.: our presentation :.

Maintaining a regular quiet time is such a tricky thing. And for most of us, we wake each morning with far too much on our hearts and minds to even make the smallest attempt. After all, what is the use? Being children of our self-consumed culture, we fail to see how it benefits us... and we rush into our days off to activities that seemingly make more sense to enter into. Because the purpose isn't blazingly obvious, we seek out things to entertain ourselves with that seem to come with better instructions and results.

But I think the very heart of such a divine habit centers on daily presenting yourself before the only One who can soften our hearts. As we enter into a time of inward reflection and worshipful meditation, or even continue our wrestling match with the Father over issues that may seemingly cost us our very faith, it is as if we are mustering up as much strength as possible and placing ourselves back into His open hands (for it so typically only takes us somewhere between hours to mere minutes to crawl out of them in search of that self-controlled life). And once we are in His presence, we drop our defenses (as best we can, for much of it lies against the Father Himself) and invite Him to once again soften our hearts.

That for me is the essence of what it means to have a habitual devotional life, for our very act of devotion is driven by humbling submission and crying out from the very core of our being for God to speak to us at such a level that we are united with His own heart and mind. We present ourselves in any way we can think of (to think that in our unique creativity, in harmony with our very design, and through knowing our own hearts, we approach Him in manners that are deeply personal to us), asking for Him to soften our calloused hearts and deeply rooted cynicism and refusal to take Him at His word. And we do such things knowing that it is His very desire for us to be softened and truly known and possessed by His Living Spirit.

I fear that we have come to some sort of a belief that there is one right way to "have devotions" (that very phrase strikes a chord within me that causes me to run in the very opposite direction from wherever it came), and that unless we figure it out, we are merely wasting our time or going through the motions. But the truth be known, we are given access to the Father by our very nature, which has been changed forever by the work of His Son. And the Father has no expectations or proper manner for how we are to approach Him, but rather He bears the deep desire that we simply come... and enter into deeper communion with Him.

Isn't that refreshing... even inviting?! I do not have to have the right words (which I so often don't), but I can simply offer as much of me as I am in touch with and aware of... and I can lay it before Him. And in deeply personal ways, the Father moves towards us (at ways we don't even realize or sense) and takes what He offers. Sometimes He simply takes what we offer... and yes, sometimes (often times) He asks for more, though not in a demanding fashion but in a manner that reveals His passion for intimacy with us (again, to know us and by known by us). But all we must do is come... with our guard dropped... with our own agendas hand-in-hand with as much of His will as we know at that given moment (we certainly must acknowledge both since both lay heavy upon our hearts)... and with a readiness to receive whatever He has to offer, which most always is a taste of the "everything" and the "eternity" that He is so desperate to give us.

We come before Him as often as we can, crying out for Him to breathe new life into our weary state of being. We acknowledge our deepest feelings (both frustration and thankfulness, anger and pain, sadness and joy), we ask some (if not all) of our hardest questions within the reality that it simply may not be for us to ever know this side of existence, and we stand ready to receive anything with somewhere between little to lots of expectations of how He ought to reciprocate.

But the beauty lies in our presenting ourselves before Him at such a level that we commune with Him... even if it is for moments at a time. The King is not sitting pridefully on His throne, seeking to keep His distance from His unworthy subjects. He is reigning beyond our wildest imaginations, far beyond what we are even capable of acknowledging... and that reigning King is seeking to reveal His glory within our lives within the context of our growing fellowship with Him. The awesome reality is that the mighty King is our loving Father who longs for us to see Him as He truly is.

But how can I when I am daily taking myself up on the offers and excuses for avoiding Him, whether it be out of confusion, frustration, or even simple unawareness?