An Appointment Time with God

Well kids you missed a good sermon from our youth pastor this last Sunday. He was talking about the sacred space where we go to make an appointment with God and spend time with Him. It can be in the bedroom, out in the barn, down at the local shopping mall, in the front yard or anywhere we happen to be. It’s a place where we take the time to talk to God, get to know Him, feel His presence.

 

If you think about it it’s like going down to the local mall to mix and mingle with your friends. That is what we are to do with God as we go to Him to do the same. It’s a time in which we get to know Him as He gets to know us.

 

After all God is real, He wants us to lean in to Him. He has a personality, someone who at this very moment loves, you. Yes you, the boy in trouble at school, the girl who feels rejected by the world, the basketball player, the smart computer wiz, the shy person in the corner, everyone.

 

Our part is to make an appointment with God every day to meet up with Him. We seem to do well when we have an appointment with a teacher, our parents, the doctor’s, the volleyball coach, and our favorite show on TV we want to watch. We need to treat God no differently as we do everything we can to make it to our appointment on time each day.

 

Pick a place to do it, a place quiet and comfortable, any place possible even if it has to be in the bathroom of your home or the dirty garage. Sit down and picture God sitting across from you in another chair. Look at Him as if He was sitting there and start talking. No, you won’t hear actual verbal remarks from Him but trust me He will speak to your heart if you are willing to listen. Read from the Bible, ask questions about things you don’t understand, tell Him your frustrations, and share with Him your latest adventures and joys.

 

Take it straight from your heart to the heart of God and He will do the same back to you. Don’t be disappointed if you think He’s not listening because He really is. He is there, His presence is every where. Often we think God has moved away from us but it’s not God who moves away but us through the choices we make and the attitudes we keep.

 

No, we shouldn’t need bright lights to know God is there, we don’t need an angel introducing His arrival. All we need is our heart open to His. A heart open and allowing His presence to come in, with an invitation for it to stay.

 

Don’ delay; make an appointment with God today. Lean in to Him, He is real.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

In the News ~~~ E-Prayer Offer

Recently in the news was an advertisement for a new website that offered “e-prayer.” For a small fee each month a computer will recite out loud the Lord’s Prayer in your name. A very thoughtful solution to the busy lives we lead but not well thought out.

God doesn’t want to hear from a machine He wants to hear from us. Prayer is more for those who are saying them than they are for God. It’s our communication line between us and our Heavenly Father. It is the avenue in which our relationship will grow if we allow it.

How would you feel if mom or dad took a tape recording and recited on it, “I love you Sue” and that’s the only time you heard it. They never said it to your face. They never showed it to you in their actions. You only heard it when the programmed recorder recited it out loud once a month. Trust me, you wouldn’t like it, I wouldn’t like it.

I carry in my purse a recording of my granddaughters saying “I love you grandma.” It’s fun to hear once in awhile, I even used it once when I was feeling pretty down to help lift my spirits. However, I would never want that to be the only thing between me and them. The contact we have weekly, the fun we share on weekends, the treasure of good times, and the lessons from bad times is what makes that recording truly come alive. It brings it from just words to something far more precious.

We can have that with our Lord if we would just talk to Him. Learn the Lord’s Prayer for yourself. Say it as you walk to school. Recite it while you ride in the car with your parents, repeat it in your bed at night, in the shower in the morning. Soon you find you do have time to talk we are never too busy.

Connecting with God doesn’t come through our Christian parents, a programmed computer, the local pastor it comes through us and what we are willing to put in to it. It’s no different that any other relationship such as the one between you and your friends, the one between you and your parents, the one between you and your classmates or co-workers. It’s what you put into it not what you get out of it. God is listening and it’s us He expects to be hearing from. We can pray for one another for their health, well-being, dealing with difficult circumstances but only WE can say OUR prayers to the Lord.

Our Father which art in Heaven,
Hallowed (praise) be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, (not MY will)
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread (our strength, spiritual food and guidance)
And forgive us our debts (our sins) as we forgive our debtors (those who sin against us)
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

The prayer starts with praise to God for who He is and it ends in a time of worship, respect and adoration to the One whose kingdom and power and glory is forever. We can be a part of that forever, the choice is ours.

Many of us will never get the chance to talk to the President, Queen or the one in charge of our particular country but we all have been given the privilege to be in contact with the one who created the universe, God himself. Think about it, God himself thanks to Christ who opened that contact when He came to die for you and me on the cross. Don’t shut Him out, don’t give that privilege away. A quick text message won’t do it needs to go further as you talk to Him daily. Give time to God and He will give time to you.

© 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Getting Started

Today we start looking at Jesus. We will read the stories of Christ and learn how He acted so we can be like Him.