How to Find a Good Time for Devotions

In a book on leadership Warren Wiersbe writes, ‘The most important meeting we as leaders attend is that daily personal meeting with the Lord, before the day begins, when worship and meditation increase our faith as we receive the orders for the day.’

We live in a very busy culture so it can be difficult to make a time to meet with God every day, but as my husband says, “You can always make time for something if you really want to”!

Before children I would always try to make my devotions first thing, as doing it later in the day often meant either that I forgot to do it, was distracted, ran out of time or even fell asleep.

But since having children I have found that depending on the circumstances, first thing might not necessarily be the best time for me. Often I am up in the night with the children, and then I can’t get up in the morning before the kids are up or I’m falling asleep because I’m so tired.

David Wilkerson was greatly used by God in founding Teen Challenge, and when I read his biography, ‘The Cross and The Switchblade’ I noticed how it all started from him giving up his 2 hours of TV every night and praying instead. And the prayer was at night, not first thing in the morning. 

Here are some guidelines I use to figure out when is the best time for me to meet with God:

1. Consistency

The reason why my morning devotions didn’t work too well when I was up in the night is because it wasn’t consistent. 

Now I look for a time that I can consistently meet with God. When my youngest took naps I made it his naptime, as that was a time I would nearly always be at home and could have an hour free.

Incidentally this is also why first thing in the morning is a great time, because once you get into the habit of getting up early it is easy to be consistent as there are usually no other appointments or phone calls at 6am!

It is also said that something that is done at the same time every day is twice as easy to do, and since the devil will do all he can to prevent us from meeting with God, that in itself is a great help!

2. Quality

We should want to give God our best, because He is our King. So that means giving Him the most quality time that we can in our day though obviously we still have responsibilities like work, cooking, families etc. 

Again that is why first thing in the morning is generally best, because after we have got rid of our sleepiness we are most alert then, and thinking well, and can meet with God before anything else happens. 

3. Flexibility

Ideally it works best if you can have a set time for your devotions and always stick to it. But there are usually things that happen to disrupt your plan. That is why it is important to be flexible and have a Plan B. 

Plan B might be to read your Bible in the train on the way to work, or pray while you’re watching the kids play, or right before bedtime.  But if your first appointment doesn’t happen for whatever reason, try and get it in somewhere, because the devil loves to get us off track, and one day where we miss it can easily lead to another day, and another. 

When we’re not praying regularly and hearing from God we more easily fall into temptation as well as missing out on the blessing of a personal relationship with God!

At the same time it is also important not to beat yourself up if you miss your devotions one day! It is not a law that we must have it, and we shouldn’t do it in order to earn favour with God because we already have that. Sometimes if we find ourselves missing it a lot, we might have to change things around – go to bed earlier, or change the time, for example.

At the beginning of the week I had this blog post written up, and then all week it has been crazy and I’ve only managed to make one quiet time where I’ve intended it to be! But I have done things like praying in the chair in the garden while I watched the kids play, and was so blessed by the beauty of the clouds as I prayed, “Our Father, who art in heaven”! 

This week is what made me come back and write down no.3 - to be flexible. Because when I failed to get up early each day what I did instead was to write Bible and prayer down as my no.1 priorities on my To Do list and then slot them in somewhere. 

So try to find a time that is consistent and quality every day. But also be flexible for when things don’t go according to plan, don’t get downhearted, and don't give up!

Linking up to Spiritual Sundays, Faith Filled Fridays.

What's Happened To The Fear of God?

Several times in the Bible we are told that:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" Psalm 111:10

And in Ecclesiastes the writer concludes that we should:

"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all." Ecclesiastes 12:13

So fear of the Lord is seen as very important - but it can be difficult to know the meaning of it.

I have started reading a wonderful commentary on Proverbs by Charles Bridges. Spurgeon describes it as, "The best work on Proverbs" and even though I'm only a few pages in, I love it.

He writes a great definition of the fear of the Lord:

'It is that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to His Father's law. His wrath is so bitter, and His love so sweet; that hence springs an earnest desire to please Him, and - because of the danger of coming short from his own weakness and temptations - a holy watchfulness and fear, "that he might not sin against Him." This enters into every exercise of the mind, every object of life.'

I love how he gives two motives to a desire to please God - just as a child often will want to please his parents, partly from not wanting to be disciplined, but then also because their parents love them and they want to show their love back.

