Wanna Get away???

Spending quiet time with yourself is something that in the American culture is virtually impossible. This culture is designed to keep you going and going like the energizer bunny, never stopping to actually think about where you're headed to. Between work, spending time with your family when you get home, eating, any exercise you want to do and 24 hour around the clock TV stations with hundreds of channels and DVR to record shows and things for you to watch there's no time left for God. If you have kids you have school events and sports and then if you have friends you have to make time to spend time with them or your relationship will die and you will be stuck alone. So where do we have time to squeeze God in?
They say that you make time for what's important to you. If watching football is important to you then you make time on the weekend to watch the game. If working out or exercising is important to you then you either get up early in the morning and do it or you make time when you get home from work to get it done. The fact of the matter is it's not that we don't have time to sit and read the bible or pray it's that we don't want to make the time to do it because it's not that important to us. I personally have had a really hard time with this concept, especially since my son was born; my schedule has gotten really really tight and I have a hard time doing anything else other than go to work, come home and take care of Christian while Nessy makes dinner, eat, bath time, about an hour for me to work out 3 times a week and then spend an hour with my wife before we go to bed and do it all over again the next day. It's not easy to include anything else in my schedule like spend time with friends or play golf but especially not spend an hour or 2 just talking to God or reading my bible. I have found that if I go periods of time without talking to God or reading His word my life starts to get out of control. I start making bad decisions, my selfish side comes out or things just start happening that stress me out. Spending time with God is just as much for us as it is for Him; actually more for us than it is for Him because it's a rejuvenating experience for us. A time where God recharges our batteries for us and focuses our minds on the prize and what's most important in this life. Without this recharging we will just keep going and going like I said before like the energizer bunny and we will burn ourselves out and we will get in a bad mood, start feeling depressed or who knows what will happen to you because God will try to get your attention in some way, shape or form. You can count on that buddy and you can take it to the bank. It has happened to me so many times it's not funny.
If you knew me in the past you would know I'm not a morning person, my wife can attest to this. I used to get up as late as I possibly could on work days, sleep as late as I could on the weekends and I would take a nap everyday. I hated mornings and I needed a lot of sleep or I would be cranky to say it a nice way. I love sleep! It's how I would recharge to feel refreshed in the morning when I woke up. Since about a month before Christian was born I have been getting up 2 hours early in the mornings so I can spend some quiet time with the Lord reading and praying to get my morning started. By far the best thing I have ever done in my entire life, best choice I have ever made because it has given me a way to recharge myself and get ready for my day that I have never had before and it makes me feel like a different person. I get myself focused on God as soon as I wake up in the morning and get my mind right for the days activities. That is the main reason I wake up that early and it has been something that has changed my life for the better. The other reason isn't really spiritual except in the sense that if I don't get up before the baby starts crying I lose it and I have a really bad morning regardless of what I read or what else happens. Just the sound of a baby throwing a fit in the morning before I've had my first cup of coffee is enough to send me over the deep end and make me see red. I have never spent any time around babies before in my life so I have never experienced the sound of a baby screaming in my face at 5AM because he's hungry. I don't get mad at him but it spoils my routine and anyway; that's the other reason. I know I need more patience and I am working on it thanks to God. I said yesterday to someone that praying for patience is like shooting yourself in the foot to see if it hurts because as soon as you pray for patience God is going to send you some of the most annoying situations to toughen you up and test your patience so you can grow to be more patient. Anyway, back to what I was saying before I went off on a tangent. Spending quiet time with God goes against everything this culture we live in is telling you. They tell you that you need to be entertained 24/7 and they have the way to do it with movies, TV, video games and activities that can fill your whole calendar up for the rest of your life. It's true and we have fallen into the trap because of technology. We have come so far in the past 20 years that reading a book has become obsolete and that is exactly what the devil wants to happen because if he can keep you from reading any book because books are boring he will keep you from reading THE BOOK, the bible and his mission is accomplished. I am on facebook quite frequently and I ran across a girl who said that she was going to school to be a Teacher and under the part of her profile that asked what her favorite books were she said, and I quote, "I don't read, I hate reading." I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the time because that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. How can a person who wants to teach other people about anything hate to read? Isn't that how you learn? By reading books and studying? We have been told a lie that books are boring and video games are informational and stimulating to the mind. Sitting in front of a TV or video game puts you into a catatonic state to the point that your brain almost doesn't even have to work for you to watch what's going on in front of you. You can sit on the couch and watch TV with someone for hours and barely say anything to each other. There's no informational or educational value to any of that stuff unless you are watching the history channel or something and even then your brain doesn't respond to that stimulus like it does when you read a book. It's good for you to read a book and not just any book, read the bible because not only is it good for you but it's the WORD OF GOD and it's what you are supposed to use to model your life after. How can you call yourself a Christian or a follower of Christ if you don't know what's in the bible? Tell me because if you know something that I don't then I sure need to know. I'll save you the trouble, you can call yourself a Christian if you have accepted Jesus as your savior and asked for forgiveness of your sins; but if you don't know what the word of God says then how can you know how God expects you to live and what Jesus says about how to love others and show them what being a Christian is all about. Do you get what I'm saying?
My point today is to get you to understand that spending quiet time alone with God is very important to your growth as a follower of Christ and not only that but It's very important to how you feel everyday. Spending time with God whether it's reading or praying or just sitting quietly on your knees just talking to God or listening to the silence while you just think about whatever is on your mind is what brings you closer to God and when you are close to God you find out what it is that He has placed you here on this earth to do and you can begin to live each day for Him doing whatever it is that He has called you to do. When you spend time with God you are saying to Him that your relationship with Him is important to you and that you enjoy spending time with Him and you have made it a priority in your life. Sacrifice is the name of the game in the Christian lifestyle and you have to sacrifice yourself, your time, your money and your everything for God becuase it's a small price to pay considering what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
Make it a priority to spend time with God starting today. Do whatever you have to do to get an hour at least alone with God to read and pray and build your relationship with your heavenly Father who wants nothing else but to have you talk to Him and read His words so He can talk to you. Don't believe the lie that reading is boring. Don't take advantage of Gods time that He has given you here on this earth because it could be over with in an instant and He will say to you that He never knew you because you never took the time to get to know Him. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
It's important to spend time with God not just because reading is good for you but because reading the bible will change your life and it will speak to you in ways that you never thought possible. It is a living book who's words will jump off a page at you and will stick in your mind and it will teach you what it is that you need to change about yourself and transform you into the likeness of Jesus Christ which is the whole purpose and final desire of being a Christian. Don't just take my word for it. Jesus, the SON OF GOD, spent much time by himself talking with God and praying and he read the scriptures in the temple and taught His fellow man what it means to have a relationship with the God of Heaven. If Jesus, the SON OF GOD, who is God Himself needs to spend quiet time in order to get His mind focused and recharge His batteries don't you think you might want to do the same? Or are you already close enough to God that you don't need to do that? Don't make the mistake of believing the lie of this world and being tricked into and sucked into the idea that you don't have time because you have time for what you want to do. Think about that for awhile. I would hate for you to get to the Judgment seat after you pass away and be like in one of those Airline commercials where you, "Wanna Get Away?" It will be too late. I can promise you that nobody writes on their tombstone that they wished they could spend another day watching TV.