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My Day
Christian life is nothing but friendship with Christ. Before Christ came, there were only a few who were called the friends of God. But the coming of Christ has opened a new era of man's relationship with God. Jesus came to make God and man friends. The very first thing Jesus did when He began His work in public was to recruit a handful of men from all walks of life to whom He could demonstrate the friendliness of God. Eventhough these men, called disciples (followers), addressed Jesus as Lord and Master, He said, "I will not call you servants. You are My friends!" (Jn 15:15). Blessed privilege!
Everyone who has repented of his sin, turned to God, and believed on Christ the Mediator, has been reconciled to God. He has become a friend of God. Any friendship must be nutured. It cannot develop of its own. The most important requirement to grow deep in friendship is spending of time. Unless we spend quality time with God, we cannot enjoy His friendly character. This article explains how to spend time with God.
Set a time.
Choose a fresh hour. King David was a busy ruler. But he had set aside the early hours of the day to meet with God. "O Lord, in the morning my prayer comes before You" (Psa 88:13). Both in the Bible times and throughout history, men and women mightily used of God had been early risers. They met God before meeting men. John Bunyan said, "He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day!"
It's important that you stick to this time whatever the reason. You must take this seriously as an appointment with the King of Heaven. Daniel was a young man taken captive to Babylon. Folks there were hostile to his religious beliefs. There was even a civil law which banned prayer to any god. But Daniel cared the less for all these. Nothing could stop his holy habit. "He knelt down on his knees three times and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his CUSTOM since early days" (Dan 6:10).
We see another example in the Book of Acts. The Church had experienced a bursting growth following Pentecost. Three thousand people were baptized on a single day. This suddenly multiplied the pastoral responsibility of leaders. But they never became too busy to go apart to commune with God. "The hour of prayer" was too precious for them to be sacrificed for anything sacred or secular (Acts 3:1). This they had learnt from their Master who often withdrew Himself into lonely places to pray when great crowds had come to Him for hearing and healing (Lk 5:15,16). Aren't you strict with your class hours or meal-times? So should you be with your time with God. It honours Him.
Listen and Speak.
The time with God is usually called the Quiet Time. But this is not a "silent" time! Noise there is not, but voice there is. We listen to God, which means we meditate the Bible. We speak to Him, which means we pray.
It's fitting to begin with Bible meditation. We must hear God speak to us before we speak to Him. The preacher son of David spoke these words of wisdom: "Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to HEAR rather than to GIVE the sacrifice of fools... Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart say anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few" (Eccl 5:1,2). The saintly F.B. Meyer pointed out, "It's more needful for you to hear God's words than that God should hear yours, though the one will always lead to the other." Yes, prayer or praise is actually our response to God's revelation.
Devotional Meditation
The Bible can be meditated devotionally or studied analytically. I talk about devotional meditation here. (For helps in analytical study, click: Be a Bible Student!)
Whisper Psalm 119:18 as you open the Bible: "Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may see wonderful things from Your Word."
Be a baby at heart when you read the Bible. God has no respect for anyone who goes to His Word as a learned professor. When the uneducated disciples received revelations from the Father, Jesus exclaimed, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babies" (Mt 11:25). We must love the Word as "newborn babies" desire milk (1 Pet 2:2)
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