Hey! I hope you have had a blessed weekend. I
did a live bible study on this topic, which you can find below. I was prompted to
discuss this topic because of my own struggle with it and others around me.
Is our relationship with Jesus active or
inactive?
What weapons do we have if we do not know how
to arm ourselves?
Ephesians 6:10-20
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand
against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of
God, so that when the day of evil comes,
you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to
stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of
truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness
in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the
readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the
shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming
arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be
given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in
chains. Pray that I may declare it
fearlessly, as I should.
It is clear that there are demons around waiting for us to slip up.
1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Be alert
and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the
faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world
is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
We simply cannot afford to miss out on our
prayer life, which is our direct connection to Jesus. Our good and faithful
father Jesus is an example, He prioritised His prayer life above all things
because He was concerned with pleasing His father and doing exactly what He has
called Him to do. John 5:19 and John 12:49 are examples of Jesus’ obedience.
Luke 5:16
16 But Jesus
often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
How much more us? Are we going to follow the
examples of our good and faithful father or will we choose to let life and our
responsibilities get on top of us? Jesus was a servant and this was His main
concern whilst here on earth.
A few points:
·
Make the decision now that
there will be no more excuses. God is the one that gifted you that job,
promotion, child, husband and etc. He can take things away from us/life lessons
can make us humble ourselves and remember our first love, Jesus. I am in no way
saying that something bad is going to happen, but as a good father does God
will teach us for our own good.
·
Understand that we choose
what we make time for and can make sacrifices here and there. You may have a
friend that always gives you the, “I’m busy” excuse, but you realise that they
give their time to whom they choose. God gave us the same 24 hours, so we need
to make it work.
·
Get strategic! If you have to
buy an organiser to plan your day/week, then do it, time yourself for your
specific tasks but more importantly ALLOCATE TIME.
·
Die to self. Most of this is
caused because we do not want to experience discomfort. I had to recently check
myself and wake up about 15 minutes before my alarm as my prayers became
sloppy.
·
Make it personal. Do not
compare your time with God to others. When you have a personal relationship
with Jesus, it all comes naturally, so let it flow.
·
Be creative with it! A sister
in Christ told me that she went to the beach on her own and had her quiet time
there. I often enjoy retreating to quiet places at lunchtime and enjoying God’s
prescence, its almost like we are taking a walk together (well we are J) and I do not feel pressured to talk for the sake of it.
·
Do it. The most important
thing is that we realise that Jesus is a priority and that we need to feed our
spiritual man like we need to nourish our bodies with food and water. The difference
is a more bold and confident walk in Christ, a fulfilled life that brings the
best out of us, it will not be perfect but worth it and a lifetime of growth.
I pray that this encouraged you to be
intentional about spending time with our King Jesus.
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Rosemary x