Time......

It's 10pm. I'm exhausted. It's been go, go, go, ever since the moment I woke up at 6 o'clock this morning to the alarm that is my 5 month old. I lay down and I'm out in what seems like seconds. Where did the day go? Between work, taking care of the little one, making sure we all get the apropriate amount of food in our systems, and more work, the time just seems to slip away.

Lately this same thing has come up in coversation in different group settings I have been in. It has been a focus of the Freedom Ministry that exists at our church. And it brings up an all too important question, What are we doing to carve out time for God and are we making him a priority above all else?

Now I used the example above to demonstrate how easy your day can become lost, and thankfully my days don't normally look like that. I'll be the first to admit there are times where being busy effects the amount of time I spend with God daily, and there are days where it is no where near where I think it should be. But overall I am blessed to have a very good amount of extra time in my week that I choose to prioritize as time to spend with God. In fact there are certain chunks of time that are now routine in my life and they are no longer "extra time", they are instead "God's time". They are prioritized above all else.

There are times when we are traveling, or a wrench is thrown in our schedule where I miss the quality extended time with him, and it shows in my attitude and my behavior. It doesn't take long for my lack of time with God to show in every aspect of my life. Quickly I become shorter with people. I stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. I begin to judge others quickly with out seeing things from their point of view.

I am lucky to have a couple afternoons a week that are entirely devoted to study right now. When I maintain daily time in prayer and the word, and I combine them with these two to three large blocks of time throughout the week, it also begins to show in every aspect of my life the other way. My heart is soft to others. I put myself in others shoes before judging. I'm far quicker to extend a hand of help. Simply put, I'm happier. I'm more at peace. And my communication line is open and unobstructed with God. But the minute I start slipping in these areas, that communication becomes harder and harder. In fact it's not long before I'm thinking, "Am I hearing from God at all on this matter?" Then I evaluate the amount of time that I have spent with him, and it is almost always correlated.

Just this week I was frustrated with feeling like I hadn't heard clearly from God in a certain area. I had been making time with him a priority. I had been in the word every day. In fact I was studying much more than usual. But I still felt like the communication lines just weren't as clear as they could be. So I just praised him. I turned on a video of a song that I love, "Waymaker". In particular a 28 minute version at Jesus 19' a conference in Flordia. And I just bathed in worship of who God is. I praised him for all he has done for me. Before too long I was praying over my daughter, I was praying for our leadership team in a way I never had. I was crying out to God verbally.

What happened next? God spoke to me so clearly.... So incredibly clearly. He didn't say what I wanted to hear. In fact he challenged me in a way he had never challenged me before. He asked me to be obedient in a way that would close off the opportunity for certain attacks from the enemy. Thankfully today, I've learned, when God speaks, we should listen. So without hesitation I was obedient. It wasn't until after the fact that I looked back and realized how huge of a thing I had just done. How obedience has started to become more automatic, even in the areas that I tend to hold on to more than others.

I'm not sharing this story to receive a pat on the back, or to say look how far I've come. In fact the opposite. I thought I had been spending enough time with God on a daily basis. I thought I was such a good follower because I was making time with him a priority in my life. But I was lacking clear communication with the father. I wasn't pouring out to him exactly how I felt. I hadn't expressed verbally my appreciation for all he had done for me in some time. So not only do we need to make sure we are prioritizing time with our heavenly father on a daily basis, but we need to make sure this time is authentic. That we spend time daily not just studying but also acknowledging who he is and what all he has and is doing for us.

It was in this moment of appreciation of who he is, and acknowledgement of what he is already doing in my life, in my church, and in my community that he spoke to me so incredibly clearly. So I would like to challenge those who aren't yet carving out time daily to do just that. I'd encourage you to begin just like the Freedom Minsitry at our church. Wake up 20 minutes early for 20 days. Spend 10 minutes in a time of worship and thankfulness for who he is. Then 5 praying for yourself and others and then 5 in the word. I'd also encourage you to carve out more time when you can through out the week to begin studying a litte more in the word, but this 20/20 challenge they are doing has already begun impacting lives. So I thought I would share it wtih you.

Just as I extend this challenge to you, I am challenging myself to not just prioritze time in the word, or time in prayer, but start those times in complete thanks for who he is. I want to begin taking time out at the beginning to acknowledge who he is and thank him for all he has done and continues to do.

"Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him" (1 Chronicles 16:11 NLT)

"O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:8 NLT)