Make 2025 the Year of Our Lord
Alone with God is Where Your Faith Grows
“Listen to me in silence…; let the people renew their strength” (Isaiah 41:1)
Most of us find it difficult to be quiet. We fill our solitude binge-watching or scrolling. We interrupt our own prayers with thoughts about our to-do lists. We clutter our minds with news of temporal import and with lists of errands we must run to purchase things that will turn to dust.
We distract ourselves with things of this world when the Creator of the Universe desires to fully inhabit our lives so that every minute we live is filled with His purpose.
Let’s do things differently this year! Let’s make 2025 the year of our Lord by determining to meet with Him alone at least daily.
Alone with God is Where You Learn to Listen
In the Bible, God gave visions and direction to people when they were alone, Pastor Adrian Rogers taught. They were listening; not talking.
Abraham was called to leave His people and go to a land he had not seen where God gave Him the greatest covenant promise of the ages. Moses was alone in the desert when God called Him aside to the burning bush and assigned him to free God’s people from Egypt. David met alone with God in the quietude of his shepherd’s role before slaying the giant, Goliath. Paul spent time in the wilderness before beginning his evangelistic mission. Our great King and Savior Jesus Christ spent 40 days alone in the wilderness before beginning His own ministry and continued practicing solitude until His arrest and the time of His greatest work, the cross of Calvary. “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16”.
As you employ your soul—your mind, your will, and your emotions—in the act of listening, you’ll receive answers, wisdom, and direction. You’ll gain clarity and confidence about your life and your future as you receive the things God would speak to your heart. “Call to Me and I will answer you,” the Lord says, “and tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).
As you make quiet-time listening, prayer, and the study of God’s revealed Word in the Bible a part of your daily rhythm, alone with God will become your favorite place.
Alone with God is Where Your Thirst is Satisfied
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38).
Pastor Rogers taught that when you’re alone with God, you’re able to deeply drink in the satisfaction of Jesus Christ.
In the above Scripture, Jesus was not speaking to everybody, only to thirsty people.
“If we’ve been filling ourselves with shallow things like self-love and worldliness, we will not long for the living water of Jesus Christ,” Pastor Rogers said.
When we’re truly thirsty, Jesus is the only source of living water. He is the secret to spiritual fulfillment, which makes all of life sweeter and more satisfying, and He said, “Come to Me and drink.”
“This living water is free, but it costs everything within us. We must let it sink into our hearts so that we claim Him so deeply that we believe in Him and appropriate His promises,” Pastor Rogers said.
Ezekiel prophesied about what we, as believers, are to look like today: a mysterious river, flowing past the altar, which represents Christ crucified, Pastor Rogers taught.(See Ezekiel 47.)
“This river’s mighty force brings life where there was death and success where there was failure. This living water brings fruitfulness where there was barrenness and health where there was sickness.”
“When we are filled with the Spirit,” Pastor Rogers said, “our lives will overflow with joy, praise, and service. Not only will there be an income, but there will also be an outflow. We will become springs of revival and rivers of blessing.”
Grow Your Relationship with God
LWF has more than two dozen Bible studies available for personal or small-group use. Here’s a small selection that might be particularly appropriate as you enter a new year determined to grow in your relationship with God.
It’s All About Jesus, a nine-week study on the beautiful story God wove together and revealed from Genesis to Revelation—the story of Jesus.
The Secret of Satisfaction, a six-week study from Psalm 23 that teaches you how to live in right relationship with God, regardless of your circumstances.
Live the Abundant Life, a six-week study for those who are ready to stop existing and start living the full and complete life Jesus makes possible.
Knowing God through the Beatitudes, an eight-week study from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that will help you reimagine and reset your life with God as your first priority.
