95% of Christians don’t spend time with God every day.
Did you also know that weak devotions is the #1 trait ever backslider makes?
Weak devotions lead to wrong associations, which in turn lead to wrong decisions.
I’m a firm believer in the fact that it’s nearly impossible to backslide if you’re spending time with the King of Kings every single day.
Strong devotions not only keep us on the right path, but they have an innumerable amount of benefits attached to them according to all the promises in the Bible.
Today I want to dive right into the importance of spending time with God and what that time should look like.
I’M BEGGING TO BE PINNED. JUST HOVER OVER ME!
(And at the end of the post, I’m giving away these eight high-quality, printable time with God goal trackers to help you keep up a consistent everyday time with the King of Kings!)
THE IMPORTANCE OF SPENDING TIME WITH GOD
“A person is a fool to … not have a rich relationship with God.”
– Jesus, Luke 12:21
Yikes! Who wants to be a fool?
(Hint: Not you!)
I talked all about this in my article Are You Properly Setting Yourself Up for Success in 2018?, but I’ll recap and update it with:
- We need to be meditating on God’s Word constantly. Put God first and watch blessings explode area of your life. God promises us multiple times in the Bible (Genesis 39:2, 1 Kings 2:3, Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 119:2, and especially Joshua 1:8) that when we keep His Word before us, everything we do will prosper and be a success.
- You can tell what’s really in a person by watching what comes out of them when they’re squeezed. If the devil is being an idiot and lying to me, the last thing I want to do is start complaining and the first thing I want to do start saying what God has to say about things. In order to combat the enemy, we’d better have a good knowledge of what to combat him with: God’s Word.
- When we give God first place, everything else will fall into place. I actually reread this verse in my time with God today: Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and He will give you everything you need. (Luke 12:31) Keeping God first place takes care of everything else. You think the National Football League doesn’t take prime care of their best players? How much more does God take care of those who keep Him first priority?
WHAT SHOULD OUR TIME WITH GOD LOOK LIKE?
I’m also a firm believer that Jesus is our example in everything.
Christ … is your example, and you must follow in His steps.
(1 Peter 2:21)
In crafting our time with God, we should look to how Jesus did things. The Scriptures give us a clear example of three things Jesus did when spending time with God.
1. PRAYER
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.
(Mark 1:35)
After telling everyone good-bye, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray.
(Mark 6:46)
After sending them home, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray.
(Matthew 14:23)
Praying to His Heavenly Father was obviously a priority for Jesus!
Prayer is not only a powerful and effective weapon against the enemy (it’s one of the weapons of our warfare), it’s direct communication with God.
Most of us know that prayer doesn’t have to be dull or boring; that it needs to come from our hearts and out of our mouth; that it’s not reciting Scripture like a robot; and since God is our Best Friend, we should be talking to Him like one.
God loves it when we pray to Him. When I tell my dad or mom that I love them (I’m an affectionate person, so they hear it quite a bit!) their faces light up. Imagine how much more God adores hearing your precious voice!
What’s more, He’s always going to come through for you.
I have a list of prayer points that I go down. It’s important to remember to pray for others too, as well as just thanking God for the things He’s already done.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
(John 15:7)
(That’s got to be the catchiest verse ever. XD)
God is a faithful Answerer of prayer; no one could convince me otherwise.
My family is in the ministry, and we live by faith; my dad doesn’t get a guaranteed paycheck every week. Several years ago, there was a time where we were down to $13 in the bank. But as we prayed, God said Deuteronomy 1:11:
And may the Lord … multiply you a thousand times more.
Within 24 hours, exactly $13,000 came in—exactly one thousand times more than we had before!
A lot of people complain that “God feels so far away right now” in times of trouble, but if God’s existence depended on our feelings, I don’t know where He’d be right now. He’s our ever-present help in time of trouble and adores it when His children talk to Him and believe Him for big things!
2. PRAISE AND WORSHIP
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
(Luke 4:8)
He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”
(Hebrews 2:11-12)
Not to mention the hundreds of urges to praise the Lord throughout the entire Bible. Praise and worship music (such as Bethel, Hillsong, Jesus Culture, your favorite Christian worship artist, etc.) is perfect for this.
God already gave us authority to move problems out of the way, so I don’t rattle on and on about my problems in my time with God.
I’M BEGGING TO BE PINNED. JUST HOVER OVER ME!
When we grumble and complain, that’s like opening the door and saying “Hey, devil! C’mon in!” because he thrives off of a negative atmosphere.
On the other hand, when we praise God for what He’s done, we release words that the devil and his demons can’t stand.
