Spending Time With the Lord

Anyone that knows me knows that I love technology and that I love computers so I spend a lot of time doing things surrounding the two.  Although this may be the case, I have to distance myself from those two things to spend time with my heavenly father.  How can I be used by God if I don’t make myself available to Him?  How can I hear his voice if I’m consumed and occupied?  How would I know all the things I am and the authority I have through Christ Jesus if I never read His word?  Truth be told, if you never spend time with God, you wouldn’t spiritually grow (and I’ll take a step further to say that you wouldn’t grow in many other aspects of your life as well).  Just like we’re to eat physically is just how we’re to eat spiritually.

Last week, as some probably noticed, I didn’t post any new blog content.  Last week (as it should be everyday) was a week designated toward spending time with the Lord.  This meant spending less time talking on the phone, browsing the net, watching TV and etc.  I want to share something with you.  Normally when I work on 2PraiseGod, I’m working literally, in many cases, from morning til night; however, last week I allowed myself up to 5 hours to work on the site.  As a result, I’ve saw more happen on 1 week spending less time working on the site and spending more time with God verses me spending 10+ hours working on the site and less time with God.  The Lord allowed me to see that when I truly seek the Kingdom of God FIRST, when I seek to hear His voice FIRST, He will take care of everything for me –yes even a site =]

While spending time with God, not only did I notice Him moving on the site, but here are a few other things that happened:

• Joy and Peace: I had joy and peace in the Lord. It actually felt good to wake up in the morning and bless the Lord for another day.  I woke up feeling as though I had no burdens on me; I woke up not feeling stressed.  I didn’t worry about how I was going to do this or that.  My mindset was, “if I concentrate on God, He will take care of everything” –and he has.

• Prayer:  As prayer is our method of communication with God, I found myself praying more and asking the Holy Spirit to lead my tongue on what to pray for – which He has.  I’ve noticed that I have more to pray about and that the Lord would send people my way to pray for as well.

• Reading:  Truth be told, one thing I really don’t like to do is read, however I found myself reading the Word of God each day (since last week).  I found myself actually craving the Word of God.  Even if I only read a chapter or one verse, I LONGED and craved for it.

• Trust: Many times we say, “I trust the Lord”, but given the right circumstances – if things don’t go your way or if you don’t understand why the Lord allowed something to take place in your life, many find themselves panicking and worried-some instead of choosing to trust the Lord no matter what they see – and I’m guilty of this too.  However, over the past few weeks, the Lord has been showed me how and why I should trust in Him and not in myself.  I encourage you to read this: my mother composed this blog.  It’s titled, “One day, Three Miracles”.

• Communication: Last week, I conversed with the Lord more than ever before.  As I’m talking with Him, He’s ministering to my heart and He’s talking to me too.  It’s a beautiful thing to have direct access to God anytime you need Him or just want to say, ”I love you Lord” “How are you today?”

Though this is a brief list of what happened in the past week, my point is to show you that things happen when you make a decision (a conscious decision) each and every day to spend time with the Lord.  I’m not telling you that you have to spend time with God for 7 hours a day (unless you’re led to), but you can start off with something simple like 5 minutes a day.

Seek the Lords face and not his hand, in other wards, actually seek to spend time with God because you love Him and not because of what He’s able to do for you.  God knows the motives behind all that you do.

You may say, “I don’t have time, I’m too busy”.  I say to that, adjust your time so that there is time.  Truth be told, you will make time for whatever you really want to make time for.  Example: I’ve witness a lot of my friends (including myself) say they don’t have time for this or that or they don’t have time to go to church, yet they have all the time in the world to go to the movies or spend countless hours each night conversing on the phone.  In my opinion, if you have time to do that, you can adjust your schedule to give God a few minutes of your time.

You might wonder, “How Do I go about spending time with the Lord?”  Here are 3 things you can start off with – as you spend time with God, the Holy Spirit will lead you into doing other things to enjoy one on one time with the Lord.

Pray: I’m not taking about the prayer you give before eating your food or lip service (heartless) prayer; I’m taking about a sincere prayer to the Lord.  Converse with Him.  Tell him how great He is.  Tell Him what’s on your mind.  If you have bills or needs to that needs to be met, tell Him about it as you pray.  The Lord already knows what you need and want, but just as a parent knows what his or her child needs and wants, many times there just wanting for the child to ask – the same is with the Lord.  Bring your concerns to the Lord.  I promise you, you will begin to notice a difference in your life.

Now, if you’re a person who says, “I don’t know how to pray”, I want you to know that praying is simply a conversation with you and the Lord. There’s no special way to pray. Speak to the Lord as you would speak to any other person.   Be honest with the Lord.  God is a God who examines your heart, not how elegant you do or don’t speak or how long you prayed. When you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to guide and direct your tongue and He will.

Read the Bible:  As I’ve share with you before, I really don’t like to read and to be honest with you, reading the Bible was pretty boring to me.  It didn’t interest me.  The Bible was pretty much a book that I picked up only on Sundays (at church) or during Bible study, but besides that the Bible was pretty much collecting dust as it sat in my room untouched.  If this is something that you can relate to, I encourage you to do as I’ve done and ask the Lord to give you a spirit that LONGS after His word.  Ask the Lord to place within you a desire so strong to read His word that it becomes natural for you to want to read it – as it’s the manual to your life.  Ask him to make reading the Bible fun and enjoyable.  If you ask the Lord for these things, how could he deny such a request that seeks to get closer to His Holy Word?  He won’t and he will give you those desires.  I know because He’s done so with me.  I’m reading the Bible and actually have joy in doing so and that’s nothing but the hand of God; so if He can do it for me, He can certainly do it for you.

Praise Him:  Give God praise. Praise Him and thank Him for all He’s done.  Just worship and give thanks unto Him.  There are different ways to praise the Lord.  Some sing, some praise dance and etc.  I happen to be a person who praise with singing praises unto the Lord.  I also at times step outside and just observe my surroundings and just praise the Lord for the house I’m in, the transportation He’s given me and my family, the food He’s placed on the table, the clothes He’s placed on my back and etc.  Whatever you do to bring praises unto the Lord, offer more of that to Him.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to turn off the phone or tell your friends you can’t make it to the movies tonight because you have a meeting with the Lord.  The Lord desires a personal 1-on-1 relationship with YOU, yes YOU!  The Lord wants to hear from you and there’s so much that the Lord wants to tell and share with you.  Will you make yourself available to Him?  Will you spend time with Him?  Will you do what’s necessary to hear His voice?

Choose today to spend time with the Lord and to be intimate with Him, even if it’s starting off with just 5 minutes a day and gradually working your way up.  When you love someone, one of the most precious gifts you can give is your time, and that’s what Jesus desires –time with you.  There’s so much more the Lord has in store for you, He’s just waiting for you to come to him. I encourage you to start off with the 3 things mentioned above: Pray, Read the Bible, and Offer God some praise – just thank Him for all He’s done.  As time goes by, the Holy Spirit will reveal and show you other things you can during your 1-on-1 time with the Lord to make it pleasurable, exciting and joyful.  As Christians, whether we know it or not, we need to be as close to God as we can and you can’t do that by avoiding Him every day of the week except Sundays.  Now is the time to draw near.  I pray that God blesses you and as you spend time with the Lord, I pray that He reveals things to you and that your relationship with Christ is strengthened in Jesus name. Amen.

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Tagged as: communication, converse, Holy Spirit, Joy, peace, praise, pray, prayer, Read the Bible, reading, spend time, trust