Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about intimacy with the Lord and while scrolling through TikTok (hear me out), a video caught my ear. The girl was talking about how this was a year of “more” and she said, “if you want to receive more, you have to be willing to give more” and that “God wants more of us”. A picture came to mind of something needing to be filled but there was limited amount of space to fill due to a blockage. It wasn’t that this thing was completely full, it just only allowed a certain area to be filled. This is how we can be with the Lord sometimes. We limit Him access to us and by default limit ourselves access to the fullness He desires to give us of Himself. God can and will only fill us as much as we allow Him! He wants more of us so He can fill more of us with Himself!! Intimacy, spending time in His presence, His word, worship, prayer — the secret place — bringing EVERYTHING to Him is so important with the Lord to not only know Him more but to open ourselves up more to Him. The more we know His heart, the more we trust Him because we find Him to be exactly who He said He is so even in moments that aren’t as hunky-dory as that “baby Christian” phase, times we can’t trace His hand, in the midst of transition, we have a well of His love to draw from for strength.

”that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.“

Ephesians 3:16-19 NKJV

When we deny ourselves of His spirit or time in the secret place or being in His word, we are preventing ourselves from living in His fullness. Our everyday lives taking much of our energy, that we forget or simply ignore to spend time in His presence.

Yet the more we let Him in, the more we come to know that nothing could separate us from His love and strengthens us to continue on through hardship, trials, temptations, persecution, or even just the mundane but occasionally exhausting day-to-day life. Personally, for me (and I’m sure many could relate), the more I walk with Him the more I realize I can’t actually do any of life without Him! The more I also realize that nothing is nearly as satisfying as Him. So why do we, as people, deny ourselves from the fullness He wants to pour out to us? The measure of Himself he wants to give us?

May I suggest a challenge to you all — let yourself be more available to the Lord. Open yourself up more to Him, be filled with the Holy Spirit; set aside everything that vies for your attention – INTENTIONALLY – and seek Him. It’s not always going to be easy and you will fail at times but IT’S SO WORTH IT! Come to more knowledge of His love for you. Get to know the fullness of the Lord. Because again, if you want to receive more of Him, you have to be willing to give more of yourself, more of your time. And the Lord wants more of you for He LOVES you!

”For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“

Romans 8:38-39 NKJV