Are You Visiting God or Walking With God?
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There have been times when I’ve read the Bible in the morning and something spoke to me in a very special way.
I walked away knowing I would be reflecting on it all day long.
Only to get up the next day and realize, I hadn’t. I had become so busy during the day that I completely forgot to think about what God had spoken to me that morning.
Has this ever happened to you?
Have you ever planned to pray throughout the day, only to realize in the evening that you got distracted somewhere mid-morning and never followed through?
We have a tendency to get so engaged with this physical world – with the things we can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear that we forget about the spiritual world.
God is by our side, but we’re completely unaware of Him.
We tend to give God a time slot in our day: “Monday-Friday: 6-7 A.M. – Time With God”
I wonder how my husband would feel if I gave him a one-hour time slot in my day, and then the rest of the day completely ignored him.
Unintentionally, of course.
Because I don’t believe we intentionally ignore God. It’s just that we haven’t developed an awareness of Him 24/7.
I don’t think I’d have a very healthy marriage, or marriage at all if I did this.
Are we not the bride of Christ?
But as the bride of Christ, we have a tendency to visit God instead of walking with Him.
In Colossians 1:10-11, Paul prays for the believers in Colossae that they would:
walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy
Walking with God, as opposed to visiting God, develops maturity and fruitfulness in our life.
As we walk with Him, we get to know Him more and our relationship with Him is strengthened and deepened.
Not long ago, my friend came over to visit me.
She took a few hours out of her day, drove to my house, had coffee with me, and then drove back to her house.
Her visit had a beginning and an end.
I visit my friend, but I live with – walk with – my husband.
I think about my husband all throughout my day. I text him, clean for him, cook for him, and my whole life revolves around him.
When he’s home, I am constantly aware of his presence and anticipate that he’s always nearby.
This is the difference between visiting someone and walking with them.
God doesn’t want us to visit Him. He wants us to walk with Him.
He wants us to think about Him all throughout the day. He wants us to communicate with Him, serve Him, and arrange our whole lives around Him.
He wants us to be constantly aware of His presence and anticipate that He’s ever with us.
How to Begin Walking With God
One difference between my relationship with my husband and my relationship with God is my husband is visible.
I can interact with him with my 5 physical senses.
It’s easy to lose an awareness of God when we can’t interact with Him with our physical senses, so we need to develop an awareness of Him.
One way we can do this is by setting a timer on our phone to remind us at regular intervals throughout the day to pause, pray, and communicate with God.
You don’t need to stop and pray for 10-20 or even 30 minutes. Just taking short moments to pause and speak with Him.
After a short time, it will become habitual for us to communicate with God throughout our day.
This should not replace your quiet time
I want to caution you against letting this replace your dedicated time each day to spend with the Lord.
While I am constantly aware of my husband’s presence in my home and regularly communicate with him throughout the day, this doesn’t mean we don’t have regular times when we spend special time together.
This has helped to deepen and strengthen our relationship.
Every relationship needs those times set aside for quality time; and your quiet times are quality time with the Lord.
If we’re going to deepen and strengthen our relationship with Christ, we need both quality time each day and a continual awareness of His presence in our lives.
Have you been simply visiting with God lately?
Do you have a creative idea to help develop a continual awareness of God’s presence in your life?
Share with us in the comments below.
