Quite a few years ago, I wrote about how difficult it was when my children were young to find time to spend with my Jesus. I shared that some years later, I taught classes on “God’s Plan for the Wife & Mother” and the material I used was from a woman by the name of Shirley Price from back in the 70’s. For some of it, I played cassette tapes with her speaking on it, so that gives you an idea how old this material was. But, since all of her teaching was Bible based, it was never out of date. One of the chapters was entitled, “How to Keep Up With the Proverbs Woman” and she talked about Proverbs 31:15 taken from The Amplified Bible which says that the Proverbs woman, “Rises while it is yet night and gets spiritual food for her household.”
Shirley told how, just like me, she had struggled with having a daily time with her Lord. Finally, one day she said, “Lord we have got to work out something different. Will you please help work out a time when I can be alone with You?”
The next morning at 3 a.m., she suddenly woke up. She couldn’t figure out what made her do this, so she went back to sleep. The next night the same thing happened. Suddenly, she remembered what she had asked of the Lord and she told Him that there was no way she could wake up that early, so she went back to sleep. But you see, we have a Father who doesn’t give up when He knows we’re serious about something. So, the next morning at 3 o’clock, off went her alarm and this time she got out of bed, went downstairs and started a 3 o’clock devotional period that went on for all the time her children were growing up.
She said there were times when the Lord would fill her to the brim in just 5 minutes and she would go back to bed. Then there were other nights where she never went back to sleep because she was so excited with what He was sharing with her and she never became tired. She shared that she always woke up refreshed and thrilled about what the Lord was doing within her. Shirley was a wonderful example of what happens when we allow Him to have complete control!
This came flooding back into my mind recently, when a dear friend shared with me that she has been suffering with sinus headaches and pain behind her eye. She said that when this pain hits, she takes her hot water bottle to bed with her and rests. As she lays there, she uses that time to, as she says, “Pray and Pray”. She cries out to the Lord asking for forgiveness if need be, and then lifts ups her praises and prayer requests to her Heavenly Father. She has realized that even in her pain, she can use that time wisely to spend time with her Jesus.
Are you frustrated that your schedule is not allowing you time to spend with your Jesus? If you are really serious about it, just ask Him to give you that time in your day. Since He loves to spend time with you, I’m confident He will figure out how your schedule can be rearranged so that He can work within you in a powerful way. Whether it is during the day or night…or involves a hot water bottle…I know it will be worth it!
“But when you pray, go away by yourself,
shut the door behind you,
and pray to your Father in private.
Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
No comments:
Post a Comment