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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Sunday, March 7, 2004 A Daily Quiet Time With God |
A daily |
Frontline Devotion for
Sunday, March 7, 2004, by Don Kress
Text for the Day: Mark
1:32-39
I don’t give anything up for Lent! I used to, feeling compelled to do so. But
then, about twenty years ago, I was introduced to the concept of using Lent as
an opportunity not to give something up, but rather to take something on. What
can I begin doing in Lent that will help me grow spiritually? What spiritual
habit can I develop during this forty-day period? (Research has shown that a
frequently repeated behavior will become a habit in about forty-to-fifty days!)
I view Lent as an opportunity to engage in a “spiritual adventure,” a time to
develop a new or sharpen an existing spiritual discipline. My opening sentence
was intended to be an attention grabber, not a criticism. Using Lent to focus
on a spiritual discipline always involves giving something up. But that
something isn’t given up out of a legalistic ritual, but rather out of a need to
create room in one’s life for a spiritual adventure. So today, I want to
encourage you to give up some time for the remainder of Lent, and to use that
time to take on the spiritual discipline of establishing a daily quiet time with
God.
Focus your attention on verse 35 in today’s text: “Now in the morning, having
risen a long while before daylight, Jesus went out and departed to a solitary
place; and there He prayed.” Jesus understood the importance of having a quiet
time in which he could commune with His Father. I believe that each of us
needs such a time with God in order to replenish our spiritual resources. For
me, I give up twenty minutes of sleep every morning, so that I have time to
engage in this quiet time with God. Morning works best for me, because that’s
when the house is most quiet, plus I’m also a “morning person.” When I try to
read the Bible or pray a night before going to bed, I find myself nodding off in
mid-sentence. So morning works best for me. But the time of day isn’t
important. You might prefer the evening, or late morning, or mid-afternoon.
Each person must establish his or her own best time. The important step is in
establishing that time. A certain amount of time each day should not belong to
that day, but rather it should belong to getting the spiritual resources for the
day. I would suggest that you consider establishing a minimum of 15 minutes of
quiet time, but each person must decide on the amount of time you are willing to
give.
Once you’ve established your daily quiet time, I suggest you give it some
structure. First, take your Bible and read a portion. (You can decide on your
own lesson for the day, or there are plenty of daily devotional guides available
through your church or a Christian bookstore, and, of course, there’s this daily
devotional.) Let the scripture you’ve read soak in, focusing on words or
verses that strike you. Relax and say to Him, “Father, have You anything to say
to me?” Learn to listen. Finally, speak to God in prayer.
Give up some time during Lent, and use it to establish a daily quiet time with
God. I believe you will find that this investment of time will decrease the
amount of time you spend in worry, regret, and repentance, and it will enable
you to find a new spiritual freshness in your daily living. One word of
advice: don’t become legalistic about this daily time. There will be days when
a quiet time just isn’t possible. They should, however, be the exception rather
than the rule. But when they happen, don’t beat yourself up with guilt. Just
start again the next day.
A story has been told about a sheep rancher in the outback of Australia whose
violin became badly out of tune. Being unable to find another musical
instrument to provide him with a standard note, he wrote to the one radio
station whose signal he could receive and asked them to strike a certain note at
a certain day and time. They did just that – stopped a program and struck the
note. The rancher caught it, and soon his violin was in tune again. A daily
quiet time with God will help you hear His standard notes, and then you can tune
your flattened notes to His.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to understand that just as I need to take time
out of every day to feed myself physically, I also need to take time to feed
myself spiritually. Help me to resolve to create a daily quiet time with You.
Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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