God’s Heart to Meet with You

WEEKLY OVERVIEW

In our first week of Catalyst, we’ll explore seven answers to the heart’s most important question: “Why?” Until we understand why spending time alone with God every day is worth the time and energy it takes, we’ll never be able to develop consistency or go as deep into God’s presence as we were created for. May you realize both the depth of your need and the goodness and availability of your Father as you discover your why. 

DEVOTIONAL

The most life-changing moment I’ve had with God apart from my salvation was discovering that he really wants to meet with me—not just people in general, but me specifically. God sees me as I am. He knows all of my past sins and present failures. And yet, he genuinely wants to spend time with me. 

We serve a God who constantly, sweetly, and powerfully pursues us. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” God is knocking on the door of your heart right now. He is not distant. His focus isn’t elsewhere. He’s focused on you, and his heart is filled with the desire to love you, lead you, and fill you with his Spirit. 

The first and most foundational answer to the question of why we should spend time alone with God every day is that we were created to live with a constant awareness of God’s unconditional love. The foundation of our why will always be God’s why. God’s greatest desire is for a restored relationship with his people. And it’s in knowing and receiving his unceasing desire for us that our hearts will be stirred to meet with him. 

You weren’t made to live apart from the love and approval of your heavenly Father.

A relationship with God is incredibly similar to relationships with others. We’re naturally drawn to people who care for us. We like spending time with people who enjoy spending time with us. So, discovering God’s desire to meet with us is foundational to establishing the rhythm of consistently spending time alone with him. 

The Creator of the universe deeply longs to continually, consistently meet with you. God, who is almighty, all-knowing, filled with grace, and is the fulfillment of perfect love, longs to be known by you. You were made to know and be known by your heavenly Father. You were created to walk with him every moment of every day. To try and live without a continual experience of God’s love and desire for you is to live without nourishment for your soul, and it only leads to striving, dissatisfaction, and emptiness. 

 

You weren’t made to live apart from the love and approval of your heavenly Father. You weren’t made to walk through life alone. God’s intention in creating you was to dwell with you, walk with you, lead you, love you, and provide for you. Until your life aligns with God’s intentions in creating you, you’ll never find the sense of fulfillment and core purpose you’ve been looking for. 

Song of Solomon 7:10 says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” May you grow in the awareness of God’s desire for you today. May you come to know yourself as God’s “beloved.” May your life be marked by the natural response to your Creator’s unending pursuit of you. And may you center your life around meeting with God, not out of obligation, but because he so lovingly longs to meet with you.

GUIDED PRAYER

1. Meditate on God’s desire to meet with you. Take in the reality that your Creator cares deeply about you and is focused on you right now.

2. What does it mean for your life that your loving Creator continually pursues you? What would it be like to live a life marked by responding to God’s love in every moment? Journal your thoughts. 

3. Take time to meet with God. Ask him how he feels about you. Ask him to reveal his desire for you. Respond to his affections with your own. Tell him how his love and pursuit of you makes you feel. 

GO . . .

All you have is today. Consistently meeting with God is more about the choices you make right now than ones you make tomorrow. The way you choose to live right now will impact your days to come. Don’t worry about your track record. Don’t concern yourself with the idea of meeting with Jesus every day for the rest of your life. Simply choose to enjoy him today. 

“Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34).