Alone With God

Alone With God

5/13/19

How do we approach this subject?  Honestly, what do we expect from God when we truly walk in His presence to say that we have been alone with Him?  It is easy to believe that this time with God is an accomplishment and always represents the kindness and loving characteristics of God, while this is a truth claim, the settings of this session with God may not always be in the greatest of terms or settings in our lives.  God’s Word is filled with such circumstances and while many of us ignore the ones that include suffering, we cannot confine lessons from God solely on good ideas and gardens of roses.  It is necessary to have the communication with God, that shall give us the needed guidance each day, but sometimes this guidance and teaching comes at a personal price of sacrifice that runs deep within our hearts.  Church, we have lost this Truth about the Word of God and it is time we understand that the desert we are in is a warning to return to God and not just an escape plan that God has prepared for us.

For those of you that have been raised in church will understand the experiences of church camps.  Each one of us had our own motivations for attending such weeks in the summer and many of us did not receive admissions to God and His salvation but some did.  I remember a few of these camp sessions and a few of them changed my life and gave me a direction towards God.  It was the time I spent at the altars that promoted this beginning with God and it was this point that I figured out that being a pastor’s kid did not automatically make you saved and committed to a relationship with God either.  But as time squeaked along, I unknowingly left that aloneness with God for better limelight, one that had no time with God; yes, I said unknowingly for the world has a tendency of introducing itself and then grabbing hold to the prize of the heart without you even knowing what has occurred and then being alone with God must take on another meaning.

How many of us have spent quality time alone with God and have come away with a blessing or Word from Him?  I bet that almost every person reading this article could say yes to that question.  There is nothing wrong with being alone with God during those intimate and quiet times in the comfortability of our own surroundings.  But we must ask ourselves this question: are we only willing to believe and accept perfect and peaceful returns when our alone time with God comes with a happy result and a quick one to boot?  Do we have what it takes to withstand a challenge or a deep-rooted result coming from our lives as such a setting?  AS I have stated many times before, God shares with me the topics and titles of these articles in unique and funny moments, but I also have to admit that I do not spend enough time alone with God so that He can root out the decaying areas of my heart on a continual basis as I should.  These articles that God has me writing are not only for you but for me as well and it is all of our responsibilities to share what God has for us to hear.  We cannot just sit in the pews (computers) and hear what God is saying to His people and do nothing (modern-day Christianity) then expect God to move in our lives as though we talk to Him on a regular (prayer) basis.  Furthermore, we shall never know how to approach the world and those dying that live for the world unless we have an active alone time process with God, in good or bad conditions.  The question remains is this: are we going to get it or is God going to have to take Egypt out of us?

It is this type of setting that God wants us to know a little bit more about because it seems as each day passes His children seem to trounce on the commitment to God for a party line with the world.  Many of us have heard the great praise stories in God’s Word when David was dancing before God along with the countless psalms and proverbs he wrote through these occasions.  All of these passages seem like they were written in good times during David’s life but when we study the surroundings of David during those writings we find that havoc and turmoil presented itself heavy instead.  Of course, we all know that Jesus spent a few hours in the Garden of Gethsemane praying alone to His Father requesting Divine direction and permission.  His words and agony produced blood sweats that touched the ground before His remaining blood poured out just a few short hours later by human means.  How can we forget such tragic alone time with God due to our false belief that only glad tidings should be warranted or accepted during this period of time?  Where are our hearts located with this mentality to proclaim that God only hands down easy-go-lucky tidings?  Let it be known that this societal generation is not the first to believe that God only allows perfect conditions serve as the placemat for His alone time with us, the only real question to be serviced is if we understand what God is trying to weed out of our lives before our lives end.

