Love the Journey

“The man who loves to walk will walk farther than the man who loves the destination.”¹

Do you love to talk with your Heavenly Father or is it merely a means to a destination: Getting what you want? This summer we are going to spend some time thinking about prayer. As we do, and as a prologue, may I challenge you to determine today – not tomorrow – to start to dig deeper in your journey with Jesus? A richer life of prayer enhances this journey – a journey into the richest of the fullest life possible. 

Jesus made an enticing statement recorded in John 10:10: 

“I have some so that they may have life, and life to the full.”   

I am animated by this personal mission statement from the Master. Jesus, the Son of God, the one “through whom all things were made,”² wants you, yes, you, to have his life to the full. This is no bread and water God. Yes, Jesus volunteered to leave heaven to walk with us so that he could provide a way for us to be saved, but also to provide a way for us to be saved from our C- lives.  

And to experience his filled-to-the-brim overflowing life. 

Are you experiencing Jesus’ full life? Are you even experiencing Jesus’ half-full life? Probably not. But even if you are close, there is still so much more. And yet, just before Jesus proclaimed his remarkable mission statement, he said something perhaps even more enticing, that typically gets overlooked: 

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9)

“They will come in and go out and find pasture.”  

In Jesus’ agrarian culture, the promise of green pastures conjures up images of sustenance and provision, as well as comfort and peace. 

Jesus is saying that when we surrender our lives to him, when we allow him to be our King, and we get off our silly make-believe thrones, then no matter where we go or what we face, we can thrive and flourish surrounded by green pastures. 

Perhaps King David’s words were echoing in Jesus’ mind as he assured us of green pastures: 

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 
2  He makes me lie down in green pastures, 
he leads me beside quiet waters, 
3 he refreshes my soul.(Psalm 23)

Today I am encouraging you – even challenging you – to be purposeful and proactive in your prayer life, spending time with Jesus daily, even moment by moment, so that you may experience his assurance of deeper and richer green pastures. Engage him in the details of your life in a conversational walk, talking about what the two of you are doing together.³

Yes, together. 

We can all go deeper, no matter where we are in our journey. May you learn to love the journey of prayer more than any destination, as you learn to live in the deeper love of Jesus. 

¹Johnnie Jackson

²John 1:3

³Dallas Willard