Pray every day.
Do you have a list of things you would like to
achieve?
We all have lists of things we would like to do this
year, this month, this week, maybe you even have
something you would like to do today.
I have a list of things I would like to achieve - it’s
not written down anywhere I keep it all in my head:
The 1st is to write the last essays that I need to do
as part of my ministerial training.
The 2nd is to develop a deeper relationship with
God and spend more time in prayer.
The 3rd is to find the time to carry on learning to
play the Saxophone.
There are many other things on my list,
some are more important than others.
There are some things that I would like to do,
some things I have to do,
some things that I will struggle to find the time to
do,
and others I may never manage to find the time for.
If we are honest there are lots of things that we
have to do each day.
Sometimes the things we choose to do can get in
the way of the things we should be doing.
My life is pretty busy most days, and I need to
choose how I use my time.
Can you tell me something you want to,
or need to do every day?
Read the paper/Brush Teeth / Eat / Drink / Breathe
There are some things that are essential to
everyday living.
And there are some things that are not.
If I don't read a newspaper everyday it will not
effect my life that much.
If someone does not clean their teeth - others may
be more effected than they are!
Our bodies can go without food for far longer than
they can operate without breath!
But there are four things that the Bible suggests
are important for us to do every day:
we need to pray
we need to praise and worship God
we need to love and serve God and
we need to love and serve each other.
How often you pray and how often you praise
may vary from day to day - but they should still
happen every day.
How often you serve may also vary and that often
depends more on how we feel than on what we
know God expects us to do.
Often we can start a day with the best intentions.
We decide, today is the day I will pray more,
or, today is the day I will read my Bible more.
or, today is the day I will praise God more.
or, today is the day I will show my love for God by
serving others in some way....
We start the day with the best intentions,
and then we find it's time for bed
and we did'nt actually spend any time doing what
we could have done.
We can allow life to crowd out time with God, or we
can choose to spend some quality time with Him
each and every day.
We all need to take an opportunity to step aside
from the busyness of life and just be still in the
presence of God.
In the fast, busy, do it now, instant world that we
live in, we need to press pause, be still and pray.
Psalm 46:10 simply says: “Be still, and know that I
am God!”
It's good advice isn't it.
Pause, spend time with God.
Take the time to pray.
Take the time to read your Bible.
Take the time to praise God.
Take the time to express your love for God by
serving others.
I’m sure we all put aside some time each day to
spend with God, we pray, read our bibles, maybe a
daily devotional, maybe you even sing as you walk
around your house.
But taking time to serve others...
Well often life gets in the way,
often we let life get in the way,
in fact sometime we make sure that life gets in the
way,
then we have an excuse for not doing what we
know God wanted us to do.
We can try and do stuff in our own strength,
or we can allow the Holy Spirit to empower us to
do stuff in the strength of the Lord.
We can choose to do things our way or we can
pray and ask God to lead us to do things God's
way.
We know God's way is the right way, we know that
God's way is the best way.
But...
But, sometimes, no, often, often we would rather
do it our way.
Friends the truth is we should desire to follow
God's way everyday.
To seek His will, to seek His glory.
To serve Him in faith and love.
If you have placed your trust in Jesus as your
Saviour and Lord,
if you really love God - then Everyday in your
relationship with Him is important.
The way we live our lives each day, every day,
is a reflection of how much we trust God.
The way we live our lives each day, every day,
is a reflection of how much we love God.
The way we live our lives each day, every day,
is a reflection of the place God actually has in our
lives.
God is meant to have first place, every day,
not just on a Sunday.
God is not an after thought.
God is not just something to fill the few gaps in
our life that are not occupied with worldly things.
God is meant to be our focus, our purpose, our
reason, the centre of our life.
Is God your focus?
Is serving God in love your main purpose?
Is God the centre of your life?
What do you do Every Day that shows God has a
place in your life?
Do you honour God… here on Sundays…
or During the week with your colleagues at work
Do your friends see that God has the most
important place in your life?
Does your family see any spiritual significance in
your life?
How involved do you allow God to be in your day?
The way we spend every day is important.
We divide up our days into hours, minutes and
seconds, but how much time do we actually set
aside for God?
