Well, the inevitable Monday is upon us. For most it is the start of the work week. I usually try to take Monday's off but decided I needed to be in the office for a while today. As I am praying this morning, I am struggling with how easy it is to drift away from what happened on Sunday and slip back into a routine that does not really include Jesus. There are tasks to complete, deadlines, obligations, demands, responsibilities, and other "things" that compete for my time, energy and attention. Can you relate? The thing is, not all of these things are even bad or ungodly. I am not talking about overtly sinful things, I am talking about real life day to day things that we as kids, adults, spouses and parents are called to do. But the problem lies in how I prioritize those things. Yes, see now I am going to get personal and maybe even step on some toes. Life is not easy, we were not promised easy. James 1 in fact promised troubles. What we MUST understand as a follower of Christ is that He wants our 100% devotion. He is not interested in our leftovers. (Although, He accepts them if that is all we offer) He does not want the obligatory 5 minute prayer as we fade off to sleep after pouring ourselves into the day. (Although, He listens if that is all we offer) His desire is that we wake up with Him in mind, and offer Him the first part of our day. How can we claim to desire His will for our lives if we don't even take the time to find out what that is? How can we claim to walk in His power if we do not allow Him an opportunity to impart that power upon us.
See, the thing is, too often I want to ask God to bless what I am doing when really I am supposed to DO what He is blessing. I used to think that when I went into full time ministry I would spend hours in prayer and study and reading God's word each day. I envisioned a complete transformation of how I would spend my days. Surprise, even in ministry there are distractions and time hogs that I have allowed to trip me up and sabotage my time with my savior. I have allowed too many things to come between Him and I. I want to ask you to join me this week in a challenge. Will you commit to begin your day by submitting to the Father? Will you start each day by acknowledging Him, and spending time with Him? I commit to do that this week and to not let anything come between me and that time with my savior. Maybe you already have a set time each morning and that is an area you have given over to the Lord. Will you pray for those of us that struggle in this area. Pray that we would learn to discern between the urgent and the important. Pray that we would stop asking God to take a number in order to spend time with us. I hope you are encouraged today. I would love to hear some feedback.
Psalm 118:24 says "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it". Will you rejoice and be glad today?
Waiting on Him,
ML
