It is amazing at how all of a sudden life just seems to shift into high gear. This past week has been like that. I have not even had time to stop long enough to add to my blog in nearly a week. I guess it gets pretty hectic for everyone else too, but it seems to me that as pastor, just all of a sudden, it is full steam ahead... or should I say, "full steam in every direction." I cannot speak for anyone other than myself, but when everything gets as hectic as it has been this past week, it would be so easy to neglect my prayer life and time with the Lord. I have to literally fight for that time with God. I know that if I lose that time, it will effect every aspect of my life. I know, because I have learned the hard way! When I allow my time with God to be stolen, then I become spiritually weak and tired. I begin to get grumpy, and I even find myself preaching from my own intellect, strength and emotions, and that gets dangerous!
I shared in my sermon this morning a simple point about the word "let".
The definition of let is: "To intentionally release something that you have the power to hold back." That fits here. We sometimes "let" things, or people, events, or whatever to invade or lives and steal from us the time the should be set aside for time in the Word, or prayer and praise to God. We say things like, "I couldn't help it", but the truth is; we could, we just didn't.
You know, life can get busy... it really can. Especially this time of year with the holiday season nearly upon us. But it is urgent that we manage our time instead of letting other things manage us. The day we get too busy for time with God is the day we need to sit down and re-evaluate our lives and our priorities! Again, I cannot speak for anyone but me... but I need my time with the Lord. I depend on it! Yeah, I could survive without it, as far as living and breathing goes, but spiritually speaking... I desperately need that time with the Lord every day.
If you are one reading this who does not have a habit of making time for the Lord daily, let me encourage you to begin doing so TODAY! It will change your life forever, and you will begin to understand why I am so passionate about the time. I recommend you schedule a time into everyday to get into the Word and spend some time in prayer. You see, when I make an appointment with God, I cannot think of anything that is important enough for me to break that appointment!
Can you?
3 comments:
Amen pastor, Im one of those who sometimes ""forgets "" to make time for bible reading , i do pray alot but making time for reading the word is sometime hard for me, but i will make time now !!! reading this really encouraged me!!!
Amy
Hey, Darrell. It can be so easy to allow life to keep us from what we need most, like out time with God. I realized a long time ago that there really is no excuse for putting off our prayer life. The strength I draw from my daily time with God is amazing. It seems easy to forget when you've allowed stuff to get in between, but I can't imagine life without being daily in His presence. Thanks for the uplift, brother.
~Jeff
"Tis the Season" - so to speak. It seems like everything kicks into overdrive...EVERYTHING. Even though I'm "home" with the kids, I'm busier now than when I was managing 20+ people and $$$millions, with homeschooling, dance, sports, piano, art classes, 4H, and everything else the Karns' are involved in!
But still...that's no excuse to not spend the time with the Lord that I need to! Sometimes I envy Shawn & his 50 min. drive to work and back - that's his prayer time! I really have to "fight" for it, like you said Pastor. Thanks again for the encouragement!
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