Tag: timewithgod

prayer, Uncategorized

Devotionals

The Kedge Anchor
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Reading God’s Word daily is essential to the Christian life. It’s our lifeline. Reading the God breathed words in the Bible is one way God communicates to us. Praying is talking to God and without prayer and daily communication with God… how does that relationship survive? How do we cope?

Our quiet time, devotionals, Bible study, time with God, whatever you call it looks different for everyone. Some are morning people, some are before bed people, some mid day people. I don’t think it really matters what time of day, just that we “get away often” as Jesus did. Luke 5:16 “But Jesus often went away to be by himself and pray.” The Bible doesn’t say what time of day or for how long, just often.

Now my point here is if you are in the habit daily of getting away and setting time for God, how many times have you said, or heard someone say, “my day just doesn’t go right if I don’t start my day with my devotional” or perhaps something similar. Well, what about the just before bed people? Does that carry over into the day for them? Will their sleep not go well? What about the morning people, will their sleep not go well?

Often times when we get up and hit the floor running, we sometimes don’t have time for a devotional and the day gets away from us and the day seems to go sideways, the car breaks down, sick kid at school, boss got crazy, lose your keys, computer crashes and you think, “see, I didn’t do my devotional.” Well, have you had days when you did your devotional and the day still went bad? I know I have countless times. And here is where I think the difference is; regardless what time of day we choose to spend time with God, life is going to happen. The car will break down, the kids, will get sick, the day can go sideways regardless. God is not punishing us by making the day hard and things braking down because we didn’t spend time with Him. He may use those things to remind us or use them in some way for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). But I know there have been days I have spent time reading and praying and the day still sideways.

So, often it’s easy for me to attach a superstition to this and that’s just another subtle tactic of Satan to get us to feel guilty, like we are a bad Christian, or his popular lie, you’re a failure. God sees your heart. He’s not ready to beat you down with a bad day if you skip or miss time with Him. He never leaves us or forsakes us, (there are many verses about God always being with us, Google it) He is always waiting for us to come to Him. Sure you’re likely to feel a void or an emptiness because you’ve been out of synch but being aware and just having thoughts of God on your mind can be worship. Because think about it, when we worry and have a problem occupying or hearts weighing us down, thought churning in our heads, we are worshipping the problem. God has thought about us, Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (KJV). The difference is, when we spend time with God, no matter what time, when the car breaks down, when the kids are sick, when the day goes sideways, we handle it better. We have been armed with God’s Word (Ephesians 6:11-15). We deal with problems differently. God’s mercies are new each morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Your day is going to go the way it’s going to go. God sees it, no surprise to Him. Just try and make it a priority. Priority just means it gets done, not necessarily first, but done. Keep the lines of communication and worship open when your quiet time looks a little different, sing, think about God, think about getting away with Him and then do it.

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Uncategorized

Homeostasis

The Kedge Anchor
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Homeostasis hō″mē-ō-stā′sĭs

n. A state of equilibrium, as in an organism or cell, maintained by self-regulating processes.

n.The ability and tendency of certain systems to maintain a relatively constant internal state in spite of changes in external conditions; this ability is achieved by the presence of feedback mechanisms which can adjust the state of the system to compensate for changes in the state caused by the external environment. It is exemplified in homeothermal biological systems, such as animals which maintain relatively constant blood temperature and composition in spite of variations in external temperature or the composition of the food ingested.

n.The ability of a system or living organism to adjust its internal environment to maintain a stable equilibrium; such as the ability of warm-blooded animals to maintain a constant temperature.

-American Heritage Dictionary

Back in 2020 our world changed. Our daily lives practically came to a halt, routines changed, nothing was normal. Everything from terminology, commutes, conversations, travel, work, statuses, relationships, everything that we once new as normal changed, disrupting our lives.

Homeostasis is what our physical bodies do when it encounters change in its environment. When it’s cold outside, our bodies form goose bumps raising the hairs on our skin to form a layer of air between the skin and the hair to keep warm. Our bodies are always trying to stay in a constant state of balance, equilibrium.

Why don’t our minds have a homeostasis or do they? When our environment changes in any way, we can perceive it as a threat. Back to it being cold outside, we can be outside enjoying a warm day and then a cold wind can sweep in a cold front and suddenly we are cold and we get goose bumps. But what about our minds? How can we keep our minds stable? Like when our environment effects our minds our spiritual walk can be affected as well. What about spiritual homeostasis?

When the pandemic hit and all these changes happened, how did it affect you spiritually? How easy was it for your mind to feel lost, go in a million directions, forget your routine especially when it came to your time with God? Don’t know about you, but for me it seems like that is the one of the first things to take a hit. Why is it so hard to stay consistent? Daniel in the Bible was abruptly taken from his home, his family and friends. He was taken away from all that he ever knew and thrown into an environment that went completely against what he believed. Babylon was beautiful. Imagine the most beautiful community, manicured lawns, adorned passage ways and buildings with every possible convenience right outside your door. Now there’s nothing wrong with those things but those things have their place (another post for another time).

Daniel was consistent with his walk with God. He remained faithful in praying three times a day to God (Daniel 6:10-17) and remained faithful to his Hebrew culture by continuing to eat healthy and refusing the choice foods from the kings table (Daniel 1:8-16). He resolved to continue to live as he had before he was kidnapped. He was anchored in God’s Word and it was because of his obedience God allowed him to be favored by the king (Daniel chapter 1). For myself, I find comfort in routine. Kinda like in RainMan where Dustin Hoffman playing the part of Raymond Babbit, an older brother with autism. No matter where he was he had to watch Judge Wapner. His younger brother Charlie Babbit played by Tom Cruise, somehow made it happen. He went to the great lengths of knocking on doors of strangers asking if they would let him and his brother in to watch TV. When Charlie recreated the routine or the environment for Raymond, things were good, otherwise Raymond couldn’t cope.

Think about it. How often do you find yourself out of your routine and your time with God gets derailed or pushed aside. Some days it can’t be helped but then one day turns into a week and then two weeks then you can’t remember the last time you spent with God reading His Word. How do we keep a spiritual homeostasis when our routine changes? I find it hard to cope without spending time with God each day. Some days it may happen later in the day, some days it may happen before the sun comes up, depending on what’s on the agenda for the day. But it has to happen so that when the environment changes, I can be consistent with at least one thing and remain faithful to God.

What are some things you do to keep that spiritual homeostasis? What helps you keep an equilibrium when your routine and environment change? Share your thoughts and comments and please like and share.