Yesterday, I shared the conclusion of my personal story about how I began to spend time with Jesus, and how it has changed my life. If you missed it:
I have been praying over this series for weeks, and asking the Lord that every person who reads it would become hungry for more of Jesus! Whether you have never said one word to Him or have spent your whole life studying Him and talking to Him, the amazing thing is that there is ALWAYS MORE!
I want to encourage and challenge you, to ask Him to make you hungry for more of Him. Then commit to spending a certain time amount with Him EVERYDAY and PLAN A TIME to do so! If you are just beginning (how exciting =) then start with a realistic goal, I would suggest between 15-20 minutes of time everyday. Did you set a goal? Tell me about it in the comments below!
Today we are going to talk about overcoming some obstacles you may encounter on your journey and share with you some of my favorite resources for spending time with Jesus!
What if I miss a day? I think it can get easy to feel discouragement or shame, if you miss a day. God is never a God who brings discouragement or shame, that is solely the work of satan.
A friend once shared with me that if you forgot to eat lunch you wouldn’t feel guilty about eating your supper. In the same way spending time with Jesus through prayer, worship and studying the Bible is our spiritual food that we need everyday, but if for some reason it doesn’t happen one day, get up the next day and EAT!
The enemy (satan) wants you to feel discouraged and convince you that you will never be able to get into the rhythm of spending time with Jesus.
He might say that you “aren’t good enough” “will never get it together” or that “spending time with Jesus isn’t important.”
He will whisper “you’re too busy” or “you’re too tierd” or “you go to church, that’s enough” he will tell you “its boring” “it’s a waste of time” or “it doesn’t matter.”
SATAN DOESN”T WANT YOU TO SPEND TIME WITH JESUS…because YOUR INTIMACY WITH JESUS IS YOUR GREATEST SOURCE OF STRENGTH – It is your SECRET WEAPON
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” – Ephesians 6:12
When we have personally encountered Jesus and continue to encounter Him…
When we have an experience of knowing Him, and know who the Word of God says He is and Who the Word of God says we are…
There is no power or any scheme of the enemy that can defeat us!
That is why Jesus says:
John 15:4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
The 3 most important things to integrate into spending time with Jesus are:
– Prayer (talking to God) Ask Him for Wisdom. Pray for the concerns and needs of friends and family along with the needs of our world. Tell Him about what you are thinking or feeling. Talk to Him about what made you laugh today, and what made you frustrated. The Holy Spirit is our counselor and teacher, when we come to Him with our hurts and needs He will lead us into truth and healing.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26 (NIV)
– Worship (singing or saying out loud how awesome God is!)
– Studying and Reading the Bible. (Use a Bible reading plan, Bible study, or Read and reflect on a short passage of scripture over and over again)
This is one of the best Guides to Spending Time with Jesus, I have found. It gives direction on topics you can pray for, scriptures you can read and pray for various circumstances, and scripture you can read to learn more about the character of God. It is full of awesome ideas on how to connect with Jesus everyday. Check it out!
Bible Reading Plans:
You Version (They have a great Bible app for your phone or tablet)
Devotional Book:
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
For your ears! – Some You Tube Favorites:
The Nature of God: Graham Cooke Part 1 & Part 2
Worship: Passion Band Playlist
Bible Studies:
I love Beth Moore’s Bible studies. They have really challenged and encouraged me to dig deeper in the Word of God. Beth brings such enthusiasm to studying the Word of God, it helps me be excited as well. Two of my favorite Bible studies she has are Believing God and Esther: Its Tough Being a Woman I am currently going through the James Bible study with a group of awesome ladies! Anyone else done a Beth Moore Bible study? Who are your favorite Bible study authors?
Podcasts: These are such a great way to hear from incredible Christian teachers all over the world. A few of my favorites!
One Place: A collection of a lot of different teachers and speakers
Antioch: College Station and Antioch: Waco
Tomorrow, we are going to look at a few practical ways you can structure your time with Jesus and THERE IS GOING TO BE A GIVEAWAY!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Until then, I would love you hear what your favorite Time with Jesus Ideas and Devotional resources are?
I love that you are doing this series! I confess that as an extrovert, quiet time is one of my least favorite spiritual disciplines (emphasis on discipline) and hasn’t been a regular thing for me for a while now. I love corporate worship and small group and Bible studies with others around, but getting alone and sitting still and trying to stay focused is really hard to even WANT to do, much less actually do it. Thanks for these practical tools. I can definitely use as much help as I can get in this area. Saving these for future reference!
I can completely relate being an extrovert myself! I am often energized by people. I talked about this a bit in my post today, but it helps me to be in environments like coffee shops when I am spending time with Jesus, I put headphones on with worship music so I can focus on him, but having people around helps focus my mind sometimes. It also helps me (especially if I’m praying) to move while I am doing so, either by running or walking. Maybe one of these ideas will trigger a good solution for you!
Yes! (To the “having people around helps me focus” thing). I call this the Penland cafeteria phenomenon. For some reason I always studied really well in college when there was a lot of white noise background chaos… None of it dominating my attention but just normal sounds of people around. Hadn’t thought about that in a long time…. And never about this topic! 🙂 hmmm I’ll have to try the coffee shop thing.