The Scripture passage for this article comes from the Book of Exodus and covers most of this book as well.  For it is a book that tells us of a great feat being accomplished through some tough trials on both sides of the argument.  From the outset of this passage, we find that Israel had become slaves to the Egyptians from a place of exaltation and through a cascade of events became a burden to the Egyptians at the same time as Israel’s blessings.  It was this captivity that concerned God for His people for while they lived in such confines they could not represent what God had created their nation to be, separate from all other nations and empires.  It was also for this setting that God began the process of giving the ruler of Egypt an opportunity to let His people free before He had to deal with the ruler and his people as only God could.  Over time, God showed His eternal and supernatural powers which both the Egyptians and the people of Israel saw occur.  These acts from God alone should have convinced that the placement of the Israelites was a battle and that their engrained lifestyles in Egypt needed to be changed, the only problem was that Israel liked their status of slavery there and as the trek passed year after year in the wilderness it was evident that they were not conceding the slavery issue and holding on to its presence within their hearts.

How many of us realize that when God takes us out of a short term situation or long term condition that He is alone with us?  When we moved to a new town, I had no clue who I was going to be friends with nor did I know anyone at the church that I could run to safety, it was just my parents, brother, and me.  Even though there were thousands of people that were freed from Egypt’s slave lifestyle, the group of beautiful people that God led out of that setting was alone with their bondage breaker.  It is sort of difficult to picture or to comprehend that many people can be alone with God while together, and in this example almost impossible to believe, but it is the truth and it was God’s way of not only physically freeing His people from any physical type of danger but to free them spiritually from how deep Egypt became embedded in their lives as well.  It is this aspect of pure freedom that needs to have one-on-one sessions in order to properly and eternally be set free from the world and its ruler.  We cannot forget that when we are separated from the world that we are walking with God and are in a setting of being alone with Him, and if we are not with God and walking with the world then that condition is who we are alone with.

As each chapter of Exodus passes, we find the children of Israel battling another issue of captivity with whining and complaining being the sole response of such antics.  Self-gratification and indulgences continued to flourish within the lives of God’s people not to mention the personal demands that they remembered they had back in Egypt.  Sadly, as time continued along their journey increased daily for they could not see past their own ambitions to figure out that the length of their journey was solely dependent upon them knowing what God was doing in their lives, or trying to do in their lives.  As I have studied this book of the Bible I have not ran across any passage that gives account that they finally reached the truth about what God was trying to do in their lives as they wandered around in that hot sand, and I also did not read where they figured out that they were alone with God either.  Yes, they saw wonders and miracles while they were out there but they never fully understood the eternal motives that God had planned for them.  When the Book of 1 Samuel comes along we see that Israel want an earthly king and God refers to their wants and whines back to their wandering days in the wilderness which provides us with the answer to that question. 

As stated above, it is easy to be alone with God when things are all roses and the fragrance of those roses fill our nostrils, but when tough times set in it is a common thing to place our senses first and not see what God is trying to teach us or show us.  I am confident that the children of Israel would have not had to wander around for forty years if they would have accepted the fact that what God was trying to show them was that He needed to deep clean their hearts before they could enter into the Promised Land.  When God promises something He does it for a reason, He loves us and wants us to have the best of everything for that is how we were to live after our Creation.  However, God also knows that in order for us to receive such perfect conditions our hearts need to be in that same order and for this to occur He needs to clean out our hearts according to His standard.  This requires one-on-one evaluation, a personal countenance with God so that He may work as needed, for if He allows us to just walk into His promises unclean then He has failed as a Creator and as a Father, a condition that He can never allow.  God knows that if our hearts are not willing to be changed and cleaned according to His standards then we shall not fully understand what His Promised Land is and why it was established for us.  God is not a fantasy nor is His Kingdom for which it stands; therefore, our hearts must be in spiritual condition before we see His Kingdom come to pass even though it is right in front of us.

As people, can we accept the fact that we need help and that the only One that can help us is God the Father through the blood of His Son Jesus?  The children of Israel mistook God’s Grace through the act of Covenant for an easy ride to freedom missing the point of what it meant to be free and how to fully obtain its surrounding abilities.  To the average person walking those countless miles in the desert it must have seemed frustrating on why it was taking so long to reach what God had promised, but the question remains did they ever once think beyond their physicality aspect and allow God to search their hearts for all traces of their captors?  Allowing God into their hearts to scrape out the vile necessities of Egypt required more than just calling out or believing God exists, it needed to be alive in their hearts and their understanding that a relationship was required.  This is the difference that the children of Israel missed and it is still the detail that we miss today, for if there is no relationship status with God there is no way possible that God can take Egypt out of us either.

