Tag: time

Social Media

Recently I saw where a friend of mine posted to her Facebook account how she had gone on a social media fast and how detoxifying it was for the soul and she gained more time in her day. As I read her post, and the responses she received, I thought about how much time people really do spend on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Here she took a step back from social media and I found myself diving into the world of social media not knowing a thing. I’ve heard and read that you should post daily, or post often in order to draw people to your social media platform. When I first sat down to write – a few days ago – I found myself procrastinating and frustrated with myself. I started thinking, is this really something I’m supposed to be doing? Did I make a mistake? As those thoughts floated around in my mind I realized the enemy was attacking me from the failure front and I was actually letting him get away with it! The nerve! The enemy had his nerve whispering all those lies in my ear when I already knew that if God was for me then who can be against me?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31 NKJV

As you may have noticed I don’t blog every day. Recently, I added Facebook & Twitter to my social media platform and I’m thinking I must be nuts. Now I share my blog and daily devotionals to the new platforms and I have to tell you that’s a big scary world out there when you’re learning your way. 😅 Me + social media? No. But social media and what the Lord puts on my heart to share with you? Definitely. How much time do you spend with social media? Better question, how much time do you spend in fellowship with the Lord? I don’t spend as much time in fellowship with Him as I’d like but I’m working on changing that.

In today’s society, with the invention of the internet and social media, we are accustomed to the I want it now syndrome. Taking a moment out of the instantaneous world to breathe and behold the glory of God is something we all should do.

Imagine you are on a cliff looking over your life. Everything is a blur and rushing by so fast you can barely make out the pieces of your life. You’re on the fast track to nowhere and why? Because you can’t see what’s before you. You’ve been moving at the speed of got to have it now that you haven’t been able to see what is in front of you.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4: 14 NASB

Now imagine you’re on that same cliff looking over your life, but this time through God’s eyes. Things begin to slow down and the vision that once was rushing by in a blur begins to come into focus. You see things that you didn’t notice before. You see victories both small and large in your life, things you had been too busy to remember. You see failures and disappointment in your life but with a difference. Instead of seeing failure and disappointment, you see stepping stones bringing you closer to the Lord as He takes those failures and disappointments and turns them into something good and positive. And you realize Someone has always been there watching over you even when you thought you were alone facing the unknown. Set aside time today to fast your social media and spend it with the Lord instead. God bless!

A Precious Gift ~Time

About a week ago, I posted a fun little puzzle about finding 30 books of the Bible. If you saw the post did you try and locate them? If so were you able to locate all of them? It was fun trying to find them all. Between my husband and myself we were able to locate all thirty books. The last one being just minutes before he left for the Men’s breakfast where they would be finding out how well the men did with locating the books in the puzzle. Not all of the men were able to find all of the books in the puzzle.

Now, some of the books of the Bible were easy to locate in the puzzle. Others not so easy. As you read the puzzle it gave you instructions along the way as to how you could find the hidden in plain sight books. It took a little bit of work to locate them all and finding that last one left me with a satisfying feeling of accomplishment.

As I thought about how only a small handful actually located all 30 books, the thing that hit me was TIME. It takes time to finish a puzzle. Whether its the kind you put together or one that is on paper, you have to invest time in it in order to complete it.

“Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.”

Psalm 119:135

Just as it took time to find the 30 books of the Bible in the puzzle, it takes time for us to nurture our relationship with the Lord. Time spent studying God’s Word, time in prayer, time in fellowship. Teach me Your statutes. Something I need to work on is spending more time in His presence. That means reading my Bible, marking it up more, underlining things I want to know more about and researching the passages of my Bible. I also need to spend more time in prayer. Yep that’s right. The two most important ways of communicating with the Father, prayer and reading the Word. If I’m going to write about spending time in prayer and the Word, then I need to be more consistent with following through with it myself. Don’t get me wrong, I pray daily for family and friends but am I spending quality one on one time with the Lord? One thing that the enemy is good at stealing from us is time. It’s a simple yet powerful item that once he gains control of it, it isn’t easy to take back the control. But with perseverance, trusting in the Lord and getting in His presence, it is possible.

“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

1 Peter 2:2,3

Do you desire the pure milk of the word so you can grow? Or have you become stuck and unable to move forward? Your enemy will use whatever he can sink his fingers in that he can use against you to distract you. It’s time to press in, push forward, grab hold of Jesus’s coattails and not let go.

The Struggle

the enemy has taken territory; its time to take it back

Oh my gosh! 21 day prayer journey and I have to say that I am failing at keeping territory the enemy snuck in and stole. That’s right, that thieven enemy entered my territory and managed to take a piece of territory that wasn’t his. How you ask? Well, as much as I hate to admit it, he came at me from the subtle check this out isn’t it the new book in that series you have? approach.

You may or may not remember me mentioning in one of my earlier posts that reading is a weakness for me. I mean put me in a library, leave me food and water and I can easily get lost in the world of books. I have hundreds of books on the bookshelves at home and probably two or three hundred easily on my tablet if not more. Yeah, its that bad. In fact it had gotten to the point I quit purchasing google play cards to keep myself from buying more books. And I had started purchasing google play cards to prevent myself from overspending in our checking account. Yep, bookaholic for sure. So of course after about six or seven months of not buying any books I finally broke down and bought a google card so I could buy a book.

Bought a book and I was fine, read it went on about my business. Started the 21 Day Prayer and there he was, my enemy, leaning against the counter tapping on a book that just so happen to be the next in a series I was reading. I leaned over for a closer look as he slid to the side to allow me a good look at this book I’ve been waiting months to read. Listen, when it comes to Christian romance & suspense, I’m there. Love a good mystery to solve as well.

So my enemy flicked the book open to give me a sample of what was inside. I was hooked. I sat down read the book and when I was finished with it I happened upon two more in a different series that I was reading so of course I just had to have those as well. Needless to say, my prayer time suffered, my devotional time suffered and my blogging suffered as well.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

He stole my time and I let him do it. Didn’t plan on letting him take it but because I wasn’t diligent with spending my time in the Word he was able to sneak in and take over. He’s cunning, sneaky, and if he can’t get to you by intimidation, he will come at you like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And once he has you, the mask comes off and he’ll be laughing in your face at the chaos he creates.

Psalms 143:10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.

May we always make time for the Lord, seeking, searching, praying for His wisdom to guide us on the slippery slope of life. God bless!

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