One of the most important things a believer does is spend time with God. If we were to walk up to people on the street and ask them, ¡§Do you think that if someone called themselves a Christian that they should pray¡¨ The answer would be duh, of course. If we were to ask them do they think a Christian should read the Bible ¡V wouldn¡¦t we get the same answer?
This morning, I am not trying to persuade you that you should have a quiet time, But for the purpose of having a starting point ¡V let¡¦s assume that we believe that it is important, whether we are currently having one or not, ok? If you aren¡¦t convinced of this ¡V I encourage you to get last week¡¦s tape.
Why, when a believer in Christ makes a commitment to or begins to have a quiet time do they have such difficulty or problems continuing this on a regular basis?
I believe that because it is one of the most important things we do as followers of Christ and when we do the impact on us is amazing ¡V that Satan will fight you tooth and nail to keep you from spending time with God. It is a spiritual battle.
Now be real with me for a minute. When I say spiritual battle ¡V what video clip goes on in your mind? Is it the old country western where the cowboy dressed in white faces the cowboy dressed in black for a showdown at the O.K. Corral? Maybe for you it is the Star Wars version where the force is fighting the dark side with light sabers and spiritual powers. This is the clip that goes through my head (play video clip from Lord of the Rings 2:07:30 to 2:08:42). Ok, I like the drama of the battle.
Satan, you see, hates nothing more than when a Christian gets down to business with God. He knows we are very dangerous to him and his kingdom when we are empowered by God through prayer and time in His word. So he leaves the drama of spiritual battles to Hollywood and his battles are fought more subtly. This first spiritual battle is one that many of us fight and not just once, but over and over. This battle would actually make a boring movie compared to the last clip.
The Spiritual Battle of the Centuries is the battle of the BLANKETS.
Every single morning what stands between you & spiritual empowerment is 56 square feet of cotton or wool. This stuff wouldn¡¦t even be able to stop a bullet, but don¡¦t put your guard down, because this seemingly harmless blanket has stopped many men and women from becoming a mighty man or woman of God.
Listen, one of the greatest and most common problems you will face is the discipline of getting out of bed in the morning to have your quiet time with God. The moment you wake up you are faced with the most important decision of your life ¡V am I going to get out of bed and have my quiet time?
Satan must be an early riser, because he is wide awake and doing his very best to keep us in those blankets. He will exaggerate how you didn¡¦t get enough sleep and you didn¡¦t sleep well, and you are so tired, and you just need a few more minutes, etc. And your flesh the whole time is going yes, Yes, YES! These dynamic duos have put the spiritual sleep hold on many believers keeping them powerless and ineffective.
In winning battles, it is not when we are at our best ¡V being at your peek performance for 15 minutes ¡V that counts. What counts is when you win the battles when you are vulnerable. Have you heard the phrase ¡V the chain is only as strong as its weakest link?
Man, to preach this kind of stuff isn¡¦t very impressive is it. Be let¡¦s be real! If we don¡¦t win this battle ¡V we aren¡¦t going to win too many others. This is a battle of discipline. It almost seems at times that those blankets have voices that talk so sweet and the ability to wrap around you making it more difficult to leave. But we need super strength to break out of their bonds and become Super Believer.
Here¡¦s a few thoughts on how to win the battle.
1) Go to bed on time
a. There is something about getting up in the morning that is harder when we don¡¦t go to bed on time. Burning the candle on both ends waxes you out. Many of us like to stay up late. Why did it seem the best shows where on late at night? After the 11:00 clock news was Johnny Carson and then David Letterman, Mash reruns were always late at night. Nothing new here, but is whatever you are staying up late for ¡V more important than your quiet time with God? To win the battle of the Blankets ¡V go to bed on time. Make it your priority. For generations people went to bed when it was dark and got up when it was light.
2) Get up immediately upon waking
a. Have you ever seen a 100 yard dash where you couldn¡¦t tell who won the race without replaying it in slow motion. It is so close literally by a tenth of second is the race won or lost. The battle of the blankets is also won or lost in a few seconds, but it is the first few seconds that determines the outcome. If you wait to think about it, to check and see if you feel rested, you lost. Don¡¦t even pray about it ¡V just get up. You get up to pray, don¡¦t pray about getting up. If you want to pray about getting up ¡V do that the night before and ask God to give you the willpower to get up on time!
b. Proverbs 6:6-9
Take a lesson from the ants. You lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: a little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest ¡V and even poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. Living Bible
3) Go To Bed with Scriptures on your mind
a. Psalm 63: 1 O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is; 2 To see your power and your glory, as I have seen you in the holy place. 3 Because your mercy is better than life, my lips will give you praise. 4 So will I go on blessing you all my life, lifting up my hands in your name. 5 My soul will be comforted, as with good food; and my mouth will give you praise with songs of joy; 6 When the memory of you comes to me on my bed, and when I give thought to you in the night-time. 7 Because you have been my help, I will have joy in the shade of your wings. 8 My soul keeps ever near you: your right hand is my support.
If the enemy can¡¦t keep us in the blankets, he again applies his next weapon subtly. He doesn¡¦t pull out his sword and alert you to the Battle ¡V he fights you in the Battle of the BLAHS. Now some of you didn¡¦t realize that this was a battle, others are thinking where did this guy go to Bible School ¡V in Acme (for all you Roadrunner fans). Another common response from people for not having a quiet time ¡V is a dry spell, it¡¦s become boring.
The first thing we need to realize in the battle of the blahs is that we can never judge the outcome of our quiet time by our emotions. Our emotions can be wacked at times. We can¡¦t trust our emotions ¡V sometimes they tell the truth other times they lie. Feelings are any more reliable ¡V they come and go as they please.
