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-- © GodSpeak International 2006 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES
Author: Teresa Seputis ts@godspeak.net http://www.godspeak.net

Practical Prayer Tools For A Prophetic Person

By Teresa Seputis

Lesson 6
Inviting God Into Your Leisure Time

Think for a moment about how we build friendships in the natural. It is usually by meeting someone, realizing that we share a common interest, then spending some time together to get to know each other. The "spending time together" will involve communication--talking to each other--sharing our hearts part of the time and listening to what the other person says. We will do things together that both parties enjoy doing.

The same thing is true in the Spirit. If we want to develop intimacy with God, we need to spend time with Him and get to know Him better. We don't just want to talk to Him, we also need to listen to Him and hear how He feels about things. You would be surprised on the variety of things that God likes to comment on and talk about.

I heard a testimony one time at a conference that illustrates this point. A pastor and his wife (let's call them Jim and Carol) were driving to visit some pastor friends of theirs (Sarah and Mike) who lived about a three-hour drive away. The Lord spoke to Carol as they were driving to the friend's house. He said, "Guess what? Sarah has a new refrigerator."

Carol pondered that for some time, not quite sure how to respond to the Lord. She finally asked Him, "Lord, I don't understand the deep spiritual significance of that, or why You are talking to me about somebody's new kitchen appliances."

The Lord responded, "Oh, there isn't a spiritual significance, I just wanted to talk to My friend, so I was telling you something you did not know." (By the way, when they arrived at Mike and Sarah's house, sure enough, they did have a brand new refrigerator.)

I love that story because it shows God's heart. God wants to talk to us as friends. Yes, there are times when He wants to command us (and He fully expects us to obey Him). There are also times when He wants to instruct us, and we need to be yielded and teachable before Him. But there are also times when all He wants to do is to fellowship with us as friends--and that is one aspect of what intimacy with God looks like.

Let me share another example from my own life. This was back when the San Francisco 49ers were a championship football team and it was next to impossible to get tickets to home games because they were so popular. My husband and I were big fans. God arranged for us to have some tickets on the 50-yard line (about 10 rows up), e.g., excellent seats. We got the tickets from this couple we met at a bridge club for the "face value" of the tickets the night before the game. That was unheard of during that time in the team's history. Normally season ticket holders would sell that type of ticket for about three or four times the face value.

So there we were with our great seats and it was also a very exciting game. As it happened, the seat next to me remained unoccupied during the entire game. I enjoyed the game immensely, and during half time, I stopped to thank God for giving me such wonderful seats and making it possible for us to go to the game. Suddenly, I got a mental image of God sitting next to me in that empty seat. In my mind's eye, I pictured Him sitting with a hotdog in one hand and having His other hand wrapped around my shoulders. Suddenly I was very aware of His presence and I could almost feel His arm around me. So I invited Him to enjoy the second half of the game with me. He took me up on that offer and just before each play, He would tell me what was going to happen next. It would be an incomplete pass or they would run the ball for so many yards. And He was right each time. The play would go precisely as He told me it would. Somehow God's presence at the game made something fun and wonderful even more enjoyable. By the end of the game, I felt closer to God than I'd felt in a long time. It was a wonderful experience.

The things that God said to me were not of any staggering spiritual significance. He was just spending time with me, talking to me. The details of the football game were not important to me. The thing that was important was that God would come and spend time fellowshipping with me!

Now here is the neat part--God wants to spend time with you just as much as He wants to spend time with me. He is every bit as interested in building intimacy with you as He is with me, because He loves all of His children dearly. He wants to be included in your day to day life, in your leisure activities. He wants to fellowship with you and draw you into a deeper friendship with Him.

But if you want to go there with God, that means you have to give Him a bit more of your time, and you need to listen to what He says. Also, I need to warn you that God might have opinions about the things you do together. For instance, one time I invited the Lord to watch this movie with me. It was a suspense movie about a serial killer and the lady detective who was trying to catch him. The killer decided to target the detective's seventeen year old daughter. The movie was very suspenseful and I was really enjoying it. I had been talking to God during the commercials and during the slow parts of the movie, as if He were a friend physically sitting on the sofa next to me watching the movie with me. It got to this really suspenseful part and God said, "I don't like this movie, let's watch something else."

I couldn't believe it. I really wanted to watch the end of that movie.

What do you do in that situation? I had to make a choice between God and the movie. I am glad to report that I made the right choice--I changed the channel. But I really wanted to see the end of the movie at that time, and was disappointed that God wouldn't let us watch it together. I found the movie on television again a few weeks later and was preparing to watch it (without inviting God to join me this time). However, God broke into my plans and asked me, "Teresa, since you know I don't like this movie, why are you planning to watch it?"

When I look back now, I can see why He did not like it. The movie had some graphic violence and some sexual scenes. [In fact, I am a bit surprised that I liked it at the time, considering the ungodly elements in it.]

But my story illustrates the danger you face when you invite God to come and fellowship with you in some area of your leisure activities. He is still God and He is still holy, and He might not like your choice of activity when it conflicts with His nature. For instance, if you enjoy going to bars to drink socially and pick up dates, that is not an activity that God will want to participate in with you. He will want you to choose another activity to do together, and He is likely to make the suggestion that you stop going to bars altogether.

Once you invite God into your leisure time, He is likely to show up in it again in the future. At times He may even suggest activities to you for the two of you to do together. He may also begin to express opinions to you about how you spend your leisure time. (You may not always appreciate His suggestions, He may step on your toes or crimp our style [our fleshly carnal nature's style] at times.)

Having said all that, there is something really wonderful about spending time with God, doing things together that you enjoy. When He comes and joins you, He brings a dimension into it that is amazing and wonderful. He loves to be invited into our leisure activates--taking a walk together on the beach, hiking together through the forest, riding your bicycle with Him, working out at the gym together, watching a movie together, etc.

Spending leisure time together what God can a very powerful tool in building intimacy with God. Why don't you give it a try this week?


-- © GodSpeak International 2006 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --

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