Two minutes and fifty-six seconds. Remember that number. You’ll see it again.

When looking at the “why” of having personal praise, learning, and prayer time with God, it might be good to use this first day of seven to address the “why not.” In other words, what are some of the reasons that people give for not doing this on a regular basis? I have no statistics, but I would venture to say that most people eliminate this activity for three main reasons (though I’m sure there are countless more). I’m going to start with number three, and work my way up to the number one reason:

#3: “I don’t know how.”

Sadly, many people choose to accept the gift of forgiveness that God offers to them, and then the believers around them who have been part of God’s family for a longer time somehow expect them to know all about the Bible: how to make godly choices, how to study God’s Word, how to live by biblical principles, and where to find Habakkuk in the Bible! When they can’t do these things, they often get frustrated, give up, or sadly, they just “play the part.” Yet, just as a baby is taught to eat, to walk, and to talk, a new believer in Christ must also receive instruction. This is where we, as those who have known Christ longer, must gently take our new sister in Christ by the hand and teach her—not our opinions, but we must demonstrate the practice of diligently seeking out what God’s Word says!

#2: “I don’t want to do this just to check it off a list, so I’m not going to conform to a human-imposed requirement.”

It is true that some churches or organizations present time with the Lord as a “task” that must be accomplished at a certain time and in a certain way in order for their followers to be “good Christians.” As a result, the opposite occurs, and people rebel against the practice altogether. To use one of the terms often associated with this activity, we must be careful that our “devotions” are truly being used to develop a strong relationship with the One Who is worthy of our deepest devotion. The activity itself is basically futile if it is about our activity and not about His worthiness of our adoration.

#1: “I don’t have time.”

When speaking to ladies, I almost always do an impromptu “survey” on this topic. The number one reason given for why a person does not have personal time with God is that she does not have time—her schedule is very full, and she is sometimes even too busy to take time to eat. I’m not even a wife or a mother, and I totally get that. I barely have time for me most days! So, how do we make (or take) time to spend time with God—from the heart and not out of obligation? I want to quickly touch on three short answers:

* Sometimes,  we do meet with Him out of obligation. Yes, I wrote that correctly. Think about it. I might not want to work on job-related items on this snowy day, but I have to. I might not feel like being nice to my sister today, but I am obligated to. And oddly, as I fulfill that obligation, my love for my sister deepens, and my gratitude for the time with her is strengthened. So, yes. Sometimes, meeting alone with God is simply a matter of being obedient to His command that I grow in grace and knowledge. (Read: II Peter 3:18.)

* Ask Him to help you have the time to meet with Him. He wants you there, so He’ll help you make it happen! Try it! A few years ago, I had the opportunity to teach a class to ladies every week for thirteen weeks. I was working approximately 56-60 hours per week, and I had no idea how I was going to fit this in. I just knew God was providing the opportunity, so when I was asked, I said I would do it. I prayed that very night, and said, “Lord, I’m going to do this, but I need to ask You to please give me an extra hour every day in which I can study.” True story: I woke up that very night at exactly 1:30 a.m. I was wide awake, so I went over to my desk, studied alertly for one hour, and then went back to the soundest sleep I think I’ve ever had. This happened every single night (without an alarm!) between that first night of prayer and the last night of the class. After that, I slept through the night. That was God. He wanted me there, so He cleared my schedule and gave me solid rest in the amount of time I had available.

* Remember the “time” that I shared with you? That’s how long biblegateway.com’s audible version of Psalm 118 takes to listen to—and read—that twenty-nine-verse chapter: two minutes and fifty-six seconds. Commercials take longer than that. Putting on our make up takes longer than that. And we say we don’t have time? My dear friends, if I don’t have at least two minutes and fifty-six seconds for the holy God of the universe Who loved me and sent His Son, Jesus, to die a cruel death in my place, then I have greater problems than time management!

When we look at the “how” of Bible study and prayer later in this “mini-series,” we’ll see that God doesn’t give us a time requirement. He knows if we only have three minutes one day. So, you know what? He will make those three minutes with Him so packed with learning and worship that it’s as if we had three hours! He knows! But let that remind us that He also knows when we have the time, and we don’t take it. He’s waiting at the table for the other person in His party to arrive, and we stand Him up. It hurts Him. He misses us. And we miss the one-on-one opportunity to know Him better.

So, here’s what I’d like to encourage you to do today: Read (or listen to) Psalm 118. Find one thing that stands out to you about God from this chapter. Then, list that in the “comments” below, send me an e-mail, or leave a comment on the Facebook post related to this entry. More importantly, let that thought teach you of Him and uplift you. And let it create a response in you that shows itself in even one small change in your life. Because, for our amazing God, we certainly have…

…two minutes and fifty-six seconds.

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God willing, during this final week of February, I will be sharing my heart’s thoughts on the subject of spending personal time with God by reading His Word and praying. (For those who already do this, don’t close down quite yet—keep reading!) This topic falls under many different names (I’ll list some of those in a moment), and there are many different schools of thought regarding the how, the when, and surprisingly, even the why.

If you grew up in a home with other Christ followers, or if you have spent a great deal of time attending a Bible-teaching church, you have heard many lessons on the importance of Bible study and prayer. I’m not foolish enough to think I’m sharing something brand new. Nor do I plan to rock your world by denouncing the solid foundational truths of this Christian discipline or by offering some transforming, never-been-thought-of new method for reading God’s Word.

I am, however, hoping that by the end of this week-long study of the how, the when, and the why—though, we will actually be looking at them in the reverse order: the why, the when, and the how—you will see in a new light the need to spend time praising, learning from, and praying to the Creator of the universe. My greatest desire is that this blog matters—even in the fun, silly, or resource-listing posts! But there are two primary topics that matter most to me: (1) having a personal relationship with God, and (2) learning more about and, therefore, praising God.

There may be some who think, “I already have time with the Lord daily; I don’t need this information.” To you, I say, “That’s awesome!” But I also hope that as you read this “mini-series,” you will be reminded of the importance of the why and be able to choose (for the right reasons) the when, and I pray that your life will continue to (or begin to) demonstrate the effects that are the results of the how.

So, I hope you’ll plan to join me in this mini-series on the topic of what is known by many names: devotions, God-and-I-Time, quiet time, personal Bible study, moments with God, Scripture meditation, etc. Regardless of the titles (and, as we will see, their often-related meanings), the act of praising, learning from, and praying to our awesome God is important enough to make it the focus of this blog for the next seven days.

I’ll close this “announcement” post with the lyrics of a song written several years ago, yet they still hold great truths within their simplicity:

There is a quiet place—

far from the rapid pace—

where God can soothe my troubled mind.

Sheltered by tree and flow’r,

there in my quiet hour with Him,

my cares are left behind.

Whether a garden small,

or on a mountain tall,

new strength and courage there I find;

then from this quiet place,

I go prepared to face a new day

with love for all mankind.

—Ralph Carmichael

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A reminder to those participating in WRW Month: Today is a BONUS DAY! All points earned today will be DOUBLED!

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