“’Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
In an earlier devotion, we learned about Daniel, who prayed three times a day. Everyone understood that Daniel prioritized these “appointments” with God over anything, even the king’s decrees. In the same way, we need to make and keep regular appointments with the Lord. If our bodies say to us, “Three times today you shall go with me to eat,” we should also say to our bodies, “Today at this particular time you will go with me to pray.” Setting specific times to pray doesn’t mean it should be a routine that should be endured. We’re not setting and keeping our times of prayer so we can get spiritual credit with God. In scheduling “appointments” with the Lord, we are simply prioritizing our communication with Him.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to “Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18) This shows us that we should be in an attitude of prayer at all times. Some people pray when they’re in the shower, when they’re driving to work, or as they are walking up or down the stairs. Praying at different times throughout the day, however, shouldn’t be a substitute for spending daily time with God in a specific place at a specific time.
The Apostle John once wrote, “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:10) This verse could certainly be expanded to say that “We want to spend time with Him because He first wanted to spend time with us.” In his book Grow, Joel Comiskey writes: “God desires to spend time with us more than we want to spend time with Him. In fact, He made us with the desire to spend time with Him. We pursue God because He first pursued us; He places the desire in our hearts. And it’s that desire that will sustain you day after day. The good news is that as you spend time with God, the desire to be with Him will grow.”
Followup Activity - Once again, look at your personal calendar. What times work best for you to spend time with God on a daily basis? If you already have a daily time of prayer with the Lord, thank the Lord for that when you go to Him in prayer. If you do not, schedule a time to spend with the Lord tomorrow and see how it works for you. You can always move it if another time works better for you. If you’re leading your family through this devotion, help each of them set aside the best time of their day to spend with the Lord and guide them to try it out tomorrow.
Prayer for Today - Lord, thank You for allowing us to speak with You directly. Help me to daily spend time with You in prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.