(Works for Me Wednesday)
Quiet times are so hard. You know? It's so hard to intentionally put aside time each day to spend with God. I want it to be an "intimate" time with the Lord, but sometimes I'm doing good just to read a verse. And sometimes, I just don't want to pray. Sometimes, scrolling through facebook, or checking my email sounds much more appealing that reading the words of my Creator! What is wrong with me?
I'm sinful. That's what is wrong. BUT, I am saved, so I have the Spirit working in me to make me like Christ. I DO want that intimate time with God each day, so I have begun to set up boundaries for myself just like I would if I wanted to avoid any other sin.
I wake up each morning with a routine. I wash my face, take the dog out, feed the dog, make coffee, and fix my breakfast. I do all that within about 15 minutes. That leaves me about 45 minutes of "free" time. I could use this free time to sleep in longer, do laundry, or waste my life away on facebook, but I have made a rule for myself:
I am not allowed to do anything else until I've read my bible and prayed.
I know that sounds simple, but it works for me. I'm not allowed to get on facebook, twitter, instagram, or email until I've read my bible and prayed. No one is holding me accountable, but you know what's funny? I think God is helping me out. This morning, I was feeling rebellious and hopped on facebook as I sat down with my breakfast, and facebook proceeded to NOT load so I had to close it and read my bible:)
Spending time with the Lord is important. He speaks to us through his Word, and works in us when we spill our heart to Him. If nothing else, praying each morning has made me realize how much my God loves me and wants me. He wants to know everything-not because he doesn't already know, but because it reminds me that He knows and cares.
Anyway, that's what works for me! What do you do to make your quiet time work each day?
Much love,
-Adrienne
I'm linking up with We are That Family today:)
This is not so, though its persuasion is terribly subtle. Thinking can be easy and regular such that we often drift from one project to the next, presuming we'll gather all the data and start down the right path every time.
We think a lot, but we don't always think rightly. The effects of sin taint our ability to reason as much as our ability to choose — yes, we are that broken.
John Webster writes,
Like all other aspects of human life, reason is a field of God's sanctifying work. Reason, too — along with conscience, the will and the affections — must be reconciled to the holy God if it is to do its work well (Holiness, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003], 10).
We're going to think today and unless we remember that our thinking is fallen we're going to operate in some mode that functions as if it doesn't really need the blood and victory of Jesus, naively entrenching ourselves in the mire of self-sufficiency.
So let us pause for a moment — stop and think — and let us be overwhelmed that our thinking has never produced one good thing in and of ourselves. . . . (see, even that thought about our thinking is not from us). "What have we thought right that we have not received? If then we received it, how can we boast as if we did not receive it and go on thinking like we're not desperate for grace?"
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I have to remember that every good thought or idea is not because of anything I do, it is only possible through Jesus Christ.