Our quiet times are similar to our diet. Sometimes we eat banana splits ¡V and the taste buds explode with excitement. Then there is the day in and day out of eating the basics, meat, vegetables, grains, fruit, etc. Then there are times were we eat things that are good for us that we don¡¦t really like, but they are very nutritious (full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber) ƒº But sometimes we have to eat or take medicine. It tastes awful.
Joke about Regi Schexnider¡¦s mom making him swallow Vicks Vapor Rub. If putting it on the outside of the body is good, putting it on the inside is even better.
Every morning won¡¦t be banana splits. You won¡¦t experience the heavenly host descending into your prayer closet and singing the Hallelujah Chorus every morning. Some mornings you won¡¦t get your Holy Spirit goose bumps, but does that make it less important ¡V NO! Try stop eating for 40 days and tell me if eating isn¡¦t important. Don¡¦t let the once in a while BLAHS keep you from God¡¦s best.
But what happens if these things are NOT once-in-a-while BLAHS. What if you hit a long period of spiritual dryness? If you feel like you are in a spiritual desert, it could be the result of one of the following causes:
1) Disobedience
Is there any unconfessed sin in your life? God won¡¦t show you anything new until you do what He has already shown you. If God showed you something 3 months ago and you haven¡¦t done it ¡V He will not reveal the next step to you until you obey Him.
It seems that there was a little old church out in the countryside: painted white and with a high steeple.
One Sunday, the pastor noticed that his church needed painting. He checked out the Sunday ads and found a paint sale. The next day, he went into town and bought a gallon of white paint. He went back out to the church and began the job.
He got done with the first side. It was looking great. But he noticed he had already used a half gallon. He didn’t want to run back in town and being the creative person that he was, he found a gallon of thinner in the shed out back, and began to thin his paint.
It worked out great. He finished the remaining three sides with that last half gallon of paint.
That night, it rained: it rained hard. The next morning when he stepped outside of the parsonage to admire his work, he saw that the first side was looking great, but that the paint on the other three sides had washed away.
The pastor looked up in sky in anguish and cried out, "What shall I do?"
A voice came back from the heavens saying, "Repaint, and thin no more!"
In 1 Peter 3:7 it talks about how a husband should treat his wife. In the Bible it says, ¡§If you don¡¦t treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard.¡¨
2) Your Physical Condition
Like we mentioned earlier, if you don¡¦t get enough rest ¡V it is hard to get anything out of your quiet time. There is a correlation between the physical and the spiritual. I can¡¦t say this with a lot of conviction, but it is true. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to bed earlier.
3) Trying to do too much in a hurry
One brother said, ¡§Hurry is the death of prayer.¡¨ The same is true with your quiet time. Rushing through with the eye on the clock will ruin your time with God. Don¡¦t try to read 7 chapters, pray for yourself, your family, your church, your friends & neighbors, your work, your relatives, your leaders, problems in your city, state and country, for missionaries, and for nations that are persecuting believers ¡V all of this in 15 minutes. That¡¦s too much in a hurry. Slow down, go for quality and content.
Luke 10:40
But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
Don¡¦t read until you have no more need, or read until you bleed. Read till you get a seed.
4) Be in a rut
When your quiet time becomes a ritual instead of a relationship ¡V it¡¦s dead. It¡¦s time for CPR. If you are just reading your 3 chapters a day instead of having an excitement about spending time meeting the living God ¡V you are in danger. Meet a person ¡V not a habit. Be a flexible. Change your routine, perhaps your location. Go on a prayer walk at a beautiful location, read a new translation, get a new worship Cd.
5) Not sharing your insights with others
It is true in nature that a pond that only has input without an outlet will stagnate. The same is true of a Christian who only receives and never gives. If your quiet time has been dry for some time - Start sharing your quiet time insights with others. One of our leaders was telling me that they had some great insights that God had given them or they had learned, but they didn¡¦t want to share it until there was a bigger group ¡V but when you share what you have ¡V God gives you more!
I have a friend who goes into his office early and takes the first hour for his quiet time. He began writing down the insights he gets and since 2001 he has 458 pages in Microsoft Word. He shared some of them with some co-workers and now he has a whole email list of people he sends a daily devotional to. If he is not careful he could be tempted to measure himself by what others think of what he wrote. But he pushes through that and at times when he doesn¡¦t feel like he got a whole lot, he will get an email from someone that says thanks for sharing that ¡V that¡¦s right where I am and that¡¦s exactly what I needed to read.
Once you won these first two battles, the devil won¡¦t just quit and give up. He will attack you again with a third battle called the Battle of the Brain. I am not talking about renewing your mind ¡V that¡¦s another sermon. This is where you slay the blankets and beat the blahs. You are having your quiet time with God and it seems like every creak in the house happens at once, your light bulb burns out, it¡¦s too cold or hot, you feel hungry, your worship CD is missing, you had enough sleep, but you still keep falling asleep. What do you do? Go to battle.
My place for my quiet time is in our basement. It is usually cold down there. I dress warm, I have a ceramic heater, but sometimes that puts me to sleep ¡V I will do some jumpy jacks or some crunchies. I can¡¦t pray sitting down ¡V I almost always fall asleep or mind drift ¡V so I walk and sometimes I pray out loud.
If the enemy tries to remind me of all the things I need to do ¡V I write them down so I can forget about them and go ahead and pray.
R.G. Lee used to say, ¡§If you wake up in the morning and don¡¦t meet the devil face on, it just means you¡¦re headed in the same direction.¡¨
Let¡¦s take him on ¡V let¡¦s pull back the blankets, beat the blah¡¦s and focus our brain on meeting with God. You will be glad you did.