I think the fear of God is not understood that much, and we often miss the reverence for a holy and majestic God. We need to have that awe and reverence for God, while also realising His boundless love and mercy for us, making us want to live a life that pleases Him.

Linking up to Faith Filled Fridays

God Is Training Us To Fight

When we went to a Calvary Chapel conference recently, we walked into the room where they were looking after the 6-11 year olds and my son pointed up at some words they had put up high for everyone to see. He said, “Why is 'fighting' up there?”

I am always telling the children not to fight. So he was wondering why they were going to talk about fighting!

Of course they were using the word in the sense of our spiritual warfare as Christians. Our whole life is a fight because we are battling trials, temptations and spiritual forces of evil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12 

And God is actually training us to fight. Recently I read in Judges how God left some of the nations in the land of Israel so that the children of Israel who had not been at war would be taught to know it. And it struck me that God leaves these trials and temptations with us for a reason – to teach us how to fight spiritually.

Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them... (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), Judges 3:1,2

I have been very discouraged recently by my continual battle with self-control in the area of food. I lost weight with no problem before I had children, but since having 3 of them and homeschooling I have found I really struggle with it!

I think I was hoping that God would help me figure out the solution to losing weight and it wouldn't be such a problem -  if I prayed enough, or didn’t stock my cupboards with cake, or got into a different mindset etc. And some fights are like that. Some temptations we can deal with in such a decisive way that they never trouble us again unless we go down the path towards them.

But there are others that may never go away, and I think fighting for self-control in this area might be an ongoing battle for me! But I've realised that’s actually a good thing because if I didn't struggle with any temptations anymore I wouldn't be able to continue learning to fight. The Philistines had to be fought over and over again in the Old Testament. And I have to fight to be self-controlled every day.

This week I read another verse saying the same kind of thing, that God is training us for war:

Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. Psalm 144:1

I have found this comforting because it's shown me:

• There is a purpose in these trials and temptations that we face - to teach us spiritual warfare
• It is a learning process, so we shouldn’t get discouraged when we don’t do so well
• Now I know what I’m up against and can plan accordingly

It has also challenged me:

• To think more about how to fight spiritually and be more open to what God wants to teach me in this area.  ‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds’ 2 Cor 10:3,4
• To put my armour on everyday, because there are some temptations that won’t go away that easily!
• To study the armour of God in Ephesians 6, for a better understanding.
• To make sure I'm really praying and relying on God, because it is clear throughout the Bible that it is God who wins the battle, just as David said before fighting Goliath: Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands."  1Sa 17:47

Years ago, before they went to take the gospel to the Auca Indians and ended up all being killed, Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries sang the hymn 'We Rest on Thee, our Shield and Our Defender". I think it is a great song for our warfare as Christians:

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!

We go not forth alone against the foe;

Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,

We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.

Yes, in Thy Name, O Captain of salvation!

In Thy dear Name, all other names above;

Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,

Our Prince of glory and our King of love.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,

And needing more each day Thy grace to know:

Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,

“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!

Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;

When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,

Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.

God Forgives!

You may understand and realise God’s forgiveness, but many Christians still live in guilt from the past, or feel condemned for a long time after they have done wrong. And even though they are told that God has forgiven them, they can’t seem to believe it.

Here are two verses I read the other day which are so clear. God does forgive us.

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. Ps 130:3,4

God is a God of mercy and forgiveness.

When we receive Christ as our Saviour He forgives our sins.

And He keeps forgiving us of sins after that - though we still need to confess them to God.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1Jn 1:9

So we don’t need to feel guilty and condemned. Once we have confessed and repented it is gone, and we can get up again and start with a clean slate. The beauty of understanding this is that we can have joy in starting again.

I also love what the psalmist says about the result of God’s forgiveness – that He would be feared. When we understand the greatness of God’s compassion and mercy we will respect, honour and reverence Him all the more, and want to worship Him with all that we have.

There is a song that I have been listening to recently called 'We Are Saved' which talks about what Christ has done for us, setting us free.

Maybe you have never asked God to forgive you so you don't have the peace that He gives, and are still feeling guilty. He has offered everyone forgiveness for the things they have done wrong by sending His Son to die in our place. 

All you need to do is to realise that you have sinned, believe that Jesus died on the cross in your place and was raised from the dead, repent of your sin, and ask God for forgiveness and commit to following Him. Then you can also be free from your sin! For more help on becoming a Christian you can go here or feel free to e-mail me.