In my last blog I asked you what you want more of. I told you I want more of Jesus and less of me. And I promised to meditate on what it means to want more of Him. As I contemplated getting to that place where we desire Him more than anything else, this is what I came up with:

1. Start Praising Him:
Do you realize God’s will is for us to be thankful in all things?
First Thessalonians 5:18 says: “Give thanks in all things for this is God’s Will for you in Christ Jesus.”

For me to be thankful in the bad times, as well as the good, means I have to constantly acknowledge that God is good, regardless of my circumstances. Wow! That does something to my devotional life with Christ. As I recount how good, all-knowing, and all-loving He is, it makes me love Him more. As we thank God for what He’s done and praise Him for who He is, we can’t help but love Him.

Constantly being aware that He has given us our very breath and health makes us remember He is Almighty God and we are not. You might be thinking He hasn’t given you much lately. But what do you really have that hasn’t been given to you? As we become grateful for everything we have it will move our hearts. And our hearts will be filled with a love for Him.

Can you start praising Him right now regardless of your circumstances?

2. Say Breath Prayers:
We often have to tell ourselves what to think…and condition ourselves to want the right things. I’ve found that as I start saying small “breath prayers” and literally breathing certain requests, they become a part of me. Try uttering breath prayers throughout the day, as if you are training and conditioning your heart how to feel.
These are my breath prayers of late:
* Give me a heart for You
* I want more of You, Jesus
* Lord, be my everything
* Jesus, I’m completely Yours
* I love You, Lord
* Capture my heart, Lord Jesus

Can you start verbalizing your heart’s desire so it becomes a part of you?

3. Surrender to Him What You Love the Most: There’s a reason Jesus said “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). Jesus knew that whatever we put first in our hearts will eventually become our god. And He demands and deserves to be first place. Yet how easy it is to love other, more tangible things more than Him.

A longtime friend in ministry who lost his Dad on Thanksgiving day sent me this quote from Randy Alcorn:

“Tragically, many Christians store up most of their treasures on Earth. So every day that moves them closer to death moves them farther from their treasures. They end up backing into eternity, heading away from their treasures…Christ calls us to turn it around — to store up our treasures in Heaven. That way, every day we get closer to our deaths, we move toward our treasures.”

Oh how I want my greatest treasure to be Jesus…so I look forward to this life coming to a close, rather than dreading it.

Can you focus on just one of these steps today and see how it increases your love for God? It’s one small way of having more of Jesus and less of you.