Can you imagine being married and never seeing or talking to your husband? Would you wonder if he thinks about you? If he loves you? If your friend never talks to you, what kind of a friend is she?
Just as your relationship with your spouse or close friend will grow more intimate as you spend time talking and listening to each other, so will your relationship with God. And just as your relationship with your spouse or close friend will suffer from neglect, so will your relationship with God.
The most important thing you can do is plan a set time you will spend time with Him each day. Be realistic. Don’t start with too much and set yourself up for failure.
Don’t beat yourself up when you miss.
Satan is the accuser. That voice telling you if you were really a Christian or really loved God, spending time with God wouldn’t be such a chore, or reading the Bible wouldn’t be so hard or dry or dull, or prayer wouldn’t be such a burden is the voice of your and the Lover of your soul’s greatest enemy.
If you have trusted in what Christ has done for you, God already sees you as perfect, so spending time with Him doesn’t make you look any better to Him. And when you miss, He doesn’t see you as damaged goods. Confess your sins and Jesus righteousness as part of your time with Him.
Some people find that getting up fifteen minutes or a half hour earlier works best. Others have their TAWG time while they eat lunch. Some like to spend time with Him before they go to bed. Some have said they treat their TAWG like medicine they have to take and commit each day that they will not go to sleep without spending at least some time both in His Word and in Prayer.
Whatever works for you, the important thing is having a plan.
Prayer
You can pray any time, anywhere. No one around you even has to know. God knows your thoughts before you think them, and the Holy Spirit knows your heart and intercedes with groans too deep for words. (Check out Psalm 139 and Romans 8:24)
People debate prayer in public school. It can’t be stopped. It happens all the time without anyone knowing. As someone has said, as long as there are tests, there will be prayer. I think as long as there are friends and guys and girls, there will be prayer, too.
When Jesus walked on the earth, He often slipped away to spend time in private prayer. If He, though God in the flesh, needed to pray, and understood that God uses prayer to accomplish His purposes, certainly He has set the example for us.
“It is sometimes forgotten that if the devil can tempt us to do evil, he can also tempt us not to do good. He can glamorize sin, but he can also paint an ugly picture in our minds of any work which is the will of God, including prayer.
“Quietly and undetectably, he can embitter the image of prayer in our minds until we unconsciously go out of our way to avoid it.
“The reason for this persistence on his part is obvious…:’Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.’
“As Paul says, ‘The weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.’ 2 Cor 10:4
“The enemy of our souls is painfully aware of the destructive force of even our dullest and weakest prayers and will go to any length to block them.” Richard Lovelace
Regardless of your political views or who happens to be President of the United States at the time you’re reading this post, if you got a call from the president offering to do something for you— that he just wanted you to know that he was available for you, number one, if you’re like most people, you’d probably be very shocked and dumbfounded that THE PRESIDENT would stoop down to allow you that kind of privilege. You certainly wouldn’t put him off or make excuses or tell him I was sleepy…
The president is but dust. To dust he will return. God made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them. He made the president and gives to all men and women life and breath and all things.
And while in the OT only the great high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, God has now granted access to all who will come through Christ, our Great High Priest. He has made those of us who have trusted in Christ His priests, and our prayers are as incense before Him.
We have a privilege and a duty to pray—
Oh Holy Spirit, help us to pray. Help all of Your people to pray. Pour out a spirit of prayer among us, that we would look to You and not to ourselves as the One who works in the hearts and minds of people, who can change things, including us. Revive our hearts, please.
His Word
Wouldn’t it be great if you could hear God speak to you, and you knew for sure that it was Him?
Psalm 19:1 says The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands. The next five verses of the psalm describe how creation tells us how great God is.
Beginning with verse 7 of Psalm 19, the psalmist switches gears, and begins talking about God’s Word, using various synonyms like law of the Lord, statutes of the Lord, precepts of the Lord, commands of the Lord, and ordinancesof the Lord.
The psalmist says that God’s Word revives the soul, makes the simple wise, gives joy to the heart, light to the eyes, and endures forever.
2 Timothy 3:16 says All Scripture is God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness.
When we read God’s Word, God Himself is speaking to us.
The problem is that left to ourselves, we can’t understand. As 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
So, we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand. As Psalm 119:18 says, Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.
Private worship and devotion is not necessarily the same as Bible study. It is possible to study the Bible as information, as literature, as history. Prayerful reading engages not only our minds, but our hearts and souls as well.
Recognizing the Bible is a Book like no other, ask the Holy Spirit to open our [my] eyes that we [I] might receive wonderful things from His Word. Psalm 119:37
Pray as you read, thanking God for what you are learning about Him, asking Him questions about things you don’t understand, confessing your sin and weaknesses as His Word shines a light on His holiness and your sinfulness, because it is a two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of both joints and marrow, of soul and spirit, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
And thank Him for Christ and how you see Him fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. Luke 24:27
Bible Reading Plans
Some people read through the entire Bible in a year, others read slowly through one book at a time.
The critical thing is THAT you have a plan, not WHICH plan you pick.
The Bible is made up of 66 books that are contained in the Old and New Testaments. One of the most fascinating aspects about this remarkable book is that it was written over a period of 1500 years by about forty different men; yet it is completely consistent and tells one main story: the story of God rescuing a people for Himself.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. Because God’s Word’s is inerrant (without error or fault) in the original languages, some denominations require all its pastors to have studied both Greek and Hebrew as part of their ministry preparation. Does yours?
One of the best things you can do to grow in your relationship with God is to give Him the opportunity to speak to you through His Word. It’s important to have a plan to help you follow through.
Even if you are not sure what you believe about Him, exposing yourself to His Word will give you the opportunity to see the ring of truth for yourself.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. One of the things that gives the Bible such a feel for truth is the real struggles and doubts of the people that we read page after page after page.
What about different interpretations? 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Spirit spoke from God.
A basic rule of thumb is use Scripture to interpret Scripture. Therefore, if you are reading a verse and think it means something that seems to contradict the rest of Scripture, you can be sure that somehow you’re missing something, and there is need for more study. It may have to do with the context of the verse or the original language or something else. That’s why Bible tools are so helpful.
Wrapping UP
Bottom line, Time Alone With God, the One who made you, is too important to skip. Enjoy Him. Enjoy your time with Him. Remember KISS–Keep it Simple, Sweetie!
- Talk to Him through prayer.
- Hear Him talk to you through His Word.
TAWG doesn’t make Him love you more. But it does help you remember how great His love is for you.