"About Patience and Prayer"

In the last few months Christ has taught me the importance of prayer, and in prayer He reminds me about having patience in His plan for me. Both things are valuable topics to write about, because without them life could not be successful. Prayer is our power source to God that gives us direction, and energy to move forward with His plan for us. Patience is a way for us to submit ourselves to His will, and it keeps our priorities a lined with His plan. Living His plan is how believers can be successful, and that is how come prayer and patience are valuable topics to be taught by Christ.

Christ not only said His prayers, but He lived His prayer life. That is why Christ is the greatest example to follow on how to pray, and it is not just memorizing the Lord's prayer. Living a life of prayer like Christ takes discipling, dedication, and desire to follow Christ's plan with your entire heart. All of that is expressed with wanting to pray daily, and it is not to do that to get what we want. We should pray daily to know what the Father wants of us, and that takes patience.

To me patience is keeping your thoughts, and body still. That is where you cut things from what you desire, and you listen to the silence. In that you are waiting to hear what God wants to tell you. That to me is a part of patience.

"Alone Time With God"

“Alone Time With God”

My alone time with God has become my favorite part of the day, and I can have my alone time with God anywhere. My favorite places that I like to use for my alone time with God are my apartment, and the prayer room at Thomas Road Baptist Church. It is not so much the places that my make my alone time with God as my favorite part of the day, but what makes my alone time with my God as my favorite part of the day is God revealing Himself to me. While He is revealing Himself to me He is also revealing myself to me, which gives me an open mind about myself. 

God daily reveals that I am unworthy to be in front of Him, and that is why He had to sacrifice His son for me. That is His grace towards me, and without it I am nothing. God’s revelation of myself by Him brings me to His place of solitude that breaks my heart, and opens my mind to learn about Him in what He wants from me. God’s solitude gives me understanding of Him, so that I am clear in what He wants from me. 

In Mark 4:34 it records Jesus time with His disciples, and it states that Jesus would expound on all things to His disciples when they were alone. Jesus expounding on all things gave His disciples understanding, that would be later use by them in the Great Commission. 

As believers in Christ our alone time with God should be a favorite part of the day, and we should guard it the way a bear guards its cubs. We should not let other things interfere with our alone time with God, and while doing our alone time with God we should give Him the same attention that Mary gave Jesus. Alone time with God gives us a reality check of ourselves, and a reality check of our relationship with Him. That is what we need daily, and without our reality check of ourselves with God we become two things. We either become prideful, and later on we become weak. We become prideful, because we do not need God. For we our contempt in where we are at, and become conceited with ourselves. Than something bad happens out of the bloom, and we panic like weaklings. Instead of standing up in the storm in God’s hand, we crumble like the house that was built on sand. Our alone time with God should be asking Him for His strength, but it should be more to it than that.

In our alone time with God we should be looking for His guidance for ministry opportunities, because ministry to others is our calling from God. It is our command in the Great Commission, and that is something to be obeyed by all believers that claim to follow Jesus. 

God revealing our relationship with Him, asking for His strength, and asking Him for understanding for ministry unto others are reasons why it is important for believers to have alone time with God on a daily basis. 

"Value of Rest"

 On the seventh day God rested from all of His work He did into His creation, and His Son Jesus did not always work while He was on earth. He got away from ministering to others by spending time with His Father in prayer, or He relaxed with people close to Him like His family, and disciples. Christ knew that His body needed rest, because it was the house of His Spirit. If His body did not get enough rest, than His Spirit would be weary. In the last three weeks Christ has taught that rest is very valuable, because it allows the Spirit to be re-energized.

Before Christmas break I was planning to go on a mission trip to Alabama, but I did not spend enough time in asking God to see if He wanted me to go like I should have. I was going to Alabama for the right reasons, but that did not give me any peace about going to Alabama. Because of that I decided not to go, and I am glad that I did not go. I instead used my Christmas time to rest, and relax with my family. That time of rest allow my spirit to be re-energize, because it was weary before Christmas time from ministering to others. God knew that I needed time away from ministering others, so He can minister to me. During my rest time God restored my spirit with His word, my family and friends, and physical training. Those things restored my Spirit, and Christ showed me the value of rest.

Christ does not expect His followers to be like Energize bunnies to where we keep going without rest, because He did not do that. Christ got away from His ministry to spend time with His Father to allow His Father to minister to Him, and also to enjoy life with others. Christ expects His followers to do the same, because He wants us to enjoy what He gave us with His creation. On the seventh day God rested, and there was joy in His heart when He saw all that He created. God expects us also to enjoy what He created, and to enjoy what God created is another added value to rest.