Mail from God Part 3

 

PRAYER SERIES 

MAIL FROM GOD PART 3 GIVING GOD TIME

The Holy Spirit : Prayer Series Icon.

 

Do you ever feel dry in prayer, stopped praying, would like to explore a different way to pray?

Throughout this series I would like to present some different ways to pray.  Many of them you will have heard of before, some of them you have already tried but might like to revisit and others may provide a different way into prayer.

 

In today’s post I would like to focus on Giving God our time to say hello during the day.  If you have not read the previous 2 posts, I would recommend it as it is a continuation from the previous 2 posts.

GIVING GOD TIME DURING THE DAY.

 Many people are working and do not acknowledge God during the day.  Yet, it is God who gave us the talent to perform the tasks required in our jobs.  Many people think that they are too busy or fill their time being busy. Being busy is a way of stopping them from acknowledging how they truly feel within their hearts.  They are frightened of silence and yet what their bodies, minds and souls need is silence, peace and rest.

In Mail from God, He points out:

• 15 minutes sitting in the chair yet no acknowledgment of Him.
• Ringing a friend to catch the latest gossip
• Not acknowledging Him at meal time.
• Being too busy after coming home from work
• Watching TV mindlessly to block out Jesus.
• Plopping into bed without a goodnight.
•  

Do any of these sound familiar with us or some variation of them?  Are we too busy for God or do we think we are too busy for God? Perhaps subconsciously, we do not think God is all that important in our lives.  He is not our no 1 friend so we do not give Him any time.

Obviously, God knows everything about us- our day, our needs, our tiredness, our need for rest.  God understands all of these things about us.  He too had needs when he was on earth. He knew what it was like to be tired after a long day of being with the crowds teaching and preaching.  Anyone who is in a people-based industry knows how draining it can be being with people in need.

Yet He wants to hear from us.  We can tell Him ‘Jesus, I am very tired today because of…. Or simply I am so tired today Jesus.  He does say in scripture

’ Come to Me when you are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest’.

 

If you have read this Mail from God article and some of it resonates with you, then you might be wondering what you can do since your responsibilities wont change in the foreseeable future.  How can I make time for God?

SUGGESTED ACTION STEPS THIS WEEK

1.    1. Examine your day/week.  Draw yourself a circle and divide it into 8 parts. Then with each of these segments place an hour time eg 7am, 8am etc starting at whatever time you get up.

2. Then track your day by placing in the activities into the time slots.  Everything.. eg getting out of bed, cleaning teeth, showering, getting dressed, watching TV, time on social media, etc. You may wish to use different colours or divide the segment into ¼ hour segments
This gives you an idea of how long things really take and how much activity in our day is being soaked up with essential and soaking up time activities.  Also note when/if you pray.  Where is God in our day? This graphic representation can be frightening when we look at it especially if there are no God activities in it. Fear not, the first stage is to examine our present situation.

 

2.    3. Now that you see your day/week then where is God in it?  Are there soaking up time activities that you do not need to do as often or can cut out. Why not slot God into every hour of the day.

4. Some people set an alarm at work on the hour to remind them to have a drink of water.  Why not set a mental alarm on the hour to say hello to God and to thank Him for the past hour and to ask His help for the next hour?  This may take 1 minute from the hour but over 8 hours you have given God your attention each hour. You have stayed connected to the one who loves you most and knows your needs.

5. If this is not possible or it is not for you, then why not make sure you say hello to God on the way to work and/or just before you start your work. Then reconnect with Him at lunch time with grace before meals or a simple hello God..thanks for helping me through the morning.  Then as you start your afternoon’s work, ask for His guidance and help and protection. Then before you leave work as you are packing up, thank Him for your day.

3.    6. Another way to connect with God at the end of the day just before you go to sleep is to ask yourself in His presence 2 questions

• What am I most grateful for today?
• What am I least grateful for today?

When you do this, it is important to do it just before you fall asleep so that your mind can process and heal during the night.  This helps to build up gratitude in your heart and it also helps to let go of the negative/hurtful aspects of our day.  It is important to just name it and do not analyse the situation.  Just name it and that is all… Whether we name our most grateful moment or least grateful moment, they do not need to be earth shattering.  Even just getting out of bed and putting your foot on the floor can be a big moment for the day when you have a sore back, leg etc or you feel you can’t face the day.  Give it to Jesus and tell Him how grateful you are for His help today in these ways.

 

What is important is that we do make time for God. He was not too busy to create us. He loves us.  We need to love Him in return.  We show that we love Him by talking with Him.  Whether we pray formally as in a formal prayer eg Our Father, Hail Mary or in a friendly way as we would to a friend.. hello God, I just want to tell you about my day…  He is always there for us to listen and to guide us. 

Let us review our patterns this week and see how we can put God first in our lives by talking with Him.  He is waiting for us because He loves us.