May

2015

How to Spend Time with God

jordonewrites

Christian Writing , Growth and Development , Uncategorized

May 16 2015

I’m all to familiar with depression, discouragement, and lack of faith.

God has brought me out of the deepest feelings of sadness, suicidal thoughts, and lack of trust in Him.

How did He deliver me?

Simple.

He delivered me through our time together.

Up until recently, the majority of my life was spent relying on other people’s relationships with God to encourage me.

I can recall getting really excited after someone encouraged me, gave me a prophecy, or delivered an awesome sermon.

But, in a matter of days I was back to my old depressed self. Or, if I wasn’t depressed, I was simply discouraged and battling how to trust God again.

Today, I’m a different person. My trust for God involves a continuous uninterrupted form of peace in my life. Yes, situations still come to knock me down. But, even though my situation hasn’t changed, I’ve changed. I’m a new creature.

How did I change? How did I learn how to stop doubting God permanently?

Simple.

I put the time in.

I stopped relying on sermons for peace. Instead, I learned His character for myself.

Trust comes with time. You wouldn’t trust a stranger with your credit card because you don’t know them.

But, you might trust a good friend with your money because you know who they are. You only know who they are because you’ve spent ample time with them.

God is no different.

You aren’t going to trust Him if you haven’t spent enough time with Him.

Too many of us are going about trusting God the backwards way. We’re expecting too much of ourselves. We’re expecting ourselves to honestly trust God with our money, jobs, families, and everything else when we don’t even know who He is.

We haven’t put the time in.

When you spend enough time with God daily, you know Him. When you know Him-His love, His care, His protection-there’s no way not to trust Him.

So, I want you to spend more time with God. I want you to permanently get rid of discouragement, depression, anxiety, worry, fear, pride, weakness, and confusion.

I want you to stop listening to worldly doctors who say depression and sadness is only curable through medicine. I want you to have the peace God has for you. But, you have a part to play.

You’re going to have to put the time in to know Him. For a limited time, I’m offering resources about how to grow in God and read His Word.

Let’s start now. I’m starting a Jordonewrites Bible study challenge to spend time with God for 27 days straight. If you don’t know how to read God’s Word, read my Bible study tips by clicking here.

There is no specific start date to join the challenge. You can join anytime! Click here to sign up. Click here to read how the challenge works.

Just a warning- Satan will try to make you too tired, too busy, and too whatever else.

The devil will use your past, negative influences, and anything else to keep you from participating. He wants you to think you’re not worthy to spend time with God. He can only keep you from your destiny if you allow him to. Don’t listen to him.

People make time for what’s important to them. So, your busy schedule is not an excuse. Do what you have to do to get your time in. Some days, I find myself up at 5 am in prayer. If I know I’m really sleepy, I’ll stand up and pray. (I’m not bragging…just giving examples to let you know it is possible).

Here are some tips as to how I spend my personal time with God:

1) Focus-Your mind shouldn’t be on your to-do list or schedule. You should only be focused on God. The Word of God has power. So, if you find yourself extremely distracted or worried, try reading God’s Word first before you pray. The power of His Word may help you to focus in on Him.

2) Prayer– Prayer is not a time where you go tell God what you want. Prayer is a time to find out what He wants. Then, you pray according to His will.

Another purpose of prayer is simply to get to know God better. When you know Him, you can trust Him. As you spend more time with Him, you become more like Him. Lately, my prayer time with God is completely silent. I’m just hanging out with Him without words. I’ll ask Him a question like, “Dad, what do you want to talk about?” Or, “God, what’s on your mind?” Sometimes, He answers. Most times, He doesn’t.

But, my silent moments with God are just as important as my talkative moments with Him.

Whether He’s silent or talking, things are happening through our time together simply because I’m in His presence. Words aren’t always needed in your time with God. So, don’t get too hung up on the fact that He’s not speaking back. You might hang out with your best friend for hours, not talk much, but still enjoy her company. God is the same way. Sometimes, He just wants us to enjoy His company. I might sit with Him for hours without Him ever answering back. But, once He leads me to be finished with prayer, I can tell our silent time was affective because I feel the peace and strength of His presence all in me.

3) The Word- After I’ve prayed for at least an hour or so, I’ll put out some scriptures. Read my blog post on how to read God’s Word.

God may want you to read before you pray. Some days, He may lead you to pray for three, four, or five hours. Other times, you might feel led to turn off the TV or change your plans to be with Him. Be obedient to how He leads you! Spending time with God is such a peaceful, rewarding experience.

That’s it! Those are my tips! Very simple… yet, so life changing.

Please tell all your friends about the Bible study challenge! It’s a great way to make new Godly friends. You can even invite others to do a group Bible study at your home, dorm room, cafe, or campus building. Just make sure each day involves you having your own personal, uninterrupted time with Him. Give God time to speak to you alone.

Studies show that if you make something a habit for a certain period of time, it’ll remain a habit. So, after the 27 days…don’t stop! Keep going! Get all God has for you!

Reach out to me if you have questions!

I encourage you to look at the other blog I wrote on deepening your relationship with God (click here) for an even deeper understanding on spending time with God.

Click here to join the 27 day challenge!

Click here to read how the challenge works.

I’ll be writing other posts on hearing God’s voice so be sure to enter your email below to receive it in your inbox! I love you and I look forward to hearing your testimonies 🙂

Want to learn more about how to grow closer to God?…

Then click here to get your copy of I Believe in God, Now What? ( ON SALE FOR A LIMITED TIME FOR 3 DOLLARS ON AMAZON! ) Or get the free book sample…

…My FREE book sample, I Believe in God, Now What? , shares my many battles with depression, relationships, sex, rape, and addiction to help deepen your relationship with God.