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In the story of Martha and Mary, Martha was busy working to serve Jesus while Mary sat at his feet listening to his teachings. Martha asked Jesus, why aren’t you making Mary help me? And He said, works distracts you and Mary has chosen what is better. Luke 10:38-42

Life gets so busy that we are often distracted from our relationship with Christ. We have major projects at work, kids in five different activities, friends want to hangout, and family needs your support. But, we can’t do any of those things great without spending personal time with God. God wants to hear from you daily with intention.

How Do I spend intentional time with God?

Reading the Bible

At one point in my life and even some days now, I would fall asleep after reading a few chapters of the bible. I would get bored, the translations were difficult to understand, and I wonder why all that genealogy was so important. I could never make it past Leviticus. Then one of my mentors told me to express my honest feelings with God about reading the Word and ask him to make it enjoyable. Overtime He did, now I get excited when I read the scriptures because of the new insight it provides to my life, about who He is, and what He is able to do.

We need to read the bible daily. Read a chapter, two verses, five verses, even a devotional. Over time this should increase to conducting studies of full books in the Bible. God wants to guide your day and give you instruction through his living word. Some mornings you may wake up with a scripture on your mind, don’t brush it off go to your bible and read it. The Bible is able to prepare you for any situation you may face.

Spending Time in Prayer and Worship 

God wants to hear your voice daily.  Although He knows what you need before you ask, He desires to hear you profess your love for Him along with the cares and worries of your heart. Start with five minutes in the morning, and your day will start to flow smoothly as a result. Then over time increase your prayer time in increments of five minutes.  Once you master that pick one day a week and give Him an hour.

A great formula for prayer is to always start with worship tell Him why you love Him, thank God for the things he has already done in your life. Then, ask God to forgive you of your sins known and unknown, followed by what you need for your self and others.

Spending Quiet Time to Hear Him Speak

I regularly sit either in silence or playing my favorite gospel songs along with my journal capturing my thoughts and whatever else God may place on my heart. When I hear God talking to me it’s generally a soft whisper of a thought.  Compared to my own thoughts, which tend to be loud. God’s voice is the one that causes you to later say, “I should have followed my first mind”, yeah that one, it was God. I may also feel a tugging in my heart or a nauseous feeling when God is speaking to me. However, we must keep in mind God can speak to us in a myriad of ways; through other people, a song, scripture, a dream and the list goes on.

Prayer is you talking to God, but when you create quiet space in your day you allow Him to speak. In time of solitude you can become one with your thoughts. Write those thoughts down and as you spend more time with God in prayer and reading his Word you’ll be able to better recognize his voice.

Remember a balanced life is a Christ centered life. When we put Him first everything else falls into place (Matthew 6:33; Matthew 6:25-34).

How will you be intentional with adding God in your week? What areas above do you excel and where can use improvement? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.