I’m becoming increasingly convinced that I need to carve dedicated time out of my daily schedule for study. While I have found it very helpful and encouraging over the years to spend 10 or 15 minutes devotionally reading scripture before going to bed at night, and have no intention of changing that habit, in the last while I have become convinced that I need to spend far more time working my way through the word of God.
It has become clear to me that to continue to walk into the things God is calling me to, I must devote greater time to study, to seeking him in his word, and in the works of other believers through the centuries, to prayer and meditation.
I am particularly convicted that in order to continue building relationship with the young people that I work with at church, to continue inviting them into deeper things of the Spirit, I must cultivate those deeper things in my own life, via my relationship with Christ, and with time spent in study and contemplation.
Especially in these next few weeks, I am feeling the pull to study. We are holding our first ever church youth retreat on the weekend of May 11th and 12th, and while I don’t yet know if I will be doing some of the teaching, I feel very convicted of the need to prepare myself for that time. I am sensing that it could be a quite significant time in the formation of our group of young people, and I want to spend the time over the next two weeks listening to the Spirit of God, and preparing my own heart in order to be available as the Spirit leads over the course of that weekend. I think I may fast for a few days leading up to the retreat, and possibly over the course of the time away as well.
All of this seems foreign to me. Not so very long ago I would have described a dedicated amount of study time, and fasting as a very legalistic method designed to try and manipulate God into providing what I want. And yet, I am suddenly pulled by the Spirit to do these things.
So, what this amounts to in my life is a determination to set aside a minimum of an hour for study and prayer, at least five times over the course of this week, and five times over the course of the next week. If this means I need to change some of my daily scheduled activities, or curtail some social activities for a few weeks, I’m okay with that. If it means that I have to get out of bed earlier, or stay up a bit later and sacrifice sleep, I’m okay with that, too. Pray for me as I work to prepare my heart for the time away with our youth. Pray for me as I meet with the pastor I work with tomorrow night to determine the topic and details of the weekend, and to make the decisions surrounding which of us (or both of us) will be doing the teaching.
Monday, April 30, 2007
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3 comments:
I tell myself every day 'tomorrow I'm doing to put an hour aside to study and pray', but for me tomorrow never comes. I pray sporadically throughout the day and read about a chapter in the evening before I go to bed, (unless I'm seduced by a magazine).
This use to really annoy me because I felt like I wasn't giving God the time He deserves.
I've just had a baby and don't really have enough quality time, but I felt God tell me that a bit of pray and a bit of reading His word is better than nothing at all.
However, we morning prayer going on at our church. Wednesdays is for the women. I really wanted to go and pray, until last Tuesday evening. I didn't set my alarm clock for 6:15 because I felt too tired so I told God that if He wanted me to get up then He should wake me. Sure enough at 5:58 Wednesday morning I woke up. But I still felt too tired so I went back to sleep. Then at 6:12 I woke up again, ok I got the message and so I got dressed and went to the church to pray for an hour. It was great and I'm glad I obayed God.
He must have something planned for you so I pray that you do give your time to study and I pray that you will feel energised by it.
Tanya, welcome here!
I'm not all that militaristic about studying, and recognize that my own circumstances are much different than, say, someone who is married and has children. I can make time in my schedule to do this right now, and feel that God is asking it of me, so I'm working to be obedient to that.
I think God is grateful for any time we give him, and I happen to think that one of the most spiritual activities there is is simply spending time with one's children. So enjoy the new baby!
Amen to that!
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