Inviting God In

Ever have one of those moments when the Holy Spirit draws your attention to a step of spiritual growth and says "How about you?" —I don't mean audibly, of course, but it never ceases to amaze me how clear that "still, small voice" can be.

The other day, I was working on editing a recent project, when I ran across a sentence I had written that hit me like I'd never seen it before. It had to do with the idea of inviting God into one's smallest needs and desires, and it was like God was pointing to that sentence and saying, "You could do that."

I could tell it was something that God wanted me to spend some time on, so I wrote the thought down on a sticky note and stuck it to the journal I write in when I spend my hour with God each morning, knowing that it would take more time than I had just then to do the kind of thinking and praying God wanted me to do over the idea.

Throughout the day, and into the evening, the thought would come to mind and I would stop and pray, asking God how I could invite Him into even my smallest wants and needs. I found myself asking, "What would that look like?"

An example came to mind of a time when I had actually done this. It was over a year ago now, and I was at a store. I had recently marked a milestone in my life, and when I came across a Christmas ornament highlighting that particular milestone, I was suddenly struck by the thought, If Grandma were still alive, she would have gotten me one like that for Christmas.  I had actually picked up the ornament, intending to buy it for myself, when something stopped me, and I put the ornament back.

 God had been teaching me a lot about finding comfort in Him just then, and I decided that, instead of buying the ornament, I would tell God about it, and see what He would do.

I still can't quite explain how I came to that decision; it was all the work of a moment, but I walked away from that display with a sweet and peaceful expectation that either God would prompt someone to get one for me (which would be far nicer than buying one for myself), or that He would instead give me contentment with whatever He had planned.I didn't tell anyone else about the ornament, because I wanted it to be clearly from God if I got one. —I suppose it was a sort of exercise of faith.

Anyway, I never got the ornament, and I had even forgotten about it until the other day. What I did get while I waited, however, was a sweet sense of closeness with God —the delight of sharing a secret with only Him. Looking back, I can see that if I had just taken that desire into my own hands —insignificant though it seemed— I would never have had that experience of inviting God in and enjoying the delight of expectation that God would provide what was best.

When we are particularly close to someone, we tell them things we would never tell just anyone. We tell them about all the small, insignificant things that matter to us.When we are close to God, we do the same thing. There is nothing too small to take to Him, just as there is nothing too big. The smaller the need or want we bring to God, the closer we will feel to Him .

But it's not just things we need or things we want that we can bring to God; we can also bring our gratefulness for even the smallest of blessings. Even if we can see nothing else to be thankful for, we can always be thankful for salvation, for the gift of life itself, the very fact of God's love and care, —one could go on and on, for God has given each of us so many blessings!

When we invite God into our thoughts, even when they are insignificant and mundane, we are opening our hearts to Him more and more. And the more we are in the habit of talking to God about everything, the easier it becomes to invite God in to our hearts and minds when we are tempted. Inviting God into our moment of temptation helps us to be victorious, for it invites to our battle the One who has already won the war. (I Cor. 15:57)

In 2 Thessalonians 5:16, we are commanded, "Pray without ceasing". By inviting God into our thoughts —whatever they may be about— we are, in effect, praying. Even if we do not have our heads bowed or our eyes closed, it is prayer nevertheless, because it turns our internal conversation with ourselves into a conversation with God.

So, what is it that God wants you to invite Him into? You'll be amazed what blessings come from simply telling to Jesus your simplest desires, your smallest thanksgivings, your most fleeting temptations.

Tell it all to Him. 

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you."
I Peter 5:7