How To Spend More Time With God

 

How many people who found my blog today think spending time with God means waking up at 4 am, reading 12 chapters of the Bible, praying for 2 straight hours, never getting distracted, and never missing a day? Honestly, that mindset is exhausting some of you before you even start your day.  Jesus never said your time and visit with Him must be perfect, coordinated, scheduled, and never to be altered. He said, "ABIDE IN ME AND I IN YOU. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5). The word abide in this passage means: remain, stay connected, walk with Him consistently. A lot of Christians are condemning themselves because they think spending time with God only counts if it looks spiritual.

Meanwhile, you're a mom trying your best to read the WORD while your toddler is throwing crackers across the living room. Perhaps you're sitting in the school pick up lane stressed out wondering if you even prayed today. Or maybe you're driving to work playing anxiety scenarios in your head thinking and talking to yourself and God honestly. That's a real life and that IS PRAYER!  Biblically, God was always meant to be a part of your daily life. Deuteronomy 6: 6-7 "And these are words I command you today and shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lay down, and when you rise." Notice anything?  WATCH:

Sitting

walking

lying down

 rising. 

Not just one quiet moment at the desk with a highlight pen and soft worship music playing in the background. Not just bowing your head each Sunday to whisper a prayer. Spending time with God can include your daily routines: meditating doing the laundry, praying while folding clothes, mowing the lawn, changing the babies diaper, in the car running errands, listening to scripture while you're cooking, or meditating on one verse throughout the day. Spending time with God can be these things and honestly may draw you closer and feel more connected than reading 12 chapters you won't probably remember anyway.

Eventually, a mature believer eventually learns this. You stop tying to fit God into your day and start learning to walk with Him through your day. You're  struggling because you keep trying to perform for HIM instead of abiding in Him. Abide.

Until He Comes,

-Pat-