Private Moments: Living Out of the Overflow

So many times I find myself tired, short tempered, upset, or even sad and I ask myself why. Why do I feel the way that I do? Usually the answer is quite simple. I hadn't spent any time with the Lord. When I neglect my time with God, I start to neglect myself, those around me, and strangers passing by. I became irritated easily and annoyed much. I forget about how I should be living and walk in sin instead. It is in those moments when I like myself the least. I am farthest from God and I feel stuck. It is when I take the slightest step towards the Lord though that he pulls me right back in. I pray a simple prayer. I read one verse. I do a short bible study. I sing a worship song. He uses those things in my life to remind me who He is and how I need to get back to him. He reminds me to spend time with Him, alone.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see that he was always surrounded by people. There were only a few times when he was alone. In Mark 5, people were pressing around him. In Mark 8, the feeding of 4 thousand. In Matthew 14, the feeding of the 5 thousand. In Luke 5, people are flooding a house that he is in. He also has his twelve disciples that he appointed to be his closest apostles and friends in Mark 3. These 12 go with him basically everywhere. 

We also see Jesus making time to be by himself though. Matthew 14:23 says this, “After dismissing the crowds, he went up to a mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.” Luke 6:12 says this, “During those days he went out to the mountains to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.” There’s more than just these but this is to make a point. 

Jesus is the Son of God; fully human and fully God, and he still needed time alone with the Lord. 

What does that say about us? We see that Jesus went to be alone with the Lord to recharge. He would spend all night praying. He would do so much during the day that makes me wonder how he never grew tired. But then it points back to him taking time to be by himself with the Lord. His overflow came from his private moments with the Lord. 

You see, Jesus lived in the overflow. Whether he went to pray before the miracle happened or after, he was always prayed up. He knew that the most important thing for Him to continue going was to stay in fellowship with the Lord, his father. OUR father. 

I have been learning a lot recently about having my own private moments with the Lord. It has been in almost every sermon I’ve listened to recently and it comes up during my own Bible studies. Having my own private moments with the Lord have been everything to me. Let’s think of it as a gas station. Gas stations are used for many purposes. People use them to get gas, food, drinks, and to use the restroom to ya know, let go of bodily fluids. My private moments are just that. I receive my fuel to keep going. I get filled up with the word. I get some food (scripture) into my brain and I receive drinks that fulfill me. It’s also my time to let go of every worry, doubt, and feeling that I have. I lay it all out for the Lord to pick up and take from me. I laugh. I cry. I have good moments with the Lord, and I have hard moments. 

But it is in my private moments with the Lord that I truly see who he is and who he has called me to be. It is in those moments that I feel fulfilled and full of his love and grace. It is in those moments when I feel the most pain because it is never easy to let go of some things. But that pain quickly turns into freedom and healing. 

I want to live out of the overflow of my private moments with the Lord. Those moments where I am learning and taking in everything he is giving me. The moments where I learn the grace and mercy he gives so that I may freely give that same grace and mercy to others. It is where I learn how to be loved and how to love. It is where I learn who Jesus is and how I can best imitate him. 

My questions to you are, what do your private moments with Jesus look like? How often do you meet him? Are you living out of the overflow of those moments with him or are you barely surviving to make it through each and every day? 

My challenge to you is this: take at least 10 minutes a day to meet with the Lord. I don’t care what time you meet with him, just do it. If 10 minutes isn’t enough for you, great! Add more time. Just meet with him because he is waiting to meet with you. 

The Lord loves you and he cares for you. He has more for you than for you to just barely survive each day. Jesus stated in John 10 that he came to give us an abundant life. But that starts with us choosing to spend time with the Lord and receiving what he wants to give us