So this summer I have been bad about doing my quiet time/daily bible reading. I am habitually doing this every summer and so badly need to stop letting business take away from my prayer/reading time!
God knows this more than I do, obviously, and today when I became intentional about using Garyn's nap time to devote to Him, He spoke to me exactly about this sin I can't seem to stop doing. He is so amazing, that way!
I sat down with my bible, thinking what shall I read.....I love devotional books for there guidance and structure, but I don't have one right now that I haven't already done.....therefore I went back to Deuteronomy, where I think I left off from the last time. Deuteronomy 11 struck me as where I might have left off, and where I might need to read.....
When I came to Deuteronomy 11:16...I got that tingling, warm feeling of love and amazement.......
Deuteronomy 11:16-17 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
Wow...my mind started swarming...
It is finally raining right now, my land is physically and mentally receiving it
Other gods have been receiving my worship
My heart has been deceived into thinking I could go without the daily word of God
When I was in college I was in a bible study group that included the same girls for 5 years. Our teacher was/is awesome and I learned so much from her. Once she had us write down everything we did for a week and how long we spent doing that particular thing. After that week, she explained to us that anything we spent a lot of time on, that wasn't adding to the glory of God, was a god. TV was the one thing I spent too much time on at that time, and I remember thinking..."How is TV a god?", but I learned that I was putting it ahead of God, the one and only.
These verses brought up that memory and told me that I was, again, allowing other things to come before my time with God and therefore worshipping them.
It was so refreshing and affirming to simply open up the bible today and pray for Him to speak through His word and instantly God gave me a lesson.....especially when I was thinking I needed a devotional book, bible study group or Dr. Dooley to teach me the word of God.
Jesus died for us and the veil was torn so that I can come to God anytime....Thank you, God!
Sometimes we all need to record what all we are putting time and effort into to reevaluate what is pleasing to God and what is disobeying. Its like when we journal our eating for diets, more or less, we are seeing what is good to our body and what isn't.
I pray that I can take heed to this lesson from God and change my ways.
It's easy to do. Not right, but easy. I think God not only wants our quiet time/prayer time, but our all the time in the zest we have for life in being one of His.
ReplyDeleteI, too, need to work on my prayer time/quiet time with God. It is not as consistent as it should be. But I am also working on my daily dialogue with God. Kinda like He's in the seat next to me throughout the day. I am finding that me and God have somewhat of a sense of humor. :)
I like the idea of laughing, questioning, and thanking Him like about 15-20 some odd times througout my day as I reflect on it when lying down at night.
There are rights and there are wrongs, but He's waiting for chat and wanting your true heart anytime of the day or night.
We should get a devotional time together!
.mac :)
Thanks for sharing-- I think about that lesson all the time from the study. I remember Kels telling me that I shouldn't be proud that I have no free time in my schedule-- it doesn't mean I'm productive, it means God has no room to move in my life. Thanks for bringing that back to mind!
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