Running after God. I used this expression at the Volunteer Dinner. I later talked to my friend, Courtnay, who also said God had been inviting her to pursue and run after Him. Add to this the awkward questions at a new small group I visited this week. The blender effect is today my soul is buzzing with intentionality.
We can spend our entire life talking about Jesus and never spending time with Him. We can spend our entire life in ministry talking about the Bible, talking about what it means to be a Christian and yet never have a deep, profound meaningful relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Intimacy with God is our inheritance.
All you have to do is read the great thinkers and believers of times past and they will tell you that when you spend time with the Living God, your life changes. And so I continue to beat the drum that if your life is not changing, perhaps the one thing that’s needed is you’re not spending time with the Living God who makes all things new.
If you want more, ask Him. Do you have questions, ask Him. Are you mad, afraid, offended, tell Him. This whole dang thing is about His Love in you. If you are not experiencing His Perfect Love…run toward it, not away.
At the small group last night, if you can imagine, I did not want to say anything because I felt so out of place. They were talking about a relationship with Holy Spirit in theoretical terms. Out there, one day, maybe terms.
The Holy Spirit just rushed up inside of me and then out of me. I couldn’t not speak. I couldn’t not say how beautiful the Spirit of God is on a moment-by-moment, day-by-day basis. I couldn’t act like I was content with going to church and reading my Bible, I couldn’t be pacified by talking about what was possible and never actually grabbing hold of the Life that is truly life.
While so many are debating thinking vs feeling, faith vs fact, who’s smart and who’s not, who’s allowed and who’s not, God is looking for hearts hungry for Him. It says He searches the whole earth looking for hearts (mind, will, and emotions) that will not be satisfied until they know Him.
In Old and New Testaments the word “know” is akin to lovemaking. Intimately experienced and enjoyed.
I tell you truthfully that we will spend our entire life going through the motions if we are not actively running after God, if we are not intentionally setting our hearts to encounter Holy Spirit. God is so delicious, so delightful.
Let’s stop playin’ around. There is a whole world needing a real God. Let’s soak up until we overflow with Holy Spirit and show them what perfect love looks like.