Tag: Quiet Time

  • Having Devotions: Fuelling your hunger for God

    Having Devotions: Fuelling your hunger for God

    Hello there!

    Welcome to the second part of the series on ‘Having Devotions‘. If you are yet to, please read the first part here.

    In the first part of this series, we concluded that the first step to having a consistent and effective devotional life is to have a hunger and thirst for God. In this post, I’ll share with you practical ways in which you can fuel that hunger for God. Again, we’re still laying the foundation required for our devotional life. Without this hunger, our devotional time with God cannot be sustained or effective.

    What does a hunger for God mean? It means a strong desire and longing for God. Psalm 42:1 says: As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.

    If we are indeed hungry for God, he’s going to fill us up – Matthew 5:6

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (NIV)

    You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. (MSG)

    So how then can we cultivate this hunger and thirst?

    • Pray for it. If you desire to hunger for more of God, then pray for it. Oftentimes, we want to use our abilities to do God’s bidding.  Meanwhile, God is waiting for us to reach out and ask for help. A sincere prayer from your heart: Lord, I desire to long for you more, I want to be hungrier and more passionate about you, help my heart, oh Lord. Show me how to cultivate a hunger and a thirst for You, Oh Lord. According to your word in Romans 5:5, may the Holy Spirit spread the love of Christ abroad in my heart. Yes, it’s as simple as that. Pray it daily and every time you remember your need to love God more. I pray that God will stir up our hearts towards Himself in Jesus name. Amen. 🙏
    • Use your ears – Listen up. Yes, you can use your ears to cultivate a hunger and thirst for God. Deliberately listen to things that will stir you up. Listen to worship music playing; listen to Christian messages from people your heart connects to; listen to the audio Bible. One thing that also stirs me up is listening to interviews, interviews of men and women of God doing great things in the kingdom. Oftentimes, their stories inspire me to long for God and press for more.
    • Use your mouth – Declare it: If you are really struggling with devotion to God, you need to declare it and speak it to yourself. Take Psalm 42:1-2 and speak it to yourself. Speak it to yourself until it becomes your reality. Our mind follows in the direction of our spoken word, and when you speak God’s word, it’s so powerful that it creates what is being spoken.

    As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

    • Fellowship with other believers: For they go from strength to strength, everyone that appears before God in Zion (Psalm 84:7). Make time to join other believers in fellowship and in church services. And when you do go to church, amidst the distractions, try to maintain your focus on God. It’s like a power charger. When you join in fellowship, you turbocharge your spirit man, and you’re empowered. You’re able to then take that empowerment into your own personal life.
    • Use your time. Yes, time is needed in our devotion, but even yet, time is needed to build that hunger for God. You need time to listen and declare as discussed above. You need time to fellowship with other believers. Shift your time, shift your focus, and use it for what matters most. Invest your time daily in building that hunger for God.
    • Cut off. Yes, you need to cut off things that take your devotion away from God. Cut off your excessive time on social media, on watching TV, so that you can make time for what matters, and make time for the One that matters.
    • Use your will. Be deliberate, focus on your hunger for God and choose to desire God. You can work up your appetite for God. 1 Peter 2:2

    Be assured that when you come with a hunger and thirst for God, God will satisfy you. As it is written in Psalm 107:9 “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things”.

    If you are interested in joining a Group Coaching Call (in the future) for further support on Having Devotions with God, please fill in this form to join the waitlist: https://forms.gle/rd9DYqVfm3N9RwHb6

  • Having Devotions

    Having Devotions

    Hello there!

    Great to have you here. On this blog, I share faith-inspired content on how to live a purposeful life. In this series, I am sharing about Having daily devotions with God. This is a topic that has been on my mind for a while now. And we’ll be looking at the importance and the secret to having effective and consistent daily devotions with God.

    But first, what does ‘devotion’ mean? In this context, a devotion refers to your personal quiet time with God, when you decide to pause other activities to spend time with God in worship, prayer and study of the Word. It is a deliberate act of communing with God.

    So, before we get onto the post, how would you assess your devotional life? Do you have consistent devotions with God? Has it been a long time since you had that personal devotional time just to worship God and commune with Him? When do you have your devotional time – is it scheduled, or do you just see how your schedule goes?

    And when you do have your devotional time, what do you do? Do you read your Bible? Do you pray, do you worship? Do you get distracted, or are you really able to make time out for God? I want you to assess yourself and ask, “What is my devotional life like?” This is important because an honest assessment is required for growth in any area of life. If you understand the current state of your devotional life, then you will know whether you’re doing well, whether you want to improve on it, or whether you actually need to start it.

    Primarily, God wants a relationship with us, and a devotional time is very important because that is one way that we are able to pause, reflect and commune with God. We’re able to pause and worship God and pray to Him, relate to Him, and also hear from Him by reading His Word.

    John 15:15 TPT: [15] I have never called you ‘servants,’ because a master doesn’t confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But I call you my most intimate and cherished friends, for I reveal to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father.

    Why is a daily devotional time with God important? God wants to have fellowship with us. God wants to be our friend – just like with the disciples as seen in that Bible verse John 15:15. God wants us to abide in Him, and He wants to abide in us. God loves us and desires our devotion to him. Setting aside time to fellowship with God is primarily for that reason – fellowship. Beyond what we stand to get from God, He desires our fellowship. Imagine this, the Creator – God Almighty Himself, is knocking at your door, asking for some time with you – are you shunning him, or making excuses about meeting him later, are you too busy for the one who matters most?

    1 Corinthians 1:9 (TLB) – God will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, even Christ our Lord.

    Personalize this: God wants to fellowship with me. God wants to be my friend. God wants to relate with me. And my having a devotional time with Him is me responding to say, “Yes, Lord, I also want to fellowship with you. I also want to be your friend. I also want to know you.” 

    Yes – God wants us to know Him. God loves us, even before we loved him and He’s constantly reaching out to us.

    Jeremiah 29:13-14: [13-14] “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

    Your devotional time is responding to God’s love for you. Not having a devotional time is saying, “God, I’m not quite interested. There are other things that are more important than fellowship with you right now. There are other things that are more important than knowing you right now.” “There are other things that are more important than you.” That’s what not having a devotional time with God means. And it also indicates pride. “I’m fine by myself. I can do it by myself. I don’t need you, God. I can run my life myself”.  Take a moment to pause to think about that. If you go a week without communing with God, what does it mean – you’re too busy at that time for Him, and you don’t really see your need for fellowship with Him.

    That is basically what it means. So being able to have a devotional time with God is really about our hunger and our thirst for Him. Do we still hunger for and desire Him? Do we still thirst for Him and long for Him? Do we still stand in awe of Him?

    Let us remain in awe of Him, in hunger for Him, and then having a devotional time with God will just tend and flow from that point.

    Prayer: Father, give me fresh hunger and reverence for you. Give me fresh awe of you. Give me a fresh hunger and desire for you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

    If you are interested in joining a Group Coaching Call (in the future) for further support on Having Devotions with God, please fill in this form to join the waitlist: https://forms.gle/rd9DYqVfm3N9RwHb6