On February 10th I released my latest ebook, “Go With the Flow: A Non-Religious Approach To Your Daily Time With God.”
I truly believe this little book has the power to transform your walk with God from stale to epic. I say that because that’s what happened to me.
I used to spend up to two hours every day doing my devotions. Mostly, I did them because I thought that’s what I had to do to be spiritual, or as I now call it, “devotionally correct.” I was also ravenously thirsty and hungry for God, and spending time pursuing him seemed to give me my daily fix so I didn’t feel so guilty or empty all the time. Maybe you can relate.
Unfortunately, this approach led me to pretty much burn out on the daily devotions schtick. Especially when I realized Jesus doesn’t encourage spiritual hunger and thirst, he satisfies it. With my thirst satisfied, I had nothing but guilt to motivate me. My walk with God crashed, and I began to walk in the rhythms of grace.
I didn’t have to spend time every day with God. It was so freeing. Except I still needed Jesus, and couldn’t figure out how to get what I needed without slipping into a spiritual rut again. I needed a new motive, but what?
“Uh, how about because you love me?” Jesus asked one day, and it stuck. But my time with him was still sporadic, mostly because I didn’t know how to spend time with him in such a way that I was being real, my needs were met, and I was still walking in grace and the Holy Spirit, in such a way that God’s will was being done in and through me.
And then I read a challenging book by James MacDonald called Vertical Church. There’s a chapter where he asks, “Has it ever occurred to you that God has a preferred worship style?” He goes on to say that when we see worship going on in heaven, we’re seeing worship as God wants it. He said this pattern originally made an appearance in the Old Testament tabernacle and then the Temple, which Jesus went on to fulfill through his life, death, and resurrection.
A light went on in my heart, as I realized God had spent a whole lot of time and energy teaching us how to approach him. I studied and unpacked the principles throughout scripture, applied it to my own quiet time, and wow did things change in a hurry. As I wrote in Chapter One of Go With The Flow:
During my own quiet time, I regularly experience the grace and love of God in a tangible way. I hear God’s voice and gain his perspective on my life. His written word shapes my mind, my decisions, and the effect my life has on others. I become more like Jesus and learn to embrace my new self in Christ. I let go of burdens and find freedom from fear and sin. I pray with faith and surrender myself again to God’s plan for me. When I’m done I find myself refreshed, focused, and full of faith and peace.
Every single day, I expect to meet in a special way with the God of the universe, and I’m never disappointed. And here’s the thing: I don’t have a quiet time because I ought to. I do it because I need to. I don’t just want to spend time with Jesus; I love spending time with Jesus. Which is how it should be. And you need to know, I’m not sugar coating my experience. This is what my quiet time consistently looks and feels like. It’s what your quiet time can look and feel like, too.
In case you’re wondering, my experience with God isn’t super-spiritual. I don’t have any special in with God that you can’t have through simple faith. What I’m enjoying with God is supposed to be normal. So here’s my promise: If you follow the instructions I’m going to share over the next few chapters, your quiet time with God will become the best and most important part of every day you live. It will supercharge your life with God’s power and purpose.
The key, as you’ve probably guessed, lies in spending your quiet time doing what God wants you to do, how he wants you to do it. And he’s laid that out clearly in the Bible.
Let me ask you: How would you describe the regular time you set aside to spend time with Jesus? I think maybe it’s time to go with the flow!
Experience God like never before. ‘Go with the flow’ now for only $2.99.
For Apple devices (iPad, Mac, etc) and Kobo:
