Time with God

1 Chronicles 16:11 KJV 1900

Seek the Lord and his strength, Seek his face continually.

I don’t have a lot of time to build up on the message tonight. So I want get right to the point. I am going to ask a question and I don’t want you to raise your hands. I just want you to be honest with yourself and God as you think about your answer.

Do you spend time with God everyday? Think about your answer. I have no doubt that there are some in here tonight that could honestly stand up and testify before God and everyone in here that they do. And I know that because it is evident in your life.

But there are many in here tonight that would not be able to say that they do, everyday. Many wight say maybe a few times a week.

Maybe would you say I do the best I can. Really? Or could you do better?

I want to ask a follow up question: Do you want the to have the power of God in your life? The verse that we read tonight was the verse that our camp speaker preached on Friday, and it convicted me because I could do better.

If I could be honest with you tonight there are days I just read the text I’m suppose to read that day, say a small prayer and move on. I believe tonight, I am not alone.

In fact, few Churchgoers Read the Bible Daily. In 2019 Discipleship Pathway Assessment study from Lifeway Research found those who regularly attend Protestant churches are inconsistent in their reading and thinking about Scripture. The study identifies Bible engagement as one of eight signposts that consistently show up in the lives of growing Christians.

A third of Americans who attend a Protestant church regularly (32%) say they read the Bible personally every day. Around a quarter (27%) say they read it a few times a week.

Fewer say they only read it once a week (12%), a few times a month (11%) or once a month (5%). Close to 1 in 8 (12%) admit they rarely or never read the Bible.

And not just reading your Bible. Prayer has become a thing in the lives of many that is just when we need God to work right now, that emergency prayer. If you think otherwise, when was the last time you prayed for an hour? When was the last time you spent much more than a few minutes in prayer to God.

I am not preaching this message just to you tonight, but to myself as well.

As I stand before you tonight, I want to do better, Why? because I want the power of God in my life. And I want Him to have full rule over me.

As you look at in History to every time there was a great moving of God in the midst of people. Or a great revival. It always included prayer and Bible reading.

Remember Nehemiah? Remember God’s people Israel, were take into captivity and taken from their homeland, but God had allowed them to return through the time of Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah leads the people to build the walls of Jerusalem. When the walls were finished they called the people together and Ezra stood before them and opened the Word of God and read it before them. Look at Nehemiah 8.

Nehemiah 8:8–11 KJV 1900

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.

So how can we get back to spending time with God? What are some things we can do to get the power of God?

First, and its not necessarily a point, but it is no less important. You have to want to. If you have to want to improve your walk with God. If you are here tonight, and you have already turned me off because you know its getting late and you have to work tomorrow. I understand all of that, but if that is your attitude, maybe your time with God will never improve. So you need to want to spend time with God.

We are going to look at three quick things and then I’ll be quiet and let God work. If you want your time with God to improve, you need to remove distractions, remove the sin, and renew your passion to seek him.

Remove Distractions

1 Peter 5:8 KJV 1900

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

The words in this verse be sober and vigilant stand out to me. I think we all know the why, to be sober and vigilant. Because we have an enemy to desires to devour or to destroy the Christian. But if I may use this in thinking of your time with God.

Sober means in the literal sense just what you may think of, it means to have self control. If you drink alcohol you could be considered intoxicated and that is the opposite of sober. Because you do not have self control. Sober it the opposite of every kind of fuzziness. Just to be clear. Sober is being of a clear mind. So be sober.

Be vigilant means to awaken, to rise, to be alert, get ready.

Ever sense I became a father, there is this sense in me to be vigilant every time I am in a public place to protect my family. If we are at a restaurant I always sit so I can see the door, and I try to never sit in the middle seat, why? So I can be ready for anything. I’m vigilant.

When Ryan was about a year and a half maybe two, my family went to a park in Springfield. Megan was taking some pictures of the Lanes for Teah. So, I took Ryan for a walk around the park and I was keyed up the whole time because there was a lot of people there. It was right around the time that Pokemon go became popular and the park had set up some trails just for that. So Ryan and I walked around the park once, then as little legs could get he was tried of walking, but i wasn’t done. So, I left him with mama and started to jog around the park again.

