Word On Wednesday...restart
A few weeks ago, I started a new feature on my Jane Salem Facebook page. It was to be a weekly look at a verse of scripture with a few comments. A new writing experience and discipline for me. After a few times, I took a pause to make some adjustments. Here is my Word on Wednesday Restart.....I hope you'll join me on my FB page to read my Monday Motivation and Word on Wednesday weekly.
I’ve missed the last couple Word on Wednesdays on my Jane Salem page for a couple of reasons. I’ll admit that two of the reasons I started Word on Wednesday were to help me. I needed to start writing regularly. I thought setting a simple goal of a paragraph length piece weekly was doable. It is, but I’m still working on scheduling that time and working ahead. Secondly, I wanted to use the Word on Wednesday writing discipline to grow my own devotional time and share those precious moments with readers with some relevant (hopefully?) content.
About a week ago, I was blessed by a friend who shared a 10 minute Youtube video on spending time with God. That video led to another longer one. I realized I wanted to – no, needed to – share some of what I learned and embraced from these messages before I went any further with sharing my own writings.
By sharing, I believe it will shape my Word on Wednesdays differently. It will definitely shape my daily schedule differently. I’m going to share some big and little nuggets I took away, but I’ll also share the links at the end for those of you that want to dig deeper.
I know how hard the devil is working to keep me away from time with God. Oh sure, I pray. In fact, I pray a lot. Bike rides are one of my greatest prayer times. You know how I love my bike rides and they can be looonnng!!! I can just talk and talk and talk to God as I roll down the trail. I feel OK with prayer, but God for sure knows there is room for improvement.
The first quote from the 10 minute video caught my attention.
“You talk too much during prayer.”
Yep, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. The speaker went on. When you are finished talking, as far as you are concerned the exercise is over. You leave. God is left saying, “Wait, don’t go. I haven’t had a chance to talk yet!”
Whoa! Is that big news for you? He invites us to come into his presence because He wants to be in ours! He doesn’t want us to rush through it and have a one sided conversation. He wants to talk, too! He gave us the Bible so we could know Him. He wants us to recognize His voice. God does try to talk to us, but we often let the busy-ness of our days drown out His voice.
B – being
U – under
S – Satan’s
Y – Yoke
YIKES! Another tough one for me to take in.
I’m a busy person. I like it. To be honest, I’m uncomfortable not being busy. However, Joyce Meyer in her message about spending time with God talks about how the enemy will use our busy-ness to keep us from doing God’s will. This should sound scary. Don’t think for one second that the enemy isn’t working hard to keep you from God, time with Him and focusing on yourself. How’s that devil doing?
It is hard for God to get a word in edgewise. Our lives are full of not only busy-ness, but noise! Get in the car, turn on the music. Come home, plop down and turn on the TV. I know have it on in the background when I am home.
God is our navigational system. He will tell us to “recalculate”. But how can He talk to us if we don’t make time to listen? How can we hear Him if we don’t make the time to listen.
You’ve heard of giving God our first fruits. We often think about money when we think about first fruits. First fruits includes time. Giving to God what he’s blessed us with first. It doesn’t have to be the biggest amount of money or the whole day. It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. It just means honoring God. Show Him he’s first.
As Joyce says, “when we give God our best, he’ll bless the rest”! How can we do that when we are already short on time? How many times have you said, “Where did the day go?” or “I was busy all day, but feel like I’ve gotten nothing done”? The solution? Give God time first. Give more to God than you are now. He’ll bless the rest of your time. Throughout the Bible there are many examples of how Jesus walked away to see God. Why don’t we?
This example in Joyce’s message was so powerful to me. What if 3 times a day a business executive (or anyone, for that matter) went into her office (or choose your quiet spot of choice) and ignored everyone for 3 minutes and said something like this:
“Lord, I love you.
I need you.
I can’t make it without you.
Any victory I have is because you have given me the victory.
I need you to strengthen me, refresh me and help me to behave the way you want me to behave because I am here to glorify your name.
Thank you, Lord. I just wanted to stop a minute and let you know how much you mean to me. Thank you, Lord once again. Amen”.
Are you saying WOW with me right now?
We have everything to gain when we give God time. Joy, peace, wholeness, protection and strength, change in us, boldness and confidence and deliverance. We don’t get these things soley by going to church. We get them by spending time with God and hearing him. Church is a good start, but not finish line to our relationship with God. We are called to community for sure, but we are called to more!
We don’t get a life of bliss or smooth sailing by having a relationship with God either. What happens, though, is that YOU are changed. You have a different anchoring point and it isn’t dependent on your feelings. It is powered by the word of God and His promises to you. It is freeing.
Next week I am going to give some practical “methods” for spending time with God. I don’t have the “right” answers, but I’ll have some suggestions I’ve learned – they aren’t my ideas - to get you started. They’ve helped me a lot. Until then, blessings.
