QUIET TIME – That Precious Time Alone With God

This is the phrase commonly used by believers to describe that period of time one spends with the Lord away from every form of distraction and/or noise. This is that time when we listen to God more than we talk opening up ourselves to Him that He may do in our hearts or mind that which He needs to do that we may be more like Him. This is where we behold the glory of The Father and are changed to be like Him drawing strength from Him also to facilitate this change. This is time that no believer can succeed without in any area of life. It should not be the practice of ministers or clergy only, but something every believer does. Our God definitely wants to spend time alone with every one of His children. It is indeed a privilege; one that must not be taken for granted as we are inclined to doing.

Mathew 6: 8 “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

God is the source of our strength. The closer we draw to Him, the more good we receive from Him; we are also better able to deal with life. Drawing close to Him is both physical and spiritual. The physical bit is the deliberate act of “locking out all others for this time allotted to Him alone” and the spiritual bit is having one’s spirit in absolute control of their mind and body at this time as the Holy Spirit interacts with the person. Satan prefers that we don’t have this alone time with God; so our flesh would normally give us all the excuses in the world to facilitate our not having that time with God. He would rather that we don’t go there because we reject him every time we go into that private communion with God. He can’t be part of this meeting as long as we shut him out unlike when believers gather to fellowship. Spending time with God sounds so simple yet it is tough for many and that is because there is an enemy fighting us and trying to ensure we don’t do it because as we draw closer to God, He draws closer to us.

James 4: 8 “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.”

In this time, we may study our scriptures, worship and praise God and/or even ask God for things we need, discuss the issues that trouble us or just remain silent savoring God’s presence. At this time, God is the focus and not us. My suggestions is that we leave asking for things to the end when one is done with just adoring God. I have observed that when our needs are the main topic of our discussion as we spend alone time with God, He ceases to be the center of our quiet time; instead, that need becomes the object of the quiet time and we don’t really listen for God anymore. The more time we spend with God, the better we are at identifying His voice. Identifying God’s voice is one of those things that get better with practice; and now more than ever before, there is the need for every one of us to hear the voice of God

John 10: 4 - 5 “… and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

Hebrews 5: 14 “… who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

This ought to be a daily practice and can even be several times daily. If however, one misses out on a day, it’s not the end of the world.  It is still okay to make that time as soon as it is possible to do so. To miss out on this time alone with God consistently is to deliberately set out to destroy your walk with God. It is like shutting out your nose and mouth so that you can’t breathe and hoping to live. Indeed the Spirit of God on the inside of us will keep prompting us to spend time with God until one gets used to doing the contrary and the Holy Spirit goes quiet. How does one know God except they rub minds with Him? Why would a God so great be willing to honour you so highly by choosing to spend time alone with you if it was not important? God is so desperate for this time that I have found that if you choose a particular location consistently to spend time alone with God, after a while you will find that God is there waiting to spend time with you when you get there.

John 15: 5 – 6 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, will produce much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers.”

If Jesus Christ needed to spend time alone with God as frequently as He did, then we need to do the same and even more so. It sounds very simple but very impactful. It is also worthy of note that after every victory, Jesus made the effort to spend time alone with God. If Jesus needed to be refreshed and replenished, then we certainly do.

Be Aware Of Satan’s Tricks Pt 1 - Is Your Light Shining?

Anyone who suggests or thinks that we live in a ‘satan free’ world deceives themselves. Whilst we don’t live our lives guided by what he says or does, we ought to be aware of his existence and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit who unveils his many tricks to us so that we can respond appropriately. It is important to observe that because we were under the control of the enemy, he knows a lot about us and as a result often attempts to ruin us via our weaknesses and this, notwithstanding that the weaknesses may not in themselves be bad. As times change, it appears satan’s strategy also gets more refined. Whilst seeming really subtle, it is more potent now than ever before. Sad also is the fact that more believers unwittingly yielding themselves for use by him against other believers making it easier to attack the church. We must be very careful and spiritually aware. This is not to say we should become spooky but we ought to be well informed so that we are equipped to deal as we live our daily lives focused on God. Satan’s many attempts in the believers life could be likened to ‘side shows’ which we deal with as we move on but they are not our focus. God already told us that satan exist who will keep attempting to ruin us with a view to ensuring that we live for him here on earth and end up in hell. No one can live for satan and be a light; and this, notwithstanding the number of times they are in church.

