Importance of quiet time

Over the past 5 years, I have learned it is imperative that I spend time with the Lord every day. And I have to do it before my day starts. If I don't then my day easily spins downward and I allow satan to whisper lies in my ears all day. For the last few months, I have been reading Jesus Calling and it speaks truth to me everyday. Today's devotion was a great reminder of why quiet time is so important. I just wanted to share it with my readers...

May 15
Spending time alone with Me is essential for your well-being. It is not a luxury or an option; it is a necessity. Therefore, do not feel guilty about taking time to be with Me. Remember that Satan is the accuser of believers. He delights in heaping guilt feelings upon you, especially when you are enjoying My Presence. When you feel Satan’s arrows of accusation, you are probably on the right track. Use your shield of faith to protect yourself from him. Talk with Me about what you are experiencing, and ask Me to show you the way forward.Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to Me, and I will come near to you.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. “For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
—Revelation 12:10

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
—Ephesians 6:16

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
—James 4:7–8

 

Peace isn't easy

Having peace, living in peace, being a peace maker. I'm always praying for it. I'm always longing to just "be still." But it's easier said than done.

My mind is always running. It's so hard to turn my brain off. Actually, I don't think it's possible to turn my thoughts off. So what to do?

Did you know that the word peace is mentioned in the Bible over 200 times? Obviously, that means that God cares about being peaceful. My favorite verse is where it defines peace as one "that transcends all understanding." Do you get the depth of hat verse? That means that we can't even fathom the kind of peace that God can give us if we ask.

That's what I'm praying for. God's peace. One day I will achieve that. Until then I'll keep praying...

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 

2 Peter 1:2

The forgotten but most important

Quiet time with God daily is so important but typically it's forgotten. Yes I said forgotten.

Why? Well, that's easy - the urgent task will always take the lead if you let it. Let me say that one more time - the urgent s always take the lead if you let them. I just want to check my email real quick, i need to get ready first, i would just like to sleep a little longer...the list could go on and on. So today, I'm listing out a 3 things I try to stick to and why it's important to me.

What I try to stick to:
1. I wake up every morning at 6:00 am.
2. I immediately spend time with my God before I do anything else.
3. I change up what I'm doing in my quiet time as soon as it feels stale.

The whys:
1. If I'm not ready by the time Finn gets up, I can't fully be with him before he goes to school. Also, once he's up I cant get back to alone time.
2. If I don't immediately spend time with God when I get up - I cloud my mind with the to-dos of the day, I end up doing other things and before I know it Finn's up and my day has started, and I'm not giving God my first minutes of the day.
3. I'm a human - quiet time gets stale for me every couple months. So I have a rotation. Everytime I switch what I'm doing a light bulb goes off. I love that! Today, I just starter reading "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. I highly recommend it.

Remember, balancing a healthy spiritual walk is the most important item on your to-do list.

I hope you notice above my list of things to stick to - I said try. I am not perfect. I mess up daily. Today, I checked my email before my quiet time. That was a mistake. But the point is - I'm aware. These things work for me. I have the list so that I'm intentional.

Are you? I encourage you to make your own lists of what to do and why. Share if you want.

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39

I've been thinking...

I had a breakthrough today. After coming back from Cambodia, I took a good hard look at my life. I realized a lot of things that I wanted to change. The things I wanted to change was stuff with work, home, and me. When I came home I had a new vision...I wanted everything to be different! A month after the trip and I was depressed. I wasn't sure what the problem was until today. I'm in this discipleship group and the leader has become quite the mentor to me. I met her for lunch today and was telling her all the stuff on my mind. And she in one sentence summed it all up for me! "Rachael, who's life are you investing in?". After I thought about it, I realized i'm not :( Starting today I will pray about starting a discipleship group of my own. I can't decide if I should just lead a group of ladies or college students or early 20's. All I do know is I do want to lead. And I have learned so much over the last 9 months that I need to pour that into other woman's lives. We will see what God reveals. And if you read this and say to yourself that you would be interested-let me know! God speaks to us in three ways...through His word, circumstances, and/or other people. I'm excited to see what He tells me to do.

Love-
Rachael

God's love

This was in my devotional this morning and it was just so good-so I had to share. Also, this week I am focusing on the material things that I have and praising God for them. I started making a list today and WOW, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I have my list at the bottom of this post.

Also-I want you all to know, I really appreciate all your comments lately. They have been so encouraging to me! I love you all dearly :)

In faith, I know these things to be true:

• God is full of love and grace, and he fills me with his love and grace.
• God’s work within me is to clear a channel for his love and grace to flow through me into the lives of anyone and everyone I meet.
• I may not be there yet, but I am “confident of this, that he who began a good work in [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).
• And I know “God is able to make all grace abound [in me], so that in all things at all times, having all that [I] need, [I] will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV).
• He will make my joy complete because I no longer live in darkness, but I now live in the truth and have fellowship with God (1 John 1:4; 1 John 1:6).
• Through the “Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,” I am, at all times, filled with grace, mercy, and peace (2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV).
• This is what I believe to be true and I will walk accordingly, allowing God to do his work in me from the inside out. Father, make it so. I believe; help my unbelief.

Praise God for the materials he has provided for me:

1. a house
2. air conditioning/heat
3. a car
4. a job
5. money in the bank
6. 2 computers in our home
7. furniture that matches in our bedroom
8. decorations on the walls in our house
9. a phone (cell and home)
10. clothes
    
11. food in the fridge
12. books to read and increase my knowledge
13. a wonderful church to go to
    
14. shoes (more than one pair)
15. running water in our home

And I could just keep on listing and listing....praise be to YOU God!


***One more thing to add, I finally finished my wedding scrapbook!!!! Yes I know 2 years and 4 months later, but hey better late than never :)****

Submit yourself to God

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." -James 4:10

So, this morning in my quiet time I read this verse. And then I read it again. What does it mean to humble yourself? So I looked up humble in the dictionary. Humble: having or showing a low estimate of ones own importance. Am I humble? I'm not really sure. I think sometimes we try to be humble but then we end up the opposite. In order to be humble we must do it without doing it on purpose. What does that look like? Well, theres a thought for you to ponder on today.

--Just a quick update on my mom-in-law, please keep her in prayer. She's recovering from surgery in the hospital. --

-R