We have also missed this detail of this relationship when it comes to our studies of the children of Israel and while it is easy to see the activities of rebellion within the camp of Israel in the wilderness, many tend to forget that the desires of the heart are what God wants to change when it comes to the confines of our spiritual lives.  When we leave our emotions as the dawning of our lives we cannot get past the superficial aspects and this lack of deep need blinds us into believing that our freedom can be obtained in like manner.  Over and over the Israelites complained to God about the conditions and length of their wilderness inhabitance, but not once did they unconditionally cry out to God for freedom in Him from Egypt.  They continued to dance and to worship idols at the same time as they cried for help when trials and turmoil presented themselves.  Who do you believe allowed such circumstances to change during the Israelites’ time in the wilderness unfolded?  After they realized that their wilderness journey was going to take a while, they stopped their pursuant of God and focused on their promise instead.  Just like the Israelites, there is not one person out there that has stopped their intimacy and relationship with God (alone time) and placed our focus on what is to come down the road.

It is a wondrous thought that when we look back at our lives we can say that God was with us no matter what our circumstances might have been.  So, why is it so difficult for humans to realize that in all cases God is with us doing His best to communicate with us and to warn us that our lives need to change?  All want to live in peace and happiness every day but as each day rises some type of disappointment smacks us in the face before the daylight ends.  We must ask ourselves how much our lives would be different if we would take the time to begin our day in solitude and quiet prayer seeking God to give our direction for that day’s journey.  How hard would it be for us to ask God about our lives and how we could seek a stronger relationship with Him, instead of flying off a quick superficial prayer that has no heart and definitely no direct communication skills worth mention?  For some, it is a miracle to read the story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness and see how lucky they were that God did not give up on them when they complained each day, all the while not hearing God voice whispering in their hearts to listen for His guidance.  Yes, as their physical eyes focused on the hot wind and blinding sands they still could not see that they were not alone but alone with God on both planes of existence.

To some, it may seem like a cruel path that God led these beautiful people on, but when you know just how deep God needs to get into our hearts that belief of cruelty disappears and wonderment replaces it.  God will take every step necessary in order for us to listen to His voice of caring, cleaning, and warning.  Only God sees our hearts like no other and since He was the One that Created us in the beginning only He is worthy to take such a stand and seek restoration through His calling.  Whether we accept it or not, being alone with God in the wilderness is probably the best setting He can present to begin and finish the cleaning He needs to do.  How many times did the Israelites sincerely pray to God during those forty years?  While the Bible does not specifically address such time periods you know by the content of the Book of Exodus, it could not have been much.  So poses the question of the hour concerning our prayer time and wilderness time being alone with God.  How do we rate in comparison to Israel in this instance?  Are we better, about the same or are we worse?  Why do we even have to ask this question at all?  The reason is this, it is because the Children of Israel had God with them visibly and we have His Word in front of us and in neither case humans did not realize this important detail about God.

What examples provide such an answer to this question?  Which one do you want first, the Church aspect or the world aspect?  The world shall never have anything to do with any type of communication with God and definitely will not have any alone time with God.  The world will do everything in its kingdom power to take your authority of communication away from God and then make your life so busy that you will not think about God on any level.  Church, here is your example and it is one that should hang our hearts down as low as they can go but it is one that at the same time should make us fall on our knees and ask for forgiveness, to repent, and to allow God to restore our hearts.  On one of the social media outlets, there is a continuous live broadcast of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.  I watch this channel on a regular basis, and I have noticed a few things about such a process.  First of all, the people who are singing, praying, and reading the Word have no issues with what they present and what they are doing absolutely glorifies God on many levels.  I have often wondered how many people sit in their church pews during the week or are at their church altars during the week seeking direction and holiness from God. 