But I was still vigilant from having Ryan with me, when I got about half way around this guy started chasing me. I thought, well, maybe he is just being silly so I kept the same pace. But after a few minutes he was still chasing me. So, I stopped and turned to look back and see what the guy wanted. But I when I did, I realized it wasn’t a guy, it was two guys. And the first guy had a look of rage on his face like wanted to murder me, like I just stole his Pokemon or something. Not only that He had his hands raised, like he wanted to go for my throat.

Thinking quickly I lowed my shoulder and flipped him over my back and put him on the ground hard. Then I got ready for the second guy. That is when I realize the second guy wasn’t chasing me he was trying to stop the first guy. So, did I see what was going on? Nope like a good scared-y-cat I turned and ran back to my family and left. And to this day, I don’t have any idea what that guys wanted.

I got to thinking later, what if I had, had Ryan with me. Or what if I was distracted? Many Christians today are letting satan devour them because that are not vigilant, they have gotten distracted.

What is a distraction? It could be anything that pulls your attention away from spending time with God. For some it’s the TV, family, or a book you’d rather be reading, for some its work, its your phone, social media, and for many young people and growing fast into even older adults its video games. I don’t have time to go into all the data I found about video games and the amount have time and money spent on them, but I will say that over 65% of all Americans are considered “gamers” that means there are even many adults playing. Let this number sink in a minute as of 2020 there are roughly 2.77 billion “gamers” worldwide. This message isn’t preaching about video games, but for so many they have become a distraction. And they are keeping you from spending time with God.

What keeps you from spending time with God? Let me encourage you remove it! Take big steps to do so. Do you want the power of God in your life? Remove the distractions because they are keeping you from spending time with God.

Remove distractions and

Remove Sin

Psalm 66:18 KJV 1900

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me:

There is no such thing as hidden sin. Trying to hide sin from God is like running from your shadow you can never get away. You can’t run away from God because he knows everything. Your family and friends might not know about your secret sin, but God knows. All the skeletons in your closet should be confessed because unconfessed sin can block you from God.

The other dangerous thing about trying to hide your sins is that you might think you’re getting away with it and that leads to deliberately sinning and backsliding, which is deadly and something that no Christian should do. Confess your sins today and allow God to work in your life.

Not only does sin keep God from hearing you, when you are allowing sin to boil in your heart you don’t want to meet with God either.

Christian, beware lest thou think lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall little by little. Sin a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral itself build a rock which wrecks a navy? Sin a little thing? It girded the Redeemer’s head with thorns, and pierced His heart! Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent. Look upon a sin as that which crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be exceeding sinful.—Charles Spurgeon

If you want to improve your time with God you need to remove sins in your life.

Let me encourage you, it is hard to remove the sin in your life you are keeping secret. You don’t have to shout from the roof all your sin. But as we learned this week at camp, accountability is important to overcome sin. So confess before God and ask a trusted mature Christian to help you with accountability.

As someone once illustrated about removing sin in your life. because more difficult to remove the longer it stays in your heart. It is like a tree when it first starts to come up it is pretty easy to pull up and remove. But if you let it grow a few years and it becomes more difficult you may need some tools to help you remove it. But if you let it grow 10 or 20 years it becomes even more difficult to remove. Then there will always be evidence of that tree was there, marked in the land. The same is true with sin.

1 John 1:9 KJV 1900

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Sometimes when I think of that verse, I think it can’t be that easy. But that is a promise from God’s Word that we can have forgiveness if we seek it.

The question is do you want to seek it?

So, Remove the distractions, and remove the sin, and last renew your passion to seek Him.

Renew Passion

2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV 1900

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

As we seek God in our daily walk he will renew your passion for Him.

Matthew 6:21 KJV 1900

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Where do you find the most enjoyment in life? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What can you not wait to do?

For many it is not spending time with God. But as you stay faithful in your time with God, He will give you a passion for it. A Joy to be in God’s presences.

I love how psalms compares this to be thirsty. Have you ever been really thirsty? It was hot this week, and when it was 104. the sun made you really thirsty.

Psalm 42:1–2 KJV 1900

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God?

But have you ever been thirsty for God?

Do you want to improve your time with God? Come tonight and commit that to God. God wants you to come. Will you? Is there room for you to improve your walk?