Dear child of God,
Welcome to day 2 of our 7 Day Challenge to reconnect with God.
Today, we'll touch on Consistency and Building a routine that works for you.
Mini Teaching:
One of the things that most Christians deal with is lack of consistency. And that is because we have not set our priorities right.
In order to be able to spend time with God, you need to build a routine that works for you first. I know there are so many tips and tricks on when to wake up to pray, or how to pray, etc. but you need to find a routine that allows you to give God your full attention. And to build a functional routine, you need to get your priorities right first.
1. Identify your priorities.
What comes first for you?
For example, let's take 4 things: work, family, God, and school.
2. Place them according to order of importance.
Let's just say; My family comes first, then work, then school and if I have time, then I can seek God.
This order is wrong!
If God is not a priority, then it is normal for you to not have time to seek Him.
So, our goal is to put God at the rightful place of our priorities: THE FIRST PLACE.
So, the right order of your priorities should look like this: GOD, then the others can follow.
3. Discipline yourself to maintain this order.
The hardest part is making sure God remains at the top. Because life happens. Our seasons change. Our responsibilities change. This is where building a sustainable routine comes in.
To build the right routine, you have to be honest about how you handle most of your days.
When do you normally wake up?
What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Do you have kids or a husband and do you usually take care of them before they leave the house? if you're single what do before going to work or school?
Do you go to work or school and when do you normally start?
Do you have breaks at work/school? How long are these breaks?
When do you normally come back home?
Do you have to cook when you get home?
What happens after maybe you've cooked or showered and handled everything at home? Do you watch a movie to relax?
When do you normally sleep?
The aim of this exercise is for to see how you manage your day. Is your day full of distractions after you've done important work? This exercise will help you re-structure and plan out your day more effectively.
A few examples,
🗨 if you work at 8am and you usually wake up at 7am to start getting ready, then maybe you can wake up at 6:30 am to spend time with God.
🗨 If you go to school and you have spare time/breaks between each class, then you can study your Bible during those times or go for prayer walks. Same thing if you work and you have breaks.
🗨 If you normally sleep at 9pm and you know that from 8-9pm, you're mostly on social media, or you instead sleep at 10pm due to scrolling, then you can use that 1 hour to read your word and pray.
The truth is, we always have time. We have simply given it to other things and that is why God comes last for us. But the moment you make up your mind to seek God at the beginning of your day, during your day and before you sleep at night, you will never complain of being inconsistent.
Bible verses to meditate on:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you...” - Matthew
This verse reminds us that seeking God needs to come first and every other thing will fall into place. When you give God your time, He gives you the wisdom to manage the rest of your day well.
Journal prompts:
1. What does seeking God first look like to you?
2. What has been distracting you lately hence stopping you from seeking God the way you normally should?
Make a vow to God today that you will intentionally seek Him. If that means leaving social media and reducing how much you watch TV, then do so if that will re-ignite your relationship with God. It takes sacrifice to obtain new results. Practical Action to take:
Based on the exercise we did in the mini teaching, identify your priorities, put them in the right order and discipline yourself to maintain it. Build a routine that works for you and stick to it. That looks like waking earlier than usual to pray. Listening to sermons or worship or listening to the Bible audio on your way to work or to school. Once you build a good routine, maintain it even on days you don't feel like. But also, don't be hard on yourself on days you miss out. Give yourself some grace, but don't fall into laziness.
Assignment for the day:
🗑- If you found the distractions, start by deleting those apps you no longer use (social media) and those games you keep playing that have become addictive. Do a cleanup of things you no longer need and that are hindering your walk with God.
Let's pray.
Dear God, I thank You for this day. Thank You Lord for this opportunity to learn from You. Lord please help me to be consistent and to be radical enough to remove the things that are hindering my walk with You.
Holy Spirit, please remove anything or anyone who is detrimental to my destiny and me walking into my purpose. Help me to disciplined. Teach me how to love God passionately. Give me strength to start well and most importantly, to finish well.
Thank You, Jesus, for being so kind and gracious to me. Thank You, God, for being so patient with me. Today is another day where I choose You Lord. May Your name be praised forever. In Jesus mighty name I have prayed, amen.
PS: remember to be intentional and to do what works for you. God is not looking for you to copy what someone else is doing. If you don't even know where to ask, this is an opportunity for you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you curate the perfect routine so you can spend more time with God.
Also, this routine may change due to seasons like grief, or being a new mom. So partner with the Holy Spirit so can guide you on how you can still seek God despite the changes.
I hope this blessed you.
Please feel free to reply to let me know if this blessed you or if you have any questions. See you tomorrow for day 3.
God bless you!
I love you, but God loves you more.
Your sister in Christ,
Sammy J
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