Video summary
The speaker begins by sharing a personal story about his grandfather, whom he visits to help with yard work but often leaves quickly because he finds the interaction unproductive and boring. He realizes that this dynamic mirrors many believers' relationship with God, where they focus on religious duties or talking *about* Jesus rather than spending genuine time *with* Him. This approach feels inconsistent and risks leaving a believer who claims to love Jesus without actually knowing Him personally. To address this disconnect, the speaker introduces nine essential ingredients for cultivating intentional, meaningful time with Jesus that moves beyond mere ritual into deep relational connection.
The first few steps involve practical preparation: setting a firm time, finding a beautiful place with minimal distractions, and eliminating all external interruptions like phones or computers to be alone with the Lord. The speaker emphasizes tempering expectations, noting that while people often seek immediate powerful encounters or emotional healing, true intimacy grows gradually as one gets into the rhythm of God's presence, much like getting to know a new friend. He also advises rejecting a productivity mindset, warning against trying to quantify spiritual growth through metrics like Bible verses read or insights gained, as this turns a relational experience into a transactional task that misses the point of simply abiding in Christ.
Once prepared and expectations adjusted, the focus shifts to internal engagement through meditation on God's love and promises, specifically drawing from Romans 8 to fixate on the truth that nothing can separate us from His love. The speaker encourages using one's imagination to visualize walking, talking, or eating meals with Jesus in serene settings like a cabin or by a stream, which creates a tangible sense of His warmth and wisdom. This imaginative practice is not about inventing false things but about allowing the sanctified imagination to help believers inhabit God's presence fully. Finally, the process involves listening for God's gentle voice that aligns with Scripture, jotting down thoughts without worrying about neatness, and most importantly, enjoying Jesus for who He is rather than using Him as a tool to impress others or gain spiritual status.
Read the full video transcript
My grandfather's getting up there in age
these days. He can't do as much for
himself as he used to, but he's a good
man. I try to go over to his place every
once in a while, help out with yard
work, mowing the lawn, that kind of
thing, and he always asks me to stay.
But to be honest, these days I just find
myself being pretty busy. And the time
that we do spend together, I don't find
to be particularly compelling.
And I know he's a good guy, and I
respect him, but I just find it easier
to go there, do the work, and leave. And
I think he appreciates it. It's just I
can see the look in his eyes when I
leave every time. Pretty brutal. But
honestly, that characterizes a lot of
our relationship with God. We go over to
his house, we mow the lawn, and we
leave, because we can't be bothered to
spend the time, the energy, or pour into
that relationship, because it just feels
kind of boring. It feels unproductive.
It feels like I don't know what I'm
doing here. And we love God, and we love
to talk about him, and I love to talk
about him, but I find myself talking
about him so much more than the time I
spend with him. And it feels so wrong.
It feels so inconsistent. I don't want
to meet Jesus one day and not even know
him, not really have any recollection of
time that we've honestly spent together.
That changes today. And in this video,
I'm going to share with you nine of the
things, the ingredients that I've
learned to be so essential as you begin
to spend intentional time with Jesus.
First ingredient is time. I'm going to
set a time. I'm going to be firm about
it. For me, this happens at 6:00 a.m.
usually, because I'm waking up an hour
earlier than I probably want to, so that
I can have intentional time with the
Lord. If it takes waking up earlier,
then do it. If it takes staying up a
little bit late, then do it. I don't
personally prefer that, because at that
point I'm just ready to conk out. I'm
ready to go to bed. But doing it in the
morning sets my day off in the right
way. So, set a time. Number two, find a
place. Hopefully, minimal distractions,
potentially beautiful like this place.
I'm in a park right now. It's gorgeous.
I love the beauty of the outdoors
because it really draws my eyes to the
creator. It's just that much more easy
to enter his presence in this way when
I'm when I'm so aware of what he's done.
I like to think about it this way. When
I was dating my wife, where were the
places that I wanted to take her? Well,
they were places that were beautiful,
that had minimal distractions so I could
pay attention to her because I valued
her. Well, where do we want to spend
time with God? Well, you know, do we
want to spend time with him where it's
so busy and we're constantly going,
"Okay, I'm paying attention to this and
pay attention to this." Or are we going
somewhere that we can give our full
attention to the Lord? What we're
talking about here is abiding as it
talks about in John 15. Jesus is the
vine and we are the branches. We're
supposed to abide in his vine, to be
connected to him, to be with him, to be
present with him. And then we're also
practicing something that Jesus even
practiced. Early in the morning, he went
into the wilderness to pray and to be
with his father. Ingredient three,
eliminate distractions. So, I'm talking
no phone, no computer, and no other
people. It's just you and the Lord.
Number four, expectations. I used to
come to these times with pretty lofty
expectations cuz I'm like, "Hey, I'm
finally setting apart the time to be
with God. You know, maybe this is the
only time this week or the only time
this month that this has happened." And
so, I'm expecting to hear from God, to
get this powerful insight, to experience
some sort of like healing, emotional
healing, or like, you know, just some
powerful encounter. And yet, honestly,
what happens is kind of like nothing and
I don't really feel that close to God. I
feel kind of bored. I'm like, "Okay, is
this almost done now?"
And then what happens is I'm that much
more discouraged or less likely to go
back to that secret place. Temper your
expectations. Think about going out with
a new friend that you're just getting to
know. Does the first hangout, is that
really that great? Yeah, for some people
maybe it's lightning in a bottle, that
first hangout is amazing, but you know,
generally the relationship and the times
together hopefully get better as you get
to know each other. The same thing with
our relationship with God. As we get in
the rhythm of being in his presence,
things just begin to flow a lot easier.
Number five is reject a productive
mindset. For me, as a person who likes
to be productive, as someone who likes
to have a product and something to show
for what I'm doing, being with God can
be kind of tricky because I want to come
away with some insight. I want to come
away with something I can share with you
or or teach you or, you know, something
that I can really take a hold of that
transforms my life.
And yet, that's not the way that we
hopefully approach other relationships.
I'm not like looking to hang out with a
friend and and just looking to what did
I get from this relationship? What did I
get from this time of hanging out? What
thing can I take to be productive?
Productivity in a lot of ways is
anti-relational because it's looking for
what I can get from the relationship
rather than just existing and inhabiting
the relationship. So, don't try to
measure it with metrics. This is why
often we're the first thing we're good
at doing is reading the Bible because we
can we know about chapters and pages and
those things we can quantify like, I'm
being a good Christian, I'm doing
something productive.
Time with the Lord isn't quantifiable in
that way and don't try to make it. Okay,
number six, you're here with me, you're
remove distractions, you've set a time,
you're you're tempering your
expectations to just, okay, I'm just
going to be with the Lord here. Now,
meditate on his love. Meditate on his
promises. When the Bible talks about
meditating, it's not this kind of like
Buddhist kind of like empty your mind of
all things. It's like, let me fixate on
the truth of scripture, on God's love
for me, on what Jesus has done for me.
This is the truth of God's love in
Romans 8. No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who
loved us. For I'm sure that neither
death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor
things present nor things to come nor
powers nor height nor depth nor anything
in all creation will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Soak that in.
Just meditate on that. Ingredient seven
is use your imagination. Now, some
reformed folks, and I come from that
wing, um get nervous about this because
they're like, "Oh, don't start imagining
and the imagination is not a good thing
and you could start making up stuff
about God and the Bible. This is not a
good thing." This is the way I think
about it. Jesus used parables and
stories to communicate lessons all the
time. I think it was A.W. Tozer who
talked about this sanctified
imagination, how one day our imagination
will be completely purified and
sanctified to be all that it was created
to be. God gave us an imagination. So, I
don't know. I just want to be clear
about what we're imagining here. This is
how I kind of do it with my time with
the Lord is I imagine us, if I'm not in
a place like this, I imagine a place
like this. I imagine us together and um
us walking and talking together. Just as
I'm with the Lord and and my eyes are
closed, but I'm just imagining that or I
imagine us in a cabin and we're eating a
meal together and we're having this
conversation over a meal. These are
things that really make me feel close to
the Lord. It almost feels like it gives
me a tangible sense of his warmth and
his wisdom. So, allow yourself to go to
that place, whether that's a park or the
forest or a cabin or by a stream. Be
with the Lord. Walk with him. Talk with
him. Number eight is listen and capture.
Be attentive to what God is telling you,
right? I don't expect there to be an
audible voice, but I am expecting in
some sense potentially for him to speak
to my heart, even this, you know, still
small voice in my heart that I'm able to
say, "Okay, is this according to
scripture? Is this God talking to me
through this? Or is it my own brain?"
Well, you know what? I don't know. What
does it really matter if it aligns with
scripture? Okay, ultimately, I think God
is has a hand in all of this. So, if the
thought comes into my mind and I'm
meditating on it, I'm going to just jot
it down. It can be messy, doesn't have
to be neat. I don't want it to take me
out of the space of being with the Lord,
but I'm just going to put it down.
Number nine is don't use Jesus, just
enjoy him. Don't try to go there and get
something from him so then you can
impress other people, or don't just, you
know, make this a part of your life so
that you can tell everyone how spiritual
you are. I want you to genuinely ask
yourself what it would look like to take
deep pleasure and enjoyment in God. How
would that impact your whole life? I'd
love to hear from you guys which one of
these ingredients is the most
challenging or difficult from you? Let
me know, and until next time, God bless.