Spending Time With God Each Day...Is It Opitional?

“He makes me to lie down in green pastures:

he leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul:

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Psalm 23:2-3 NIV

Is spending time with God each day optional? Of course it’s optional! God doesn’t force himself on anyone. Is it wise to start your day without greeting God and saying hello? Well no, not really. I have personally found that when I hurry through my day without connecting with God in a significant way I seem to loose my focus. I become more focused on myself, my work, and my desires. My emotions are open for attack from others and my feelings seem to get hurt easier. As the day moves along I find myself becoming more stressed and more dissatisfied with life and others, and on a scale of one to ten I give myself about a nine and a half in the irritability and crabbiness categories! Now mind you I said that’s me, not you! Satan is also very aware when I have become distracted and have lost sight of my spiritual focus. He desires that my thoughts would be self centered instead of Christ centered.

For me meeting with God early in the morning is best. You see I’m old and the memory is going! I’ve got to hit it while my mind is clear and I can still think. When my children were small this was not a good option for me. During that time of my life it was quick prayers on the fly with a more intentional time with God during their naps, if I even tried at all! If you are a male or female in the work arena you may need to find another solution. Perhaps going into work a bit earlier, closing your office door, sitting alone in your cubical, or sitting in your car a bit longer before rushing into work. You might try listening to praise music on the way to work and shooting up a prayer to God as you worship him through music. There are many devotional books that take just a very few minutes to read or a flip calendar for your desk that has a scripture with an inspiring thought. Or you might try eating your lunch in a quiet place while you have a time alone with God. Of course, there is evening. You may find that evening may be your best option for plugging in to God, but in reality the day is already over and you have missed out on the jump start of God’s strength that you could have drawn from all during your day.

Guilt is the last thing that any of us need but encouragement to raise the bar in our life to include God is beneficial. One of the biggest misconceptions about spending time alone with God daily is that it must be done at a particular time and place. The amount of time is up to you and if you miss a day that okay. Just keep trying. God knows your heart. I am sure that God would rather have a few moments of your pure worship opposed to you being a self-righteous person setting down for an hour out of duty. Our time alone with God is a personal goal to be aspired to and improved upon as we live out our life here on earth.

The longer I live the more I treasure my time alone with God. There is something to be said about being able to shut out the noise of life and to separate myself from other people and go one-on-One with God. It is in this the time that I am carried to a higher level of intimacy with God. It is a time of comfort and encouragement. It is a time that I can love on God and he can love on me. It is a time when I can learn more about God and his incredible ways.

I have many tools at my disposal to help me grow in the Lord and all are good and have a purpose. However, I have found that at some point I still have to turn off the minister on the radio, put away my Bible study lesson, stop reading that highly recommend Christian book, turn off my praise and worship music, and though it pains me to say this, turn off the computer and skip reading blogs. I have found that it is so important for me to make an effort to shut out the Christian world and spend one-on-One time alone with God simply reading the Bible and praying without distraction. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God wants all of us to lie down in a green pasture, and sit beside the still waters while we allow him to restore our soul. God wants to be the One to lead us and redirect our path. He wants to restore our focus to his righteousness because he loves you and me and wants us to be the best we can be. Yes, spending quality time alone with God is optional. But in order for us to have the spiritual growth that we desire – it is necessary!



Questions:

Do you have regular time alone with God?

Do you desire to have a regular time alone with God but keep allowing your busy schedule to crowd time alone with God out of your life?

Do you agree that for personal spiritual growth spending time alone with God each day it is not an option but rather a necessary activity?

Can you find a personal solution to finding time to be alone with only God?


Prayer:

Dear God,

I do see that choosing to not to spend time with you is indeed an option, but choosing to avoid personal time with you is not a good idea. Please replace the guilt I feel regarding this choice with a deep desire to spend time alone time with you. Please show me how I can fit this one-on-One time with you into my already busy day. God I admit that sometimes I am better at this than other times. Show me how to sit aside good things for greater things. More than anything else, I pray that you would fan the flame of desire in my spirit so that I will want to be with you, not out of obligation, but rather out of love. God I want my days to run smoother, I want to live less stressed, I desire to be less irritable, I want my life to reflect you as I go through my day. God, I need the power in my life that only comes from spending time alone with you.

In Your Son’s Name I Pray. Amen.