Secondly, as I watch this channel I have noticed that there are not many people that are ever seated in that auditorium.  No, it is not a large sitting by any means but even with that said I hardly ever see more than a handful of people that are present.  A building dedicated to the continual prayer sessions to God is empty, or less attended?  Why?  God notices the hearts of His children and what is deeply important to them and it is evident that the survival of this nation and the eternal survival of our way of life as we know it we do not dare seek the Truth on off times.  So, how are our lives different from what the world preaches?  Do we honestly ask God to have His Way in our lives?  Do we completely desire to surrender our lives totally to Him?  The answer to these questions is a loud and resounding NO!  How could we, since we do not even recognize that God is right in front of our heart’s door?  Yet, our ears are in tune with the physical which drowns out what we really need in our lives.

The concept of being alone with God should frighten our boots off, yet at the same time, it is an awesome experience for when we leave this time our lives are further enriched with His eternal Grace and eternal Truth.  The desire God has most is for His children to come to Him willingly and to seek His advice on all areas of our lives, this way He can guide us according to His Divine and perfect Way, a way that the world cannot touch.  Sometimes these sessions with God do not fit into the “pretty” mode that many believe they should always be but we must concede that these painful times are necessary in order for God to dig out the world from our hearts.  For forty years God tried His best to dig Egypt out of the hearts of the children of Israel and those roots continued to stay within their lives for decades to come eventually leading to the idea of Israel not wanting God over their lives as eternal Ruler. 

We are on this exact same path as a nation and more grievous the Church as well.  It is easy for us to understand that the world influences nations and otherworldly leadership positions but when the Church takes her eyes off of God and the mission that His Son gave to us, there can only be one direction that she can follow.  As each day passes, we see this worldly domination of the Church eat away at her livelihood forcing her on her knees and to submit to the ruler of this world.  Her strength is deteriorating in a consistent manner and the sword of death is now at her neck with a laughing loser holding the handle and the hilt.  What is so amazing about this scenario is that she is smiling at her own demise even with being on the verge of total destruction.  She does not know that she is fulfilling a prophetic verse that proclaims that the enemy only comes to kill, steal, and destroy; she never dreamt that it would be her who the enemy came after, fooled by not believing in the entire Word of God when it comes to attacks from the enemy on everyone, not just a select few.

Sadly, the Church pushes God away when He sends His warriors to her presence believing in the authority of Satan instead of her Creator and mission Host.  In addition, she is not willing to see God for who He is and to reach out to Him for help.  Holding the hand of the one who has the sword to your neck is not the best policy to have, but it is one that the Church continues to choose.  Our desire to incorporate the world and then keep it close within our hearts shall purposefully blind our beliefs and dependence on God.  The status of this nation shall never change direction nor renew our spirits and hearts until we drop the hand holding with the world and reach out to God.  As long as we are on our knees to the world our hopes are dashed even down to the simplest whims and concerns.  The Church has failed to recognize that she now spends her time alone with the world and not God which has led to our current position.  When our eyes are fixated on worldly goals we cannot see what is about to hit us and will ignore what God the Father is trying to warn us about.

One has to wonder just how long the children of Israel would have wandered in the wilderness if they had quickly figured out what God wanted from their hearts.  The same question should be present in our minds and hearts as well for if we do not realize this True need in our lives, our wandering shall continue with added consequences of such losses appearing over the horizon.  Being alone with God is an awesome thing, He shows us what needs to be taken out from our lives so that we may receive the full potential of what He has made for our lives.  This nation has a promise just as Israel had a promise but the question still remains about the path we must take in order for us to reach and to receive this promise.  The digging out process that God performs does hurt but it is far shorter and less grotesque than the one that we shall have to face if we do not spend quality time alone with God voluntarily.  Repent, Church and allow our hearts to be cleansed by God before it becomes necessary for us to pick up the pieces of our hearts in what’s left of our nation, states, and neighborhoods and once again teach that God is, has been, and shall always be with us demonstrating His willingness to keep His end of the Covenant leaving the rest up to us to fulfill the equality of being alone with God.

DLB