are you spending time with God?

This year is going to be a year of “on purpose” efforts with Eddie and I. We are going to be husband and wife to each other “on purpose.” What does that mean? It means that we are going to do whatever it takes to manifest God’s goodness towards each other. The things I know are a blessing to Eddie, I am going to do on purpose. That could be cooking, making sure the house is clean, keeping up with my spending better, etc. Whatever those things are and whatever areas God is nudging me to get better at regarding Eddie, I have made the decision to do it without excuse and with great intention. Same with our children – we are going to be parents “on purpose.” Spending quality time on a regular basis. Teaching and training them. Imparting God’s Word into them, not provoking them to anger, etc. We are going out of our way to make this happen in order to see God’s best in their lives and our lives as well. Other things, like having fun, reading and learning, being organized, being frugal and wise in our spending, etc. All will be done with the intentions of doing it the way we believe God is directing us and to see His goodness in every area.

The same is true with our relationship with God. What does our consecration look like? Are we spending time with God on a regular basis? Are we praying? Are we studying? All of these things have to be done with intent and purpose. They just don’t “happen,” we have to make them happen just like the items on my lengthy list in paragraph one. This is also my question to you – “What does your consecration time look like?” Is it daily, a couple days a week, a couple times a month??? Let’s get real and figure out where we really are with God.

I want to encourage all of you to take time to evaluate this area and make a decision to purposefully spend time with God daily. How this is done can look different for each and everyone of us. Here are some of the things Eddie and I do to spend time with God daily:

1. I am currently reading through the entire Bible going off of a schedule I received from church. It’s about three or four chapters a day. If you want a copy of this schedule, e-mail us here.

 

2. We read books on spiritual/Christian topics and make notes and go over the scripture references in the books by reading them in context in the Bible.

 

3. We watch DVD’s and listen to CD’s of our Pastor (really Pastors – we have two sets!). We also go online and listen to them and take notes. We listen to the same message many times repeatedly (not neccesarily in one day, but we may listen one day and then listen again the next day…and the next…).

 

4. I pray in the shower A LOT. I have my prayer confessions laminated and posted in there and I spend time praying the confessions and praying in the Holy Spirit.

 

5. We listen to the Word on CD while we sleep.

 

6. I journal my prayers to God and pray them while I write.

 

7. We are reading through the book of Proverbs (a book FULL of God’s instructions on wisdom), taking one chapter and reading through it each day for 10 days. We began on January 1st and will read Proverbs Chapter 1 until January 10th. So on January 11th, we will start Proverbs Chapter 2 and continue like that throughout the year. If you want the schedule for this, e-mail us here.

NOTE: WE DO ALL OF THESE IN A DAY – not just throughout the week. These are items we do EACH day.

Some other ideas for you:

• Read the Bible in a translation you understand and is easy to read for you (right now my favorite is the New Living Translation).

 

• Find a good devotional book to go through each day.

 

• Journal “life lessons” that you learned that day and try and locate scripture that support it.

Anyway, these are just some things I wanted to list out for you to either jumpstart you or further you along in your time spent with God. Eddie and I pray that this year you have more of God in your life than ever before!