A 'Date' with God

When I created this blog I had high hopes of writing a weekly devotion for this page. But somewhere along the way, those weekly devotions took a significant hiatus. It wasn’t anything I did intentionally; in fact, ‘write devo’ is a weekly recurring task on my ‘To-Do’ app on my phone! But the reminder would pop up and the more pressing tasks of the church would crowd out my best of intentions.
But writing these weekly devos was something I really wanted to do. It’s something I enjoy (when I get around to doing it) and the regular discipline of thinking and writing spiritually and devotionally is something that feeds me spiritually.
So, for the last few weeks, I have been thinking about how could I jumpstart myself so that I would get back to this regular practice of writing and it became obvious that the only way it was going to happen was I needed to make it a priority—not just a nice idea—and secondly I needed to block out time on my calendar to make it happen, because just wishing it was going to happen was obviously NOT working!
I’ve been thinking about these things for over a month, but I decided today was the day that I would block out time on my calendar to write. It would be the first thing I do today—everything else, unless it was an emergency would have to wait.
Through the years, I have discovered that this need to block out time is just as important if I want to continue to grow closer to God and deeper in my faith. My best of intentions, generally, do not get me very far. If I want to grow spiritually, I need to make it a priority in my life, otherwise, the seemingly more pressing tasks of life and work will crowd it out.
So, I make time with God a priority in my life. It’s the first thing I do pretty much every day (well, except for my morning cup of coffee), even on my day off. And I have learned the hard way, that if I want to consistently keep my ‘date’ with God, that I have to keep my phone, ipad, computer & TV off, and the newspaper out on the porch, until after I have spent my time alone with God.
So, what about you? Do you long to grow in your relationship with God? Do you desire a deeper faith? Then, remember, our ‘best of intentions’ rarely get us where we want to be. Instead of just longing for that deeper relationship, block out time for God; literally put ‘Sunday Worship’ or ‘daily devotions’ in or on your calendar and then keep your ‘date’ with God.
“But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But Jesus would withdraw to deserted places to pray.” Luke 5:15-16