Mathew 5: 13 - 16 “You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

I think we may have misconstrued ‘good deeds’, as in scripture above, to mean ‘good overtures’ but it must be more than that because the unbelievers do those same ‘good overtures’ and yet they don’t shine as light. So there must be more to our good deeds that makes them shine. I have realized that though these “acts of kindness” or what I call “good overtures” are good, and we must be kind because as we know kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and an attribute of love; however, it takes much more for these acts to constitute the good deeds that shine. These deeds shine because of the life of God from which they are birth. Without the life of God, these deeds have no life and without life, they cannot constitute light. We cannot be so generous and yet be so full of wickedness and assume that our acts of kindness will constitute light. We cannot be so giving and yet so envious and lacking in contentment and then assume that we are living righteous lives. We must be honest with ourselves; it is time for some simple truth telling. The good deeds do not constitute light just because we are believers; they must be born of a righteous life so that they shine. The life is the light; and that life is the life of God. This is what demarcates the believer from the unbeliever. This is the light that chases darkness out. These dishonest means are not the right means to make our light shine. Sometimes our light goes out and we don’t even notice because we are still carrying on like believers.

John 1: 4 – 5 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

1 John 1: 5b “God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.”

One thing I have observed from scriptures though is that a man may catch God’s attention with what I refer to as ‘good overtures’. God may then choose to fill such people with His life so that they can become light. We cannot afford to be deceived by the enemy. God is not as interested in the deeds as He is in the quality of the deeds. We don’t fight to make the quality right for Him; it is a result of an indwelling presence of God. Jesus said He only did His Father’s will here on earth but is that what we do? It is so easy to be deceived into thinking that one is on the right path just because they are focused on their good acts and so don’t realize that they no longer have the indwelling presence of God. Good acts are not the hallmark of the believer but a believer does ‘good’. The devil also knows this and also that man is so full of self that he loves to be called good so he lures us into this life without Christ but full of seemingly ‘good deeds”. It is therefore, incumbent upon us to check that our good deeds are born of the righteous life; for this is what counts and causes men to give God glory. Jesus is the light of the world and when we attempt ‘good’ by ourselves, we may appear to want to be light despite all our good intention. With all the best intentions in the world, we must be careful not to attempt to take the place of our Redeemer which is what satan wants us to do and has always wanted to do himself. If we choose Christ every time we make decisions, then we won’t have to walk in darkness.

John 8: 12 “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads you’.”

Come And Reason DEEPLY With Me Please!

People, do you hear and see the things happening amongst brethren? Do you know the extent to which sexual sins have settled in our lives? Interestingly, it is with no sense of remorse. Of course sin is an ugly word now. Nothing is sinful depending on how you look at it so talk of repentance is almost becoming extinct. Note; this is all happening in the church oh!

How we have perfected very crafty means through which we extort money and gifts from the brethren. We take advantage of fellow Christians who just want to help us. There is every evil work in our midst today. The sad and very uncaring ways that we deal with the challenges people go through. We tell men lies even in counsel knowing that the lies will destroy their souls and maybe ruin their lives forever. Have you noticed that the word ‘moderation’ has gone to the winds?

As for love amongst us, it is so dead that I’m wondering what Christ actually meant when he spoke of love. It’s all about backbiting and pulling one another down. Paul would probably be speechless if he was in today’s world. We lie so much that we live a lie. We are in competition comparing ourselves with ourselves instead of checking ourselves with the word of God. According to the bible, we are not wise

2cor 10: 12NLT – ‘oh, don’t worry; we won’t dare say that we are wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!’

This cannot be the bride that Jesus hopes to come for – one so greedy and in garments so stained? It is time to reason together. There must be something we can do because we definitely have a problem.

Do you know that it is our trust in Him that makes us hold on until he perfects all that concerns us and makes us do all we can to pay all the monies we owe instead of living the life that we can’t afford on other people’s money? Do you know the pain the person may be enduring because of the debt you owe? My heart bleeds for us Christians. Are we followers of Christ or of self? Is our life giving God pleasure or pain? Does our life cause men to give God glory?

I recognize that we are not perfect but we are called to holiness just like God is holy. We are called to lives that give Him pleasure. What is the point attending church daily, singing in the choir or being a minister/worker etc when your life causes Him pain? What is the point locking yourself up in your room praying for days and God makes a way for you to make just a little money and instead of paying your debts that shame may be removed from God’s name, you start living a frivolous life again?

I tell you judgment is starting in the house of God. It is time to make your personal decision. Whatever decision you make will be tested but rejoice Jesus has already conquered the world, sin and death.