In doing so, we welcome the divine atmosphere of Heaven in our lives; in Heaven, we’ll be praising God all the time. We even enter into God’s presence, because God always fills those who are hungry and thirsty.
With praise comes joy. That’s why the devil hates joy. If the joy of the Lord is our strength, what chance does he stand against you? Oh, that’s right—he’s defeated!
There is no better way to start your day off than in the presence of God and being strengthened with His joy.
It doesn’t matter what you’re going through. Praising and worshiping God takes our eyes off of all that and keeps us focused on God, which in turn keeps us in perfect peace. (Isaiah 26:3)
I’ve written a lot about praising God and the joy of the Lord being our strength in these articles:
- 10 Ways to Kick the Devil’s Butt in Your Everyday Life – #1
- Turn Any Bad Day Around Instantly With This One Simple Trick
- Why Depressing Songs and Poetry About Emotional Pain Will Only Make It Worse
- 3 Epic Ways to Make the Devil Scream “OH NO” Today
Hah, that’s more than I thought!
3. BIBLE-READING
When Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, the devil came to tempt Him. (Matthew 4:4, 7, 11)
Jesus had been studying the Scriptures His entire life (Jewish boys had to memorize the first five books of the Bible; all 156,733 words!) and rebuked the devil with the Word of God.
You’d think that Jesus wouldn’t need to study the Torah. “Relax, guys. I’m the Son of God! I’ma do what I want.”
But He made it a priority to keep Himself full of God’s Word. The devil tried desperately to get Jesus to worship him, but Jesus shut him right up with what God had to say.
We should be reading the Bible every day. It’s the most translated, most dangerous, most distributed, and the longest Book in the entire world.
I’M BEGGING TO BE PINNED. JUST HOVER OVER ME!
I really don’t understand why most Christians haven’t even read the entirety of the Bible. If “every promise in the Book is mine; every chapter, every verse, every line“, shouldn’t we know what we’re promised? Why binge-read the latest series when you haven’t read the most important Book?
The #1 way we hear the voice of God is through the Word of God. Filling our hearts and minds with what God has to say is obviously the best way to start our day.
If God’s Word was a priority for Jesus Christ, it’s a priority for me!
One of my personal slogans is “no Word, no work.” (Some other cool ones are “no Bible, no breakfast” and “no devotions, no devices”.) I don’t get started on my work day until I’ve properly nourished my spirit.
Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)
CONCLUSION
Jesus Christ died and rose again so the relationship between you and God could be restored. What God wants is your heart. Does not the Lamb Who was slain receive the reward of His suffering?
Let’s spend time with the King of Kings every day and make sure we’ve talked to Him, praised Him, and read His Word.
In fact… this is made easiest by some handy little printables I made!
Sign up for the Life Undefeated email list and receive eight high-quality, printable goal trackers to help you keep a consistent everyday time with the King of Kings.
Click below to get them!
HAVE YOU SPENT TIME WITH GOD TODAY? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE GOAL TRACKERS?
I’m slowly getting to a place where I find myself always asking God for help with everything, which I really love. ? He wants us to come to Him with everything and give it to Him, and ask for His help, and I know that He does. My family makes time to pray every day, and I go to Mass a couple times a week. 🙂
Sounds like you’ve got it down! It’s so freeing to let God help.
I love this, Madi! As I’ve gotten older & busier, I’ve let spending time in God’s word become something on the backburner, not a priority. I’m looking forward to getting back into the habit of reading my Bible this summer and then continuing it on for the rest of my life. 🙂 This inspired me to get up and get moving!
Aww, I’m so happy! I hope you have many awesome time-with-God times from here on out.
What a powerful testimony. I wanted to ask you a question/tell you something. My family and I read a story in the Bible about King Jehoshaphat. God was preparing to give them blessing (the spoils of war) but first there were trials–an army was attacking them. Then I heard in church that the devil wouldn’t tie you up unless he were afraid of what would happen if you got loose. So I put the two and two together and thought: The devil doesn’t have to go after us. But the reason he would is because he’s scared of us. It’s like the scene in Cars 3 where Jackson Storm cozies up to Cruz Ramirez and attempts to get into her head, but Lightning McQueen says “He didn’t get into your head. You got into his. He’s scared of YOU.” So I was thinking that the devil only comes after us if he’s scared of us! And that’s why we need to continue to read His Word and stuff, so we know what to do when the devil comes so we can FREAKING KICK BUTT BABY! YAHHHHHHH!
Got a little excited there. Have a good week. ?
