Keeping God Close With A Busy Life
Our lives are consistently ongoing, some more than others. We have work, families, hobbies, our health, our relationship with Christ. So how do we put God first and keep our relationship with Him healthy when it feels impossible, time consuming or near impossible? So here are some tips and steps to not only having a close relationship with God in our busy lives but putting Him first. A bit about myself: I am a sheriff cadet, I try to still blog, I am in the Army National Guard, I have a small family, I am apart of my church, I have barely any time it feels like to have ‘quiet time’, and when I do I just want to relax and/or sleep. I am not blogging about this topic because I have mastered it and think highly of myself, I write because this is a struggle of mine yet I know I am not alone in this battle, and I know what God would want us all to do.
1. Prayer
Pray, pray, pray. Start your day off with prayer. Reason being, start your day on a firm foundation with God. We don’t know what the upcoming hours in our day are going to involve, so it is best to talk to God about it, ask for guidance and protection, seek His wisdom and protection for any upcoming battles to come. Give thanks for simply waking up, seeing the sun, being able to wake up in a warm house. For those who have to wake up early in the morning, it may suck sometimes! I am right there with you. But we are blessed to have a job that pays us enough to keep our home paid for, food in our stomachs and gas in our cars. End your day in prayer. After all of the chaos of the day, talk to God about it. Yes, give thanks, but be honest! If you had a rough day, stressed, sad, annoyed, in pain, just tell Him, he is not asking you to come perfect and happy. He says “come as you are’. Vent to Him, ask of Him, thank Him. Even praying throughout the day! You don’t have to wait until the end of the day to talk to Him, go to the bathroom at work, go to your car, just close your eyes before you start a new task, there are so many ways because we have such a loving God that He welcomes us no matter what.
2. Schedule your time with god
This might not work for everyone, but schedule your time, literally, on when to talk to God. For some people if it does not fit into a schedule that they already have planned out for the day, it simply won’t happen. You get caught up in everyday life that before you know it you’re asleep for the next day, disregarding god. A designated time with God every day so that no matter what, at that time, whether you set an alarm or physically write it into an agenda you’ll be reminded of spending time with God! It’ll be easier to not try to rely on just ‘remembering’ since it will already be set in a time slot for you.
Ex: 7am- wake up. 0710 -shower & brush teeth. 0730 — Read 20 min of Psalms & pray. 0800- get dressed for work.
I’d recommend putting it into your agenda for the morning before work, and making Him a priority. For some people, this may seem like this is making God a ‘time slot’ versus a relationship. But for some people it does not come natural to spend time with God, so if this is how it needs to start, by practicing good ways of spending time with him then this is how it’ll be!
3. God blessed you with busy days, don’t forget Him.
You are busy because God allowed you to be. You received your job because of Him, your time is full of busy things because He knows you can handle what comes at you and you can handle it well. Better yet, you are alive because if Him, you couldn’t add another day to your life even if you tried your very best. Don’t run to God just because you’re having bad days, lost, confused and stressed. Run to Him in the days you are thriving! You still need Him.
4. Sacrifice
This may mean, if your schedule is completely full from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, you need to wake up a bit earlier or go to bed a bit later. 24 hours in a day sometimes does not feel like enough time to get everything done but guess what, we have no choice. So we ‘figure it out’ as my mother used to always tell me growing up. If you have to be up at 6 every morning, set your alarm for 5 or 0530 to spend that extra time with God. It will be so tiring at the beginning but so worth it. On your lunch break, read as you eat! If you’re embarrassed to do so because of employees, you might want to rethink your motive of your relationship with God. Prayer you can do anywhere at any time. Instead of that girls night out or boys night out every weekend, maybe you should candle one of them to just dedicate your time. Trust me, we scroll through social media and watch tv and do our favorite hobbies and claim we don’t have time for Jesus…not so true now is it.
5. No Excuses
God is not oblivious to your lifestyle and habits. He is not shocked but the amount of time you’re spending with various tasks in life to where he will let it slide because you’re just so busy. Get rid of those toxic thoughts you have, “God knows my heart, I am just busy. He will understand. I am still Christian, I just don’t have enough time to spend with Him but I still believe in Him.” How can you be a Christian and have knowledge of God but no relationship? What if God had that same attitude towards you? Whenever you need to come to Him he doesn’t listen to you because He is too busy listening to others prayers and cries. There is no excuse. Zero. Zilch. If God is your priority you will make it happen. If you are truly saved…you will make it happen. Now that doesn’t mean you will not slip up and slack, you most definitely will. But you come right on abc and ask for forgiveness. That is the difference between the christian and the non Christian.
Conclusion
Start your day with God to start it on a strong biblical foundation and end your day with God giving all your worries and stresses to him before the next day. Don’t make excuses for why you don’t have a strong relationship with Him or don’t have enough time; make the time and effort. Use prayer to your advantage, it is your gateway to talk to God! Busy life, but with God.
Anxiety scriptures:
1 John 4:18
1 Peter 3:14
2 Timothy 1:7
Isaiah 35:4, 40:31, 41:10
Hebrews 11:1
John 14:1
Joshua 1:9
Luke 12:22
Mathew 6:25–34
Psalms 34:4, 34:17. 94:19, 138:8,
Romans 8:38–39
Proverbs 3:5–6
Stress scriptures:
James 1:2–4
Luke 21:19
Psalms 119:143, 94:19, 55:22
Mathew 6:34
Exodus 14:14
Philippians 4:6
Luke 12:25–26
Proverbs 3:4–6
2 Corinthians 12:10
Matthew 11:28
1 Peter 5:6–7
Joshua 1:9
Overwhelmed scriptures:
Matthew 11:28–30
Exodus 33:14
1 Peter 5:7
Deuteronomy 31:8
Psalms 88:2–4, 65:3, 27:1, 61:2
2 Samuel 22:3
Philippians 4:7
Psalms 34, 23, 61, 46, 139
Trusting God when it feels like life is too much:
John 14:1, 17:3
Psalms 61:3, 18:1–2
Jeremiah 17:7–8
Isaiah 26:3–4
