Hi Friends,
This week is the first of two very busy weeks for me. I am not a huge fan of being busy, simply because I am not a big fan of stress, and being busy makes me feel stressed! 🙂 With a new(ish) part time job, and a bunch of other random responsibilities, I am writing this post because I really need it myself!
I realize that making time for God and having meaningful devotions is (sometimes) easier said than done. For me, it can be both, but it’s especially the meaningful part that’s a struggle for me! So, as I stated, I am writing this post because I really need it myself – but I hope and pray it will be a help you as well!
How to Make Time For God When Life Is Busy
I Must Realize the Importance
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5
I need my time with God whether I realize it or not. I may think I am doing fine on my own without the Lord’s help – but without Him I wouldn’t be accomplishing anything. I may do fine for a little while but eventually I will realize how futile it is to try and make it on my own – I need God’s grace for each and every day – not just some days.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil. as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast [firm] in the faith….” 1 Peter 5:8-9a
Faith. That’s my one word for this year. I need to walk with the Lord daily, so that my faith grows stronger and my focus stays on Him. If I don’t have a strong walk with the Lord, I will easily fall prey to the world, my flesh, and the Devil. How can I remain stedfast and firm in my faith? By taking time each day to establish myself in the Word of God and grow in my relationship with Him.
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit;” Ephesians 5:18
If I want to have the fruit of the Spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22-23) than I need to be walking with God and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. How can I be sure that I am walking in the Spirit? Well, walking with the Lord each day is the best place to start! Each day when I spend time with the Lord, I can be asking Him to help me walk in the power of His Holy Spirit.
I Must Be Intentional
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…” James 5:8
My time with God is often short and rushed if I haven’t been intentional about it. I must decide that I am going to spend time with the Lord before I head off to work or get busy preparing for the rest of the day. If I am not thinking about my time with God the night before, then often, its a very half-hearted time of reading God’s Word and quickly asking Him to help me throughout my day. That’s not abiding in Christ. That is not seeking God and drawing near to Him.
I must learn to be intentional in my pursuit of God.
My desire to meet with God each day should flow out of a heart of love for Him (maybe I need to evaluate the depth of my love?).
What can I do to be intentional about my time with God?
- I must decide when I am going to meet with God each day. Then just as if I were meeting someone for an appointment, I must make it my #1 priority to be ready to meet with Him at that time.
- I must plan ahead. If I know I am going to have a very busy day (or week) I need to plan ahead so I can still spend time with God. I can wake up earlier, say “no” to an activity, or even skip a meal if I need to (seriously!). Whatever it takes, I must carve out time for God even in the middle of a busy day or week.
- I can ask for help. I can ask those closest to me to pray for me and keep me accountable. Those who love me best want to see me walking with the Lord consistently.
- I can cut back. I can cut something out, I can let something go… If being busy keeps me from spending time with God, then something needs to go.
Final Thoughts
Yes, my walk with God can be a struggle – I am easily distracted and so many “things” pull me away from my time with God. But the “cure” for a busy distracted heart is a stedfast and intentional heart. I can ask the Lord for help in this area, and so can you. When life gets busy, time with God gets pushed to the side. What we need to do is ask for help and take the necessary steps to get us back on track. The Lord wants us to be spending time in His presence and is ready and willing to give us the grace we need to do so.
How About You?
- How do you make time for God when life is busy?
- What makes your devotions meaningful and special to you?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments – I love hearing from my readers!! 🙂
Want to read more? Check out this post: 6 Tips for Daily Devotions and Bible Study
I must say, I have the same struggles like you!
And I even don’t have job!
My problem isn’t only in busy life. Yes, I have a lot of work to do and study a difficult school, but it’s not my only problem… My problem is that I am too much lazy. When I have time, I almost ever say ‘Well my day was pretty hard. I can take a break now and pray later!’
But the ‘later’ usually becomes in ‘never’. And every evening I just realized that the whole day is gone and I haven’t spend much time in prayer… I haven’t seek His Kingdom first.
Now it gets better. I get up earlier so I can study my Bible, pray and spend time with Lord like the first thing in the morning. It’s really amazing and I have found that when I pray first at the beginning of the new day, the day gets better and is really blessed.
The next thing is that before I start doing my homework and preparing to school, I pray. This thing wasn’t simple for me, because I want to have work done as soon as possible, but it’s worth it. And since I do this, my studying improves and I’m doing well in school.
I have really a lot of work before me in this area, but I realized that God is more important than this world. And I can do nothing without Him!
Thank you for your text ❤ It was blessing for me 🙂
Hana, I have noticed the same thing – if I don’t make time for God in the morning, it often doesn’t happen! I hope you will continue to make time for the Lord at the beginning of the day. You will grow as you spend time reading the Bible and talking to the Lord through prayer! And pray without ceasing 🙂
Hi Rebekah 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful post! I have also been struggling with this area recently. I know that being intentional in planning our time with the Lord is important! I love preparing the night before by setting my alarm at a specific time early in the morning to wake up and pray, read the Bible, and Journal what the Lord taught me using the SOAK Method (Scripture, Observation, Application, and Kneeling in Prayer) I learned this method from the GoodMorningGirls.org. I really need to get back to this. I have also learned that maybe I am really missing the accountability when reading the Bible. I was wondering do you think you might lead a Bible Study sometime? I know you are probably busy enough, however maybe sometime in the future you can lead a Women’s Bible Study so that we can all help each other be accountable, and possibly meet each other through a video chat.
God bless you!
Hi Jessica,
I have thought of the idea of an online Bible study or course – but it will probably be awhile till that happens. I have thought about making videos for the blog. It’s something I want to pray and think about. I definitely hope to expand my blog with new things – an online Bible study is a possibility. Thanks for sharing the idea 🙂
Rebekah
I don’t like being super bust either! Because like you said, I don’t like being stressed lol But I also don’t like how distracted I can get, and how easy it is to get my eyes off of Christ. I’ve definitely come to realize that, the time I spend with God in the first hours of the morning, are the MOST important part of any day, no matter how busy! 🙂
YES! Spending time with God FIRST is very helpful 🙂
I really enjoyed what you said about being intentional about our time with God and the cure for a busy, distracted heart. It’s so easy to let everything else going on in our lives take priority over our time God. Thanks for these reminders!
Thanks for reading this post, Justine! Hope it was a help to you!
Thank you so much for sharing, Rebekah! Your posts are a blessing!
Making time for God is something I SO struggle with. I’ve blamed it on the fact that I sleep with my baby sister (“so setting an alarm wouldn’t work cause it would wake her up”), or that I share my room with her, as well as my other sister, Naomi. So, “I need my own room to be able to get up early and do devotions.” Or, “I can’t do devotions now, because it’s not morning anymore.” (cause, honestly, all the articles on “why you should have your devotions in the MORNING” are really depressing).
But the truth is, these are terrible excuses! As a child of God, He will ALWAYS provide a way for me to spend time with Him! God has made a way, and I just need to face the facts and find out what that way is!
Having my own room is actually in the process right now (yay!), but it’s not going to make me magically begin doing my devotions. It may help with getting up and getting ready earlier, with having no one in the room to disturb, but the true reason I’m slacking on devotions is because I’m not being intentional. That’s the truth!
That’s just something I’ve been learning, that I thought I would share 🙂
Thanks again!! God bless! 🙂