Take Time for God

Good Evening to All!

The Challenge Answers are as follows:

1. b) bricks (Genesis 11:3-4)
2. False (Genesis 8:28-29)
3. Pleiades and Orion (Job 38:31)
4. b) Isaiah (Isaiah 13:13)
5. a) Amos (Amos 5:26)
6. d) Samaria (Luke 9:52-56)
7. c) lightning ( Matthew 24:27)
8. c) Jesus (Luke 21:25)
9. c) three house of daytime darkness (Luke 23:44-45)
10. d) Joel (Acts 2:19, Joel 2:30)

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Those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Isaiah 40:31)

We live in a time-crunched world and just about everything we do seems to be urgent. The enemy has been extremely successful in his scheme to keep people from praying and spending time in the Word by keeping us so terribly busy. We live under incredible pressure and we run from one thing to the next to the next to the next--to the point that we often neglect the things that are really important in life: God, family and other relationships, our health, and building up our spiritual lives. The we get more and more stressed out--and the only way to deal with that and get life back in order is to get with God and listen to what He says to us. It's true; we really cannot handle life apart from Him. We cannot handle the pressure, the confusion, and the stress without Him. Our marriages will suffer, our children will suffer our finances will get messed up, our relationships wont thrive--if we do not spend time in the Word and in prayer. God will strengthen us and enable us to handle life peacefully and wisely if we start praying about things instead of merely trying to get through the day. When we take time with God and listen to His voice, He renews our strength and enables us to handle life and not be weary. But we have to start by using the time we have wisely by always putting God First.

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God's Word for you Today: Take time to hear God's voice every day.
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I truly wish people (myself included) would make it a point to set a few minutes a day to pray and focus on God. I'm not saying we have to have a "get down on our knees and bury our heads in our hands" type prayer time although once in a while I'm sure God would appreciate it. I'm saying sit in a quiet place, clear your mind and tell God, "ok, God, what do you want to talk to me about, I'm all ears". Then sit quietly, mind still cleared and focused on HIM and pay attention to what you feel in your spirit. The second part is to heed what He is saying. Do what you feel He is telling you to do, no matter how crazy it may seem. Someone told me once that if it comes from God it may not make sense at the time, but do it anyway, because He has a reason for saying it.

People make mistakes when they pray. They tend to be so wrapped up in what they are saying, they forget that it is supposed to be a two way conversation. Most of the time if people pray, they want answers. They can't get answers unless they let God
speak, which means they listen. I have been guilty of that more times than I want to count. I am getting better though. You would be surprised how much better my relationship with God is when I listen. For one thing, I don't have to keep going to Him and asking why my prayers aren't being answered, because they are.

God doesn't like to scream at us anymore than we like to scream at our own children or spouses to get them to hear us. He has a still, small voice, and will not raise it to get our attention. If we don't hear Him, then it is our problem and we will miss what He wants us to know. He has been known to repeat Himself several times, but He does have His limits. After a while I'm sure He is just like us and says to Himself, "what's the use", they aren't going to hear Me anyway".

I hope some of y'all will "test" this post. Take 10 or twenty minutes each day for a week to focus on God and see how much better things go that specific week. A very wise Pastor (mine) said not too long ago, it isn't the length of a prayer that counts, it is the depth and substance of that prayer. In other words, be sincere about what you pray. Don't just pray a long fancy prayer to sound good. Let me know in a comment how your "test" goes. OK? I would really like to hear.

Good night to all and May God Bless!



Devotional taken from Joyce Meyer's "hear from GOD each morning"