We need to prioritize our lives to make time for God.

Hopefully you’ve been examining your own life over the past week. If you’re spending quality time with God, great, keep it up. But if you’ve realized that you’ve pushed God off onto the sidelines, then I recommend that you repent today—tell God you’re sorry for letting other things come between the two of you, and make a commitment to change. To be able to make a change you’ll need to evaluate your life.

I challenge you to list all your activities every day for one week. Be honest, this is just a tool, and it’s meant to bring you closer to God, not make you feel bad about yourself. It’s like a budget, but instead of tracking your money, it helps you manage your time.

When it’s done, then look at what you did with your time. Many of your activities will be necessary, such as working, sleeping, and spending time with your family. Focus on and highlight areas that are leisure activities. This is where you need to make choices. For example, if you watch TV or surf the internet for two hours a night, perhaps you could do that for one and a half hours and pray for 30 minutes. If you talk on the phone to friends all night, maybe you can cut down and talk to God instead. If you’re at church multiple nights a week, consider going into your prayer closet one night as an alternative.

Don’t wait until nighttime to spend time with God, as there are many ways to incorporate Him into your day. Talk to God as you get ready for work in the morning. Pray (or sing) in the shower. If you have drive time to work, put in a good worship CD and praise God on the way. If you’re not into that, then get sermons or the Bible on CD and listen to those. On your lunch break at work, read your Bible or a Christian book. Talk to God on the way home, tell Him about the problems you had during the day. Do a family devotion after dinner. Watch character-building movies with your children. Go to a Bible camp rather than a sporting event. If you have trouble understanding the Bible, then join a group.

These are just some ideas, do what’s right for you and your situation. Start slow; try making just one change for the next month. If that doesn’t work, try something else. Once it becomes a habit, add something else.

The more time we spend with God the better we get to know Him. The more we know Him, the more we can trust Him. Can you imagine trusting God to the point where you don’t worry or have unhealthy concern about your loved ones, your health, and your finances? In God’s presence is where we find the purpose for our lives and where God gives us direction on important decisions. We find these answers because we can hear Him better in the quiet than in the noise and chaos of life. And when we know where we’re headed we can relax and enjoy the ride.

Peace and grace to you,

Denise