YOU TO ABUNDANT LIFE
- Deuteronomy 8:3 “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL YOU NEED & WANT
- Lamentations 3:24 “I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
ONLY JESUS CAN SATISFY & FULFILL YOU
- John 6:35 “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
- Isaiah 55:1-3 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy ? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”
ONLY JESUS GIVES PURPOSE & DIRECTION FOR YOUR LIFE
- John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
NOTHING IS BETTER THAN CLOSE FELLOWSHIP & INTIMACY WITH GOD
- Psalm 63:1-5 “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.”

What do you think of when you hear the words “abundant life” ? Having a lot of material things ? Having a lot of money ? Living on a tropical island ? Something else? In John 10:10 Jesus tells us that He came to give us life – eternal life forever in heaven, and abundant & meaningful life here on earth.

John 14:6 Jesus tells us that “He is the life” – the source of eternal life and abundant life. You need to walk with Jesus in an intimate love relationship, daily trusting & obeying & following Him, in order to experience the full and abundant life only He can give.

You cannot have abundant and full life without Jesus. When you give yourself fully to Jesus, then He will fill you with His overflowing and abundant and victorious life – He is the life.

“O, the fullness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement of knowing God on earth.” – Jim Elliott

More reasons why you should pray & spend time with God:

* YOU NEED TO SPEND TIME WITH GOD & BE FULLY COMMITTED TO HIM IN ORDER TO KNOW HIM INTIMATELY & TO BECOME LIKE JESUS.

Philippians 3:8-10 – “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my LORD, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”
Psalm 27:4 – “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

Like Paul & David, you need to be passionate in your seeking to know God, and in your fellowship with Him.

God’s word promises us that when we seek God with all of our heart we will find Him. May we have a desire and passion in our hearts to spend time with God and seek Him.

”Now devote your heart and souls to seeking the Lord your God.” – I Chronicles 22:19
”And you my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him he will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” – I Chronicles 28:9
“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:11-13

In Part 2 we will look at more reasons why you should pray and spend time with God. Remember, the number 1 reason why you should pray and spend time with God is because God desires to have close fellowship and intimacy with Him. Because He loves you so much and you are so special and precious to Him, He longs for you to spend time with Him and enjoy close fellowship with Him.

Pursuing Intimacy With God is committed to helping you with the most important thing in your life… your intimacy with God , your fellowship with Him, and your partnership with God in His Kingdom work & mission.

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