12. For me to become friends with Jesus, I will need to spend time alone with Him.

It can be extremely difficult to make space for silence and solitude in our culture. How do you experience this challenge?

Getting to know another person takes time. How could you make time for Jesus so you can get to know Him better?

What is your biggest obstacle or hindrance, when you are alone with Jesus?

What could you and Jesus do during your time together? For example, could you take a walk together? Or sit by the fireside with a cup of coffee? What are one or two ways you sense Jesus might like to spend some time alone with you?

In the early stages of our journey, we spend much of our time learning about God by being with others. Church attendance, teachings about God, serving, worship, and Bible studies are all examples of how a community of Jesus followers help us grow in our understanding of and faith in God. 

In each of these, however, our knowledge of and relationship with God is filtered or conditioned by others. The danger is that we will form relationships with a substitute for God instead of God Himself, and that we will become dependent on others for our spiritual growth and relationship with God. 

At some point, if my relationship with God is to become personal, real, and healthy, I must find time to be alone with Him and explore my own, unfiltered, relationship with Him. Time alone with God can be scary, almost like being alone with a stranger. We might not know what to say, how to act, or what to expect. But like any relationship, once we get to know the other person, we will become more relaxed and comfortable. 

Intimacy is difficult to achieve in a group—it happens best in private. God desires an individual and intimate relationship with each person in the universe, and He desires to spend time alone with each person. It is God’s omnipresence—His capacity to be everywhere at the same time—that makes this possible. 

As I learn to silence myself and find spaces where I can be alone with God, I encounter a God who loves me deeply and understands me better than any other person. I also find that I don’t require others to help me connect with God.