Hey Friends!
Todays topic is one that was actually sent to me by one of you. I got a few requests as a result of a post I put out on twitter, but I really wanted to talk about this one first because its something that I am personally challenged with at this particular time in my life.
Todays topic: How to spend time with God throughout your day.
Now, those of you who identify yourselves as christians most likely know that you should be making time for God daily, if you didn’t, now you do. Most of us are pretty good at that. We wake up in the morning and open up our bible app. We wait for that welcome message at the top of our screen and for our daily streak number to register that yes, I have opened my bible app for the 147th time in a row (or maybe you’re like me and your on day 15…again…). Some of you may even end your day with some God time, praying and thanking Him for your day. These are all good things…but here’s a question I’ve got for you…when did we become so busy, that we only have time to place God in the first and last few minutes of our day?
I was at a conference quite a few years back when a speaker was breaking down a bible verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. The verse said that we should “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The speaker wanted to explain to us what praying without ceasing meant, and it means exactly what you think it does. Keep praying and don’t stop.
Prayer is our form of communication with God, and we should not only be in communication with him daily, but we should be in communication with him always. In everything we do. Now, that doesn’t mean that all day every day you need to be shouting to the heavens from your cubicle in the office…it would actually be much better if you literally never, ever did that. What that does mean tho, is that you should feel comfortable inviting God into the normal spaces of your day. Not just into the boardroom when you have a presentation, or not just into your classroom right before a chemistry test. But you should be inviting him to join you on the school bus in the morning, and talking with him in your heart about the mundane, boring things that you think he doesn’t care about. You should be inviting him into your prep time before a meeting or into another “boring” work day with you, chat with him about how you want to feel motivated to go above and beyond even tho you honestly hate your job or your school.
When you open your heart to constant communication with God all day everyday it becomes less of a chore and more of a thing that you realize you need. You realize you need it because he speaks back. Not necessarily audibly, but sometimes you’ll simply see the evidence of God in your day. You’ll notice that a situation that would have normally sent you over the edge didn’t phase you. That person who normally gets under your skin, seems less hostile and more human today. That thing you were so nervous about no longer looks like an obstacle.
I started this post by saying that this is a thing I am challenged by currently. I have recently been guilty of poor time management and as a result have made time with God into bookends of my day. A little bit of time in the morning and a little bit of time at night maybe if I don’t fall asleep first (…don’t…judge…me). As a result, I am left to my own devices. I react to things and people emotionally, I get stressed out pretty easily and I make some pretty bad choices at times. I was in the process of being very disappointed in myself (because that’s a thing we perfectionists do when we realize we’re not perfect…*gasp*) until God revealed something very specific to me….I don’t need to be angry with myself…I just need to realize that this is why we NEED God. Sometimes when things are going well, life is moving fast and everything just feels great we may wonder about how much we actually need God and the boundaries and such that he has set for us, but then we do that human thing and we wander. When we wander around aimlessly, we start bumping into things, we may stub a toe here, bruise an elbow there, and if that doesn’t send us limping back to where we came from, we eventually trip and fall on our faces. At least that’s what happens with me in my life. I hate falling on my face, but sometimes it’s really necessary to get me to realize that there’s a reason for the things God tells us to do. When I don’t spend time with God daily, and constantly I rely fully on myself and mess myself up. It’s that simple. When I rely on him to take care of everything, even the small minuscule things, life is easier. It’s easier because I’m physically acknowledging that I am not in charge of it all. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel a whole lot better about life.
There are plenty of ways to invite God into your day-to-day in addition to praying. Daily devotions are great. I personally love the bible app by YouVersion because a) its free b) its easy to navigate c) has many contributors within its devotions which means you can find devotions about anything and everything d) has streaks which helps to give you personal accountability and lastly e) it gives you a chance to be a part of a community of users. My friends and I all use it and we can see what another person is highlighting and become inspired to get back into the word, or you even have the option of doing devotionals with each other within the app. Some other ways are to enlist people for accountability in your life. People who you’ll check in on and people who will check in on you and check to see how you’re doing as far as your goals with God. They’ll also pray for you and genuinely care about your progress.
What are some practical ways you invite God into your daily lives? Devotionals? Prayer groups? Accountability? Leave a comment below!
Thanks for reading! Have a great rest of your week, and as always,
Stay Lovely!
Nicole Eva 