Exactly. If we’re not facing any opposition from the devil, it’s because we’re going the same direction he is!
Haha, I love excitement! You too and thanks for commenting.
awesome truth today, Madi! it’s such an encouragement to me and many others to know that our Heavenly Father hears us and listens to us. thanks so much for sharing! <3 xx,
Sydney
Aww, thanks so much, Sydney! I agree; it’s so encouraging.
no worries, Madi!
Those freebies were a wonderful idea!! 😀 I’m to do a 30 day devotional, (in the month of June) and these will be super helpful!
Thanks, Hannah! And YAY! That sounds awesome!
This post is amazing! Just like in human relationships, we spend time with each other to build up our relationships, it should be the same with Jesus.
Thanks, Rebekah! And yes, absolutely.
I have no words for this post except, Amazing.
I love all the effort you put into your posts that always inspire me to do bigger things. I often feel like I don’t have time with God, but I realized that I’m loading so much work onto me and I’m so busy. Sometimes I need to take a step back and just breath. (song lyrics from a Christian radio station) You helped me realize that I need to set time aside to just meditate in God’s Word. And for that I thank you.
Awww, that means so much! Thanks, Carlye!
Yes, exactly. I feel the same way. Putting God first helps me put everything else into perspective.
Praise and worship is an amazing thing. 🙂 <3
It really is!
Wow, Madi. Aren’t we so blessed? My house may not look like a castle, but I have a Father Who owns everything, and if I need something, all I have to do is ask. When I think about how great God is, I start to wonder… If we truly believe in a God so great and wonderful…
Why the instrumental mayonnaise do we complain all the time about how life is so hard, and ohhh poor me, moan and groan, where’s God in this situation?
If God created the universe in six days (and really could have done it in less than three seconds if He wanted to), don’t you think He knows what you’re going through? Don’t you think He would know what’s best for you? Really, instead of complaining, we should be praising Him. I mean…
Come on, dude. Think about it.
I’m a wicked, dirty, vile, dead dog of a sinner, and Jesus comes down to Earth and dies a gruesome death… All to Save me? I was worth all that to Him? And it doesn’t stop there.
He blesses me literally every day. I woke up this morning. That’s a blessing already. I had breakfast. That’s a blessing, too. I went to the school room, and one of my brothers was sitting there on the computer. Look, there’s another one! I turned on some music. THANK GOD FOR MUSIC, YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN? I could keep going, but that would take forever.
Now that you think about it… Do you really think God owes you? I sure don’t. No way Hosea. I owe God. Spending some time with Him is the least I can do. But I’m not stopping there. I’m going to do whatever He tells me to do, because He Saved my soul from Hell, and He deserves something in return for that. Don’t you agree?
We sure are blessed! Sometimes I just think of everything God has blessed me with and get overjoyed. It’s the least I can do to live my life for Him; and living my life for Him is so amazing, I can’t imagine doing anything else! Win-win.
this is such a great post, madi! I realize I don’t spend enough time with God either. thanks so much for writing this. everyone needs to read this. <3
Aww, thank you so much, Carol! That means so much. ❤️
Wow! This is such a great post and a really needed topic. It’s so easy to get waylaid and stop having good devotions. Way to go with writing it. I’m impressed by how you laid everything out and used verses to back up what you were saying. Would you be interested in guest posting on my blog?
Thank you so much, Lydia! I’m so glad you liked it (and thanks for stopping by!). Unfortunately, I’m not taking guest post requests right now, but that means a lot!
Prayer, worship, and the Word of God – these ingredients are key indeed. What grace from the Lord that He would allow us to access them. It amazes me whenever I think about it since these things are furthest from the human mind apart from God. But He brings His children to delight in these things by the influence of His Holy Spirit. Isn’t He so good?? <3
He sure is! It’s an honor to read His Word, communicate with and worship Him.
This was a great reminder, Madi!
Thanks for reading, Emily!
Amen. Just… Amen. Madi, you are a living testimony for Jesus! I survive off of my devotional time with God; once I skipped it (unintentionally, I was just very busy) and my day wasn’t the same! I felt empty and vulnerable! Devotions are spiritual food: We can’t live without connection to God!!
I’m so sorry I didn’t see this until just now! Thanks for commenting, Hope, and I can totally relate. Skipping my devotions time is a surefire way to have less of a day than I would have! Thanks again for stopping by and for bearing with my late replies. ?
No worries, Madi!! How are you? ?
I’m okay. 😀 How are you?
I’m pretty good!! ??? I’ve got you on my list to send a letter to! ?
So glad to hear that! And awww, I can’t wait to get it!