Wendy Pope
"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people." 1 Corinthians 14:33 (NLB)
A life of balance; a life of peace; a life of order; do those phrases stir a longing deep inside you? Have you gotten to the point that your to-do lists have lists? Then to make matters even more frustrating you can't find your list. I heard it put this way by one of my favorite pastors, do you feel like you are stuck in a cul-de-sac and can't get out?
Oh yes, I have been there…stuck in the cul-de-sac going nowhere. I became so tired of going in circles and getting nowhere that I was desperate enough to ask God for help. Today's verse reminds us that disorder or confusion is not of God. Our God is a God of peace and order. As I began to seek God's help in taking a hard right out of the cul-de-sac of nowhere, I realized that I can enjoy the peace and balance God intends for me to have by choosing His plans for me over the world’s demands of me. The world’s demands of me include:
· Well-mannered and clean children
· A clean house
· A well manicured yard
· An updated and stylish wardrobe topped off with perfect nails and teeth
· Perfect church attendance... committee attendance... game attendance
· The absence of any turmoil or distraction
· A booming career
This, I discovered, is not God’s definition of balance. Prayerfully, through today's devotion, you can glean from my experience and with God's help, take the first sharp right turn to escape from the cul-de-sac to nowhere.
Saying YES
The first step in getting out of the cul-de-sac to nowhere is not a very popular one among busy women. It requires you to get out of bed and give up well-deserved and much-needed sleep! It is: Say “yes” to a daily prayer time each morning before you meet your family or leave for work.
Throughout the Psalms are references of meeting the Lord in the morning. Those verses will be listed at the end of the devotion, just in case you need proof. (I did.) Sacrificing sleep was not at all what I wanted to do. It wasn’t that I didn't want to meet with the Lord each day. I just really loved to sleep. However, this has been the best thing for me and provides the most effective tool I have in bringing balance to my life.
To put my mind at ease with the sacrifice He was calling me to make, God let the truth of Psalm 127:2 settle in my heart: "He gives sleep to those He loves." Let it settle in your heart and life too. Rest assured that He loves you. Remember He sent His Son to die so you would have eternal life. With that same love He will bless you with sleep even when you give it up for Him. Try it! He will amaze you!
Join me for tomorrow's devotion where we will learn when to say “No and Maybe.”
Dear Lord, You are the Creator God. You created the world in perfect order and so is Your design for my life. I have gotten off track. My desire is to align my life with Your principles and yes to You today. Help me get up each day to spend time with You. I trust You to return back to me that which I give up: sleep. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Pierced By the Word: 31 Meditations for Your Soul by John Piper
31 Days of Prayer by Ruth Myers
A Woman's Secret to a Balanced Life by Lysa TerKeurst and Sharon Jaynes
Application Steps:
Choose a place in your home where you can meet with the Lord. Put a Bible there. Bookmark the Bible to Psalms 1. Set your alarm clock 15 minutes early. When the alarm rings each morning get out of bed, go to your chosen place, and read Psalm 1 then pray. Follow the same steps each day reading the next Psalm.
Reflections:
What "false god" do you put before God? (i.e. sleep)
What makes spending time with God so difficult?
Power Verses:
Psalm 5:3, “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” (NIV)
Psalm 65:8, "Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.”
Psalm 88:13, "But I cry to you for help, O LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you."
Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."
Labels: Balance
10 Comments:
Oh how I needed this devotion. I can't wait for tomorrow to read Part 2! I, too, and having trouble saying Yes to spending time w/ the Lord in the morning. I try every morning to sqeak out just a few extra Zzzzzs to make up for the minutes, or sometimes hours, spent with my 1 yr old son in the middle of the night. Oh Lord, please help me to claim your promise to give me sleep!
Oh my God....I just found this site this morning while looking for something on Prov.31. This is awesome! It's exactly what I needed to hear right now in my life. Thank you God for sending me here. You always know what I need to see and when I need to see it.
I try to read the Proverbs 31 Ministries Devotional daily. However, I was distracted this morning. My sister sent me the link at about 10:30am, and I stopped to read it. When I read it I realized that God did not want me to miss today's devotional. Every night before I go to bed, I say that I will get up and spend time with God. However, every morning, I do something else, because I seem to always be in a RUSH! I've heard the expression when God whispers you much LISTEN.
Thank you for whispering to me!
HE is always on time. This only reinforces what my heart has been telling me all along. For a couple months I have set my alarm an hour ahead so I could spend time with the Lord, but I failed to do so. The time is NOW. I must sacrifice sleep and be in HIS presence.
Wendy....God spoke to me through you...thanks for sharing...God bless you....
I have been greatly encouraged by the Proverb31 Ministry. It really has changed my life and its my prayer to spend most of my times with God. I pray that God intervenes in my life and all that I do. I hope this ministry will be of help in my life. Thanks for today,s devotion, it really was great!!!!!!!!
Thank you for this. I thought I was the only one who struggled with getting up to spend time with God. I fail miserably but by God's grace and the knowledge that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to sacrifice that sleep, I'm going to make a change. I need that change. God Bless.
I have been struggling with this, too. I have been trying to get up an hour early and part of the time I have been successful but som many times I am not. I find myself doing whatever I see that needs to be done or exercising. I try to get up at 6am which is an hour before my exercise shows. When I am able to spend that time with the Lord, I am so centered and peaceful. God gives me grace for those things that blind-side you but if I get off-track then it is the treadmill. Thanks for this devotional. It is just what I needed today.
I had been feeling very chaotic and overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the things that go along with being a wife and working mom. I was craving peace and just couldn't get any. I have looked at the proverbs 31 site off and on for the past few years. So I searched the site and found this devotional. It was EXACTLY what I needed to hear! I too love my sleep, but know I need to meet with the Lord in the morning. I am so encouraged by this devotional and God's promises. Thank you God, for this site and the people you created to minister it to us!!
On how I needed this devotional, I beleive God used you to speak to me. I pray for God's Grace to be able to wake up tomorrow and also become my daily routine all the days of my life. Thank You so much
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