God has shown me time after time how important it is to spend time with Him everyday in prayer and reading His Word. He has also shown me that it should be top priority over everything else I have in my busy schedule. When we spend time with Him everyday, we become like the water bottle I talked about in my post titled “My Heart is Overflowing.” God fills us up more and more every day with His love and Holy Spirit until we begin to spill over onto everyone that surrounds us! But, doing what God tells us is right hardly ever comes naturally. As a matter of fact, if we do not make a conscience effort to do what God calls us to do, we will most likely always do what is wrong. It is the nature of our flesh to be sinful. (Galatians 5:17) If we are going to live as godly women, it will not be by accident and it is going to require discipline.
God has shown me specifically 4 ways that I can put this discipline into practice that will benefit me spiritually and I have found that it also makes my day run smoother! My intentions for this list is not to say that this is the only way. I am simply sharing what God has placed on my heart for me to do and I do think they are good habits to put into practice. However, if you are not spending time praying to God and reading His Word everyday and it seems impossible for you to find time to do so, just start out giving God some time each day, regardless of when that time is. You will be so blessed. Okay…here they are:
1) Everyday Time! I must make it a point to spend time with Him everyday. To be conscience of not letting one day slip by without sitting down with Him. Some days I may be tempted to read a verse and then pray throughout the day because I’m so busy rather than taking time to sit down with Him. We are called to pray without ceasing, so that should always be done. But when I don’t sit down to meet with Him and give Him all of my attention I miss out on the blessing of communion with Him, sensing His presence and hearing the Word He has for me that day.
2) Alone and quiet time! When I try to have my personal time with God and my home is filled with the noises of the kids playing or my husband watching TV , I can not fully focus on what I am reading or what God is trying to tell me. And again, I miss out on all the blessings that I mentioned above. I have to find time each day to be alone with God when the house is quiet! If you are a mother, wife or just a busy woman like myself, I am sure you can agree that is not easy to do. I have found a way however. Read on! J
3)First thing in the morning time! Every morning God has new mercy and compassion for us. (Lamentations 3:22-23) It is there for us to receive every morning. Not that it is not available the rest of the day but I personally, and maybe you too, need that mercy and compassion from the minute the day begins. So the earlier I go get it, the better! I have found that God uses the quiet time I spend with Him to teach me and equip me with what I need for that day! Receiving what God has for me before I am faced with any situation that day allows me to respond in a way that honors and glorifies God!
4) Early Time! There is Biblical basis for this. Many of the godly men we read about in Scripture rose early to spend time with the Lord. (Psalm 63:1, Genesis 19:27, Psalm 5:3) Jesus also rose early to pray to His Heavenly Father. (Mark 1:35) I believe that I should follow this example given to me in Scripture and rise early to be with the Lord. In addition to that, I have another reason for wanting to rise early and be with the Lord… I may not have any other quiet time or time by myself all day! When I rise early before the rest of my family, as did the woman of Proverbs 31, I can pretty much count on the fact that that time will be quiet and I will be alone.
I would like to add that I have a baby that wakes up some times up to 3 to 4 times a night. The morning after those nights I may not be able wake up at 5am and that is okay. God made my body to need rest and He gives me that rest through sleep to be ready to do the good work He has called me to do that day. (I must be careful not to be a sluggard and sleep to much though.) Even on these days, I still make sure that I get my quiet and alone time with God as early as possible. It may not be as long of a time as I would like, but with the time that I do have, I bring myself before God, humble and ready receive a Word from Him.
I am a very busy woman theses days, but I must make this the #1 priority. Without this daily dose, like that water bottle I talked about before, I will be lacking in God’s Holy Spirit, which brings with it the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.) I will not be filled to overflowing and unable to extend these things to others!
2 comments:
I totally agree with this. It is so hard sometimes to find that quiet time alone with God. I must admit sometimes I don't try hard enough to do that. Reading this really helped me to understand that it really should be #1 in my life. I have one question for you? Do you do a daily devo or how do you go about reading in your bible? Just thought maybe you had some advice you could share on that.
I actually have quite a bit I want to share on that Ashley. I do not use a daily devo. Not that I think there is anything wrong with that. I just read my Bible. I am actually about to write a blog post about that so I will get that done today and have it on here for you tomorrow.
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