CE 1 YEAR: 32 God Times

Week 32

God Times

Why spend time with God?

A God Time is: a conversation with God by talking to Him in prayer and listening to Him in Scripture. Why should we spend time doing this? The best answer may surprise you. The most important reason to spend time with God is to bless Him! David began his God Time recorded in Psalm 103 with “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”

Do you know how much your Father in Heaven enjoys spending time with you? It blesses Him! Think about all the wicked people and evil things that your Father will see and hear on Earth today. Imagine how much joy He experiences when He sees and hears you spending time with Him. Spending time with God is one of the most important ways you can love Him today.

God Times will certainly bless you too. The Bible says that we are to crave spiritual milk like newborn babies so that we will spiritually grow (1 Peter 2:2). What is this “spiritual milk”? It certainly includes God’s word (see 1:23-25).

Among the greatest desires of a Christian is to grow. Grow in your faith in God, relationship with God, enjoyment of God, imitation of God, and obedience to God. Peter tells us one thing you need to grow. Feed on God’s word.

The reason an infant so desperately hungers for their mother’s milk is because that is their greatest need. And so is God’s word for us. Christians are spiritual beings that need spiritual nourishment. This is why Jesus said we do not live on bread alone, but also on the word of God (Matt 4:4). Just like food nourishes and strengthens you physically, the word of God strengthens you spiritually. Because the Psalmist knew his need to spend time with God, he said his soul was thirsty to meet with God (Psalm 42:2).

1 Peter 2:2 says Scripture is “pure” (see Ps 12:6). Think a moment about all the mental “junk food” you take in every day through people, the internet, television, movies, and just life experiences. Through these your enemy the Devil constantly communicates lust, fear, greed, anger, selfishness, and worthlessness in order to destroy your spiritual life. Consuming God’s word protects you from these spiritual diseases.

But spending time with God is not just about listening to God in Scripture. He also gives you the tremendous privilege of worshipping Him through praise and talking to Him through prayer! In Scripture God speaks to you. Through praise and prayer you speak to God. What is more important in your life than these? This is why spending time with God is the most important thing you can do every day.

Jesus spent much time with His Father because He loved Him and was strengthened by Him (Mark 1:35-36; Luke 5:16; 6:12-13). In fact, every man or woman who did great things for God, spent a lot of time with God. Moses spent 40 days on a mountain with God and many other times in the “Tent of Meeting” (Exod 34:28; 33:7). The Psalms of David are a record of some of his God Times. The Apostle Paul constantly referred to his prayer life (Rom 1:10; Eph 1:16; Phil 1:4; Col 1:9; 2 Thess 1:11; 2 Tim 1:3; Phlm 4).

How to spend time with God? The P.O.W.E.R. plan

We have no desire to be legalistic about how to spend time with God. But the Scriptures and experience tell us there are some helpful elements of a God Time. These elements can be reflected in the acronym P.O.W.E.R. It reminds you that one of the purposes for a God Time is receiving spiritual power and strength. And having a plan like P.O.W.E.R. can help you focus on having a conversation with God.

Scripture says to be earnest and disciplined in your prayers (1 Pet 4:7). One of the most difficult things about spending time with God is staying focused. The P.O.W.E.R plan will help you do that. P.O.W.E.R. stands for: Praise, Openness, Word, Entreaties (prayer), and Resolutions. We will discuss prayer and praise in Weeks 36-37. We will simply say here that praising and thanking God is a great way to begin your God Time.

Being open with God is important too. Openness is being honest with God about your feelings. This was discussed in Week 30 regarding expressing bad emotions to God. This is essential to having a real relationship with Him. David illustrates this throughout his Psalms. He was honest with God about his feelings. And so was Jesus (read Heb 5:7).

Spending time with God is often referred to as a “quiet time.” But this idea can hinder the honest expression of feelings to God. The example of David and Jesus tells us that some of the best God Times are not “quiet times” at all.

We strongly encourage you to express all your praise and prayer out loud to God. Your mind will constantly want to wander and think about other things. But if you speak your prayers and praise out loud it will help keep your mind and time focused on God.

Word refers to the truth of Scripture. There are many ways to interact with God through His word. But the worst way is the most common way Christians practice. They just read the Bible like any other book and do not EXPERIENCE it as God talking to them. How can you more consistently experience God in Scripture?

PRAY through Scripture, do not just read it. How do you PRAY through Scripture? As you read, pause often to talk out loud to the Author about what it says. After all, the goal is to spend time with a Person, not just a book. Stop and think about statements that seem important to you. If you read a promise, thank God for it. If you read a command, ask for God’s help to obey it. Make God Times a two-way conversation with God! PRAYING through Scripture will help you get the Word of God off the pages of Scripture and into your heart.

It is harder to PRAY rather than merely read through Scripture. It will be helpful to pray out loud. You will need a place where no one can hear you. It will take some time to make it a habit. Try it and you will experience the difference. This is how to have a real conversation with God. Learning to PRAY through Scripture instead of just read it, may be one of the most life changing things you do. Start today!

Resolutions simply means commitments and decisions to act. Again, simply reading about God is not enough to change your life. Many Christians do this because it is easy, but they do not grow. The Bible says we should not just listen to God’s word, but do what it says (Jas 1:22, 25).

Before you leave your God Time, decide on something you can obey that day. How can you be kind to someone today? How can you represent Christ to someone today? What specifically would you like to do for God today? Decide it, plan it, then do it.

Finally, we offer some other suggestions about your God Times. But again, with no desire to be legalistic. We would suggest you read the NT more often than the OT. The NT applies more to the Christian’s life. However, you will find the Psalms and Proverbs in the OT very helpful as well.

It is usually best to choose a specific place and time for your God Time. Try to find a place where you can pray out loud without being heard by others.

Consider scheduling your daily God Time in the morning like David and Jesus (Ps 5:3; Mark 1:35-36).

How long should a God Time be? Martin Luther said, “I want to spend enough time with Jesus every day that my heart gets glad.” That is how you know you have really spent time with God! Obviously, you can and should fellowship with God all day. But ideally you should leave your God Time with the P.O.W.E.R. to love, serve, and glorify God throughout your day.

However, it may be good to set a time goal for your God Time. This will help you “stretch your soul.” You might be amazed at how difficult it will be to simply focus on praising God for literally two minutes or to pray for others for just three minutes.

A good goal to work towards is to spend 20 minutes each day going through the P.O.W.E.R. plan. But it is more important to spend time with God every day, even if it will not be very long. Do not underestimate the power of even a 5 minute God Time!

Practical Application: Have a 20 minute God Time. Try the P.O.W.E.R. plan and especially try praying through Scripture, not just reading it.

In your small group meeting this week, share praises and prayer requests and then discuss these questions:

1) What is the most important reason to spend time with God?

2) What are five suggested elements of a God Time, represented in the acronym P.O.W.E.R.?

3) Why do we suggest praying through Scripture instead of just reading it? What do you think?

4) What will be some hindrances to consistently having God Times? How can you overcome these?

5) What was especially meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?