At Home Jesus

Hello friends, it's me again and this time coming at you in the morning instead of the middle of the night lol! I've been feeling the stirrings to share some of what the Lord has been speaking to me lately. For a while now I've been trying to have some personal quiet time with Jesus, the uninterrupted kind, where I'm intentionally listening to Him and having a conversation, just the two of us. I love Psalm 119:147-148 where David says, "Before the day dawns, I'll be crying out for help, and wrapping your words into my life. I lie awake every night pondering your promises to me." Another one is Psalm 131:2, "I am humbled and quieted in your presence. Like a contented child who rests on its mother's lap, I'm your resting child and my soul is content in you." These scriptures paint a beautiful picture for me, that it doesn't matter what time it is, day or night, the Lord is always available to listen and converse with us. He wants us to come and rest on him, to find peace and be content as we are in a safe comforting place. Which leads me to this question that I've been pounded with; are you too busy for time with the lord? You see, we don't have to be in a corporate prayer setting to have that communion with him, it can be at any point in the day that's not on a Sunday! How great is that!? Hear me, friends, I know that some of you know and put this into practice, but there are some that don't understand this concept because no one has taken the time to explain, and teach them in this. I want to teach you about At Home Jesus. 1 Chronicles 16:11 says "Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!" Continually, that word doesn't mean every so often, or only on Sunday, it means ALL the time!

My husband and I were driving yesterday and we had a bit of time before we reached our destination, so I asked him what his thoughts were on spending time with the Lord personally. He started talking about John 15, and in this chapter Jesus is speaking about how He is the vine, and we are the branches connected to Him. I love in verse 4 where Jesus states, "So you must remain in life union with me, for I remain in life union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine." I want to focus on that last part for a moment, where Jesus says to be intimately joined to Him. I know for some, that may seem foreign, strange, maybe even uncomfortable. But can I let you in on a secret? It's absolutely beautiful when you learn how to be close to the Lord like He speaks on. Things start to change for you in your everyday life, and it's completely evident too. Let's back up for a second though and let me bring things into perspective in a different way. For all of you who garden, what happens when you don't take care of the weeds in your flower bed? They take over right? Then they start suffocating the flowers until those beautiful, thriving flowers start to wither and fade away. It's the same way for us in our relationship with the Lord, when we allow ourselves to pull away and let the things of this world take place of Jesus, we start to wither, suffocate, and get lost in all those things that start to take precedence over Him. Jesus wants our time, He wants to have communion with us, to know the intimate, deep things of our hearts. Just as a friendship grows when we take time out of our busy lives to intentionally spend time with them, the Lord asks the same of us with Him. For those who are parents, when your kids are little don't you treasure the times they want to come and cuddle with you, to just sit quietly and rest with you, because they know you are their comforter, and protection, and you'd do anything for them because you love them. When they start to grow up, they tend to pull away and not want to cuddle as much or confide as much because they think they can handle all those things on their own. And you long for those moments again of when they were little, the same goes for Jesus with us. He is all those things and so much more to us. And it doesn't matter how old you are, He always has a seat on His lap or a seat at the table with a cup of coffee (or tea) for you. He longs for that intimacy with you, for you to confide in Him, and rest in His presence. The beauty is, there is no striving in His love. We can come to Him exactly as we are, no matter how messy, dirty, broken, and ashamed we are. He wants to love us exactly where we are, clean us up, feed us, and encourage us to move forward.

My encouragement to you in all of this is to make time for Jesus. It can be at home when you're baking in the kitchen when you're taking a shower when you're sitting down in the morning with your cup of coffee, or late at night when the kids have gone to sleep. But be intentional, put in the effort to make time for Jesus, because I promise you, friends, it will be worth it. Quiet yourself. Wait on the Lord. Rest in His presence. Spend time with Jesus, and find all that you need with Him.