Apparently the average person lives 77 years, thats
28,000 days, or 670,000 hours.
The average person spends 40 minutes a day on
the telephone or 2 years in a lifetime.
The average person watches 3 hours of TV each
day - 9 years in a lifetime.
The average person spends one hour a day in the
bathroom - a total of 3 years in a lifetime.
The average Christian spends less than 10 minutes
a day praying - that’s less than 6 hours a month,
around 3 days a year, less than 7 months in a
lifetime.
Prayer needs to be more important than that - 9
years of our life watching TV and only 7 months in
prayer.
How much time do you set aside for God?
Not how much time you would like to set aside...
Not how much time do you intend to set aside...
Quality time - not just thirty seconds here, or two
minutes there.
How much time do you actually set aside
Every Day for God?
If you think about how you set aside time,
there is a difference between what is necessary
and what is essential,
there is a difference between what we see as
necessary and unnecessary,
a difference between the spiritual and the secular.
How you divide your time every day influences
how you live every day.
How you divide your time shows the importance
God actually has in your life.
Time with God is never wasted time.
We must make time for Him.
God wants us to pray to Him and meet with Him.
We must never be too busy to be still.
Where you place God in your life, effects your faith
and your spiritual growth every day.
Have you ever considered how you organise
your daily life?
Perhaps when you get home you could take a pen
and paper and write out a typical day.
Then examine what you fill your day with.
How much time is spent learning more about God?
How much time is spent spending time with God's
people?
Does the time you devote to doing your hobbies
or social activities mean there is no time left to
devote to God?
Maybe you need to take a step back, look at your
activities, consider your priorities and plan to put
God in first place on your list.
God first - before everything and everyone else -
not last.
Prayer first - not last.
Speak to Him.
Depend on Him.
Trust Him.
Ask for His blessing.
Seek His will and purpose in your life.
Ask the Holy Spirit to work in your life.
Rely on Him.
Be still and know He is God.
Every day, we are meant to make time for God.
Every Day we are to allow God the opportunity to
bless us, to use us, to empower us.
Every day we need the Holy Spirit to lead us and
guide us.
Every Day we need to make time for God.
Every day we need to build on the foundations of
our faith in God.
Every day we need to grow closer to Him.
We all have pressures in life - we all have
responsibilities - and our tendency can often be to
put other things before God.
We need to keep our focus on God because we are
called to Love God with all our heart.
The way we focus our lives Every Day shows what
our real commitment to God is - Every Day.
Life may bring its challenges but we should never
compromise our relationship with God.
Jesus often spent time in prayer connecting with
Father God, drawing close to Him, engaging with
Him, Listening to Him.
If He did it then we must also do it.
Every Day we are to spend time with God.
Every Day our schedule should reflect God's
priorities for our lives.
Every Day we need to involve God in every aspect
of our lives.
Romans 12:1 in The Message Bible Says:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping
you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walkingaround
life—and place it before God as an
offering. Embracing what God does for you is
the best thing you can do for Him.
Embrace God every day.
Allow the Holy Spirit to help you every day.
Your ordinary days, and your extra ordinary days,
your good days and your bad days.
Pray Every Day.
Manage the time God has Given you to include
time for God and time in prayer with God.
Plan your schedule to spend time in His presence.
Draw closer to Him Every Day, use all of the
resources God has given you for spiritual growth.
Every Day understand that you have a specific
purpose - and that purpose is to honour God with
your life.
In closing let me challenge you to Place God at
the center of your life Every Day.
Will you allow the Holy Spirit to help you place God
first in your life?
I don’t know what things compete for your time
and energy Every Day.
I don't know what demands space in your life.
Often it’s things that we choose to allow to take up
space - things we give permission to.
TV, is important to a lot of people.
Being entertained is considered a right in our
culture.
Some peoples’ lives revolve around watching their
favorite shows, TV is the centre of some peoples’
lives.
For some, life revolves around money and its
worries.
For some it's taking care of the family.
People we love have needs and problems and we
want to help.
We want to make a difference, to lighten the load.
Sometimes people live for their work. The most
important thing in life is that they do the job well.
Whatever it may be that your life currently
revolves around, let me encourage you to place
God at the Centre of your life Every Day.
