If you’re a Christian I know you feel me on this one, spending time with God is a challenge. It shouldn’t be, but for some reason it is. It’s just that “out of sight out of mind” type mentality that makes it so difficult to spend even a few moments with God sometimes. That is until I read this book by Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray. The concepts are pretty challenging in and of themselves, but here are some practical life applications that I took from this book.
If you’re a Christian and have the Holy Spirit living inside you, you’re already in constant communion with God
The bible teaches us to pray without ceasing and that we should basically spend our entire day giving thanks to God and praising Him. That sounds completely impossible when I also have to do a million other things a day including take care of my husband, myself, our dog, do my job, write music, write this blog, maintain relationships with friends and family and the list goes on. I barely have time to read people’s entire Instagram post’s let alone spend an hour or more reading the Bible.
The mind shift here is that with the Holy Spirit inside of me, acting as Jesus says, my “helper”, I don’t have to do much more. All I really have to do it LISTEN to the Holy Spirit and I’m already spending time with God. If you’re new to faith or have trouble understanding what or who the Holy Spirit is, reach out to me! I would love to talk with you about it. If you’re a long time believer, then you understand the concept that the Holy Spirit is for our benefit. He’s there to guide you, to protect you, to teach you, to discipline you and so much more. If we simply listen to that still small voice then we’re already in constant and intimate communication and relationship with God.
Change your mindset on what God expects from you
A lot of the teaching in my church growing up was that God was full of wrath and anger and if and when I messed up, I had to spend all this time crying out for forgiveness so that I didn’t instantly go to hell. As an adult who has spent much more time reading the Bible, I’ve come to realize that if that’s true, what is the point of Jesus? Doesn’t the Bible say that He was sent to cover our sin? He was sent so that we wouldn’t have to face the wrath of God? Isn’t Jesus’ blood poured out for me enough? The answer is YES!!! I don’t have to spend hours praying to God each day as though I’m this red-headed step child (as they say) that has to feel sorry or bad for something. I mess up daily and all bets are that you do too. However, God knew that before He ever sent His son to die for us and Jesus died knowing we would still mess up.
Our mindset HAS to shift from a place of sorrow and cowardliness to a place of boldness and confidence in who we are in Christ. We cannot think that God expects us to beg him every day for love and acceptance and forgiveness. He already loves us more than we can ever image, he already accepts us because He created us and He forgave us of our sins before we were ever even born. If we spend our daily life in this place of knowing our Heavenly Father loves us, we feel a lot less condemned when we do spend time with Him.
Make it a GET to not a HAVE to
A large part of why it’s always been so difficult for me to prioritize spending time with God daily is because I for years have viewed it as a chore. Spending time with God has been seen as something I have to do before the end of the day instead of something I get to do. It’s viewed kind of like a job, instead of a joyful privilege. The truth is, when we spend time with God it sets our entire day into a different direction. We find ourselves less focused on the negative things and we focus more on the gift of life that God has given us. To wrap this post up here are a few practical things I do to make time for God each day.
- Have my bible app read the daily devotion and bible plan to me
- Spend 10 minutes in silence with my eyes closed to focus on what God is saying to me
- Write a gratitude list at the end of the day of what I was grateful for, then read it in the morning to start the next day off
- Spend time praying while I’m doing exercise (walking, elliptical, bike etc..)
- Thank God even in small things. Walk outside and there’s beautiful weather, I quickly say “Thank You Lord”.
That’s a super short list but they are all really effective ways at just including God in your daily life journey. He doesn’t expect every day to be spend on your knees praying and giving thanks, but He does desire your heart and mind. God asks nothing more than that you love Him and sometimes that’s just saying “thanks”.
XOXO,
Camille
Camille Edwards 
Yes. I also experience difficulty on concentrating on prayer and meditating the Word of God. When I was a new Christian, still growing in the Lord, it was really hard to keep with the “quiet time”. But as I practiced it, it becomes a habit already that without it my day will not be complete. But sometimes the challenge is in concentrating. As you have said we have so many other things in mind. True, sometimes, in the middle of my reading or prayer, I catch myself thinking about my work. But, God helps us in our weakness. He understands and He meets us halfway. As long as our heart desires to obey Him. So yes, it should be “we get to and not we have to”.
Great post! God bless you sister in the Lord.
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Love that!! Yes he always meets us right where we need him most. Bless you!!
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Amen!🙏🏻
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