Monday September 17, 2012

Grab your diary or calendar and mark out a regular time to meet with God.

 

Read Leviticus 23:1-3

 

We often don’t put God and the word ‘appointment’ together in our minds do we? We don’t often think of God and our time with Him as an appointment? Appointments rule our lives and we stress ourselves seeking to run from appointment to appointment before the day is through. Yet we fail to make time in our calendars to sit with God - much to our detriment, dare I say?

 

God describes the feasts of Israel as appointments with Himself. He sees them as appointments, why don’t we? We seem to shy away and baulk at having regular appointments with God. Yet, if we were to paraphrase verse 1 and 2 we might translate it as, ‘Hey Moses, tell my people that I yearn to meet with them regularly at appointed times for a sacred assembly’.

 

Meeting with God at a regular appointment time each day does several things and conveys several blessings to us.

¥ It keeps our entire life in perspective and helps us to see where all things (money, work, family, promotions, TV, emails, social media etc) really fit

¥ It allows me to talk with God about the issues in my life that are worrying me or causing angst. Peace pervades my life rater than worry, panic and chaos.

¥ I can sit and listen to God as He speaks to me through the Word and it gives me the best possible input into my life, my state of heart/mind and so on.

¥ It allows me to de-stress and to unwind in a way that no other activity does.

¥ It broadens my horizon from the things of this world towards eternity.

 

An appointment with God is not like going to the dentist or speaking to a used car salesman. It’s time in the presence of the living God, the creator of the universe, the one who loves me enough to give His one and only Son for my salvation. Spending time with the One who loves me that much - that’s a great idea. Will you spend time with God regularly this week???

Prayer:

Take some time to think about adoration, confession and thanks. Adoration is praising God for His character and nature and attributes. Confession is telling God about your sins and asking for forgiveness. Thanks is praising God for what he has done.

 

Write down your prayer points.

 

Adoration:

 

 

Confession:

 

 

Thanks:

 

 

Supplication:

¨ Pray that the love of God would motivate you and people in your congregation to spend time in His presence. Ask God to stretch you and motivate you in regular prayer.

¨ Pray for the brothers and sisters in Iraq and Iran who are being persecuted and sanctioned for their faith in Christ Jesus. Pray that these believers would remain firm and faithful to the Lord through tough times. Pray that they would see many conversions through their testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ.