As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. 1 Sam. 12:23a

I cannot imagine a day without prayer. Without fellowship with the One who has stolen my heart. Oh Lord, save me from such a fate! Save me from the pit of contentment and complacency. Draw me nearer to you each and every day. My God, my Savior, my Friend. Let me enjoy sweet fellowship through prayer and worship with you each and every day. And should my day start so busy that I fail to pray, remind me Lord, and don’t let me lay my head to rest without sweet fellowship with You. For I need you, Lord, and so do they.

So often we struggle and wonder how, how do I grow closer in intimacy with the Lord? We go to bed thinking, “I meant to spend time with God today but my day got completely out of control. Tomorrow I will spend time with Him.” This cycle can continue for days, weeks, months and very possibly before we even realize it…years. Years with very little time spent alone with God. Our intentions are always good, but yet our days spin out of control. As Jesus told his disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” We really do want to spend time with our Lord, but there are so many distractions in our busy lives. The phone rings, the kids need us, the house needs cleaning, laundry needs washing, dinner needs cooking, have to get ready for work, have to go to work, a date with a friend, an appointment with someone for something, an unexpected visit from a friend, and so many other happenings during the day that so easily pull us away from that sweet personal fellowship with our heavenly Father.

So, how do we stop the cycle? Priorities. When He truly becomes our top priority the cycle will stop. When we make ourselves get up an hour before the rest of the household does, when we turn the cell phones off, take our home phone off the hook, find a quiet space in the house where there will be few distractions, often I have used my closet in the bathroom – people usually don’t bother me there.  Whatever it takes. We always make room in our lives for what is most important. How important is spending time with God in your life? The answer to that is how much room do we make for Him in our daily lives. It’s a self-evaluation.  I once had a group keep a daily calendar for one month. From the time they got up to the time they went to bed they were to record what they did each hour of each day. Every week when we got together they were to look at their calendar and evaluate it. It is so easy to see where our priorities lie when it is written down so clearly on paper.

Distractions happen to everyone. But they can, for the most part, be overcome by simply rearranging our days. The question is, “How important is it to you that you spend time with Him each and every day?” “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?” Luke 14:28 The word, “tower” in the original Greek is “pyrgos” meaning, “a fortified structure rising to a considerable height, to repel a hostile attack or to enable a watchman to see in every direction.” In order to rise in our walk with the Lord, in order to be in a place where we can stand against every attack the enemy sends our way, in order to be that watchman who is prepared for whatever comes our way, we must place God first in our lives. Will it cost us something? Yes! It could cost you sleep, it could cost you TV time, or computer time, telephone time chatting with a friend, or whatever it is that steals that time away from time with God in your life. But as David, a man after God’s own heart said, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” If all we give God is our left-over time, how much have we really given Him? Leftovers after a while become boring, they lose their flavor, they lose all nutritional value and can cause more harm than good. Left over time with God can make us feel good, but is it really adding to our relationship with God or is it just filler to ease our conscience?  If we become satisfied with that type of relationship with God then we are in danger of falling into the pit of contentment and complacency.  Our relationship and our personal time with the Lord should be fun and exciting. Something we look forward to, not something we feel we have to do. This only comes when He is our top priority. It will never come from just Sunday mornings in church. It should come from private time with Him. That is truly where we will do the most growing in Him.  Intimate fellowship with the Father and entrance into his throne room is our privilege as His children.  Let’s take advantage of it!

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.” Ps. 89:15-17 (NIV)

“How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted.” Ps. 89:15-17 (NASB)