You finally drag yourself to bed. You know that you should have gone to bed an hour earlier but you just couldn’t miss that TV show. You are so tired that you can barely keep your eyes open. You mumble something to God about being sorry and that you will get up early the next morning and spend time with Him.
The alarm clock goes off the next morning and you are so tired that you hit the snooze button a few times. You fall back asleep and then a little later bolt awake to realize that you now have very little time to get yourself ready for work.
By the time you get home that night you are already tired and worn out by what happened at work during the day. You feel empty so you eat dinner and then sit down in front of your computer to check out Facebook or in front of the TV to relax. A couple of hours later you finally drag yourself to bed…
Or maybe you are a stay-at-home parent with a bunch of children who never stop from the moment they get up until the time they go to bed. By the time you have fed, bathed, and clothed them, broken up fights, keep them from killing themselves, answered 50 million questions, gotten them to bed and cleaned up after them, you are so exhausted that your brain can barely function, let alone form coherent sentences to actually pray.
You fall into bed, hoping that you might at least get 4 hours of sleep tonight.
You feel guilty. You know that God wants to spend time with you, but you have no idea how to fit it into a schedule that is already overwhelmingly full.
There never is any time
Today’s society is filled with so many distractions that it is so easy for days and weeks to go by without people even saying hello to God. They live empty lives and they can’t understand why the Lord isn’t doing anything in their lives. The truth is that God can’t move unless you let him, and one of the ways of allowing the Lord to move through your life is in prayer.
The only way to be able to live a full, happy life is to get to know God. It is like any other relationship. The only way that it works is if time is spent with each other. How long do you think a marriage would last if the husband and the wife only saw each other and talked for 5 minutes a week, or maybe for a couple of hours at church with a whole group of people? Not very long.
It is a commitment
So before we get into how to find time to spend in prayer, we need to talk about your commitment to God.
How important is God to you? To me, God is everything I want and everything I need. I actually get very sad and depressed when I don’t spend time with Him.
If God is important to you, then you need to show it by making a commitment to spending time with Him. It is a decision you make and you don’t let anything interfere with it. I can tell you this: any sacrifice I have made to pray has been worth every minute.
The more I get to know Jesus, the more that I know that I am loved, accepted and created for a great destiny and I have strength to deal with things that come my way.
So now is the time to decide. You will never regret spending time with God.
Five ways to find more time to pray
1. Decide what time of day is best for you
Some people are morning people and some are night hawks. I love being up at 5/6am and spend time with God as I get up. It starts my day off on a good note.
My best friend, on the other hand, can’t even put together an understandable sentence at that time of day, let alone pray. For her, evenings are her best time, when she feels the most energetic, and loves to end her day in prayer. For me, 7pm is the time when I’m counting the minutes to when I can go to bed.
The perfect time to pray is the time that is perfect for you. There are no set rules, but I do recommend that you pray at the same time each day, so that you get into a habit of praying all the time.
2. Set an alarm
It is very easy to have time pass and to forget to stop and pray. Set an alarm and when it goes off stop whatever you’re doing and pray for a period of time.
If you are not used to praying, then start off with shorter periods of time like 5 minutes. Over time, it will become easier to go longer.
If you are a parent with young children, then you need to pick a time when you know that you will have a few minutes where they won’t bother you. I would get up before they did to have those few minutes of quiet with the Lord.
I also used the bathroom during the day as my escape place. I could go in there alone for three minutes before they started banging on the door. I could stand in there and whisper prayers to God and still hear what they were doing.
3. You don’t have to talk all the time
Good relationships are two-way streets, with both people taking the time to talk and to listen. After you have finished what you want to say, just stop, be quiet and let the Lord speak to your heart. You will be amazed at what He says to you in those quiet times.
4. Keep a journal
If writing is your thing, then a prayer journal is the way to go. For some people, it is easier to write things down than to say them. It also helps you to see where you were and how far you have come.
5. Turn off distractions
TV, Facebook, and games are all distractions that will keep you from a great relationship with the Lord. Sometimes people think that they don’t have time to pray, but if they look at how much time they spend doing those things they realize that they have lots of time.
In conclusion
I highly suggest two things: that you set aside a period of time every day to spend with the Lord; and to take a few minutes here and there throughout the day and talk to God. Tell him about your day, express your heart to Him. Thank Him for the good things and ask for help with the bad. He is always there for you and enjoys when you come to Him and share your heart.
Over time, you will find that you enjoy spending time with Him, that it becomes a vital part of your life. As you grow closer to Him, there are so many negative things that fall away in your life and so many other positives that come in.
It will change your life forever. So get to it. Pray.
~By Kim Thompson-Pinder
Related posts
- 5 Morning Prayers to Start Your Day Off Right
- 7 Ways to Find Time for God
- Staying Focused on Your Mission in a World of Distractions
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Comments(2)
John says
July 4, 2016 at 5:59 amWishing someone well, hoping for the best, looking for the good in others, finding something good about someone else, finding something praise worthy in our surroundings are also forms of prayers. Consciously using solution orientated articulation, making finding the good a habit is a way to live a life of praise and worship.
Lucila Peredo says
July 6, 2016 at 5:07 amPraise Jesus !