Monroe column: Time with God

Published 12:00 am Friday, January 14, 2011

How much time do you give to the Father each day? Not just a hurried bit here and there but real time just between you and Him. Where are you lacking in your life? God says his people perish from lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) How do we obtain this knowledge? We obtain knowledge from meditating on the word of God. In order to bear fruit we must meditate on the word. What fruit, you may ask? Fruit of being prosperous, fruit of healing, fruit of peace, fruit of joy, fruit of forgiveness.
To be close to someone is to spend time with them. To spend quality time with them. How well do you know your best friend, your earthly mother and father, your siblings, your spouse, or your children? The reason you know them so well is the time spent with them.
To be closer to God is to spend time with him in his word. Your heavenly Father wants to spend quality time with you. He wants to be close to you. He wants you to come to him personally, not just through church, through your pastor or priest, but for you to come straight to him through his word and through your praise and worship of him. You are the one He wants a relationship with.
Don’t let the devil steal your time with the Lord. Don’t let him steal the word from you. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. How does he accomplish that? By stealing the word from you. He knows the power of worship and praise. He tried to use it as the last temptation against Jesus.
Matthew 4: 8-10 ě…again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ëall these things I will give You if you will fall down and worship me.í Then Jesus said to him, ëAway with you, Satan! For it is written, ëYou shall serve the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.íî
Satan knew the power he would have over Jesus, if he could only get Jesus to worship him instead of God. To worship something is to spend a lot of time with. Where are we spending our time and with whom or what?
I encourage you to start this new year off on the right foot. Start the year off with knowledge of the word. Carve out a piece of your day that is set aside for God only. Your Father wants to know you on a more intimate level. He loves you so much. Can’t you find time for him today?
STAY IN THE WORD!
Neta Monroe is a member of the Salisbury Scribblers.
Neta
www.godstidbitstome.blogspot.com