Quiet Times

2 Corinthians 10:5

"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to 

the obedience of Christ..."

I am thankful for time alone with the Lord focused solely on Him. Whether it’s reading His Word, meditating on His Word or Him in some way, praying and talking with Him, singing to Him, writing to and about Him, or any other form in which we can focus on Him alone. That time of undivided attention is such a great help.

More time spent with your focus in the right place has a tendency to perpetuate itself. I remember hearing as a teenager “what you put in comes out” in reference to what you watch, read, etc. I understood the concept and knew it was true to a degree, but didn’t really pay much attention to it. I wasn’t putting bad things in. Yet, though I was putting some good things in, I wasn’t being intentional about it. That intentionality goes a very long way.

Since I have begun the intentional discipline of being thankful, I have learned so much, and my relationship with God has grown deeper, my walk with God richer, my life - now more fully in God - brighter. It isn’t just thankfulness that has helped, though. It’s being intentional - disciplined - about walking with Him in general. It’s “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b), with which the thankfulness has helped.

God is amazing. I cannot say it enough. His love for us, His grace, His joy, are beyond my comprehension, yet because of them it is my privilege to partake of them - abundantly!

I used to think those “mountaintop highs” in my spiritual walk were great, but just another part of the roller coaster of life. The more I focus on Him, the more I live in Him, the more I’m realizing the roller coaster doesn’t have to be such a roller coaster. Those highs don’t have to be at a christian camp, and you don’t have to wait for God to “move” to get to that mountaintop. He is always moving in the lives of His children, we just have to shift our focus to Him to see it. That makes for a lot more mountaintops and far fewer valleys.

Not to say there won’t be valleys. However, when we draw on the joy of the Lord, those valleys don’t have such a hold on us. He has freed us, not only from the bondage of sin, but from the cares of this world. We can rest in His peace that, “...weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5b) Soon, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain...” (Revelation 21:4) because He is coming!

Look to Him and see eternity. That is the God we serve, the God we have a personal relationship with, and the God who always cares for us. Quiet times may seem like a tiny step in our relationship with Him, but this is what He does with them, which is why they are so important, and why I am so thankful for them. 

God. Is. Amazing!