On Wednesday of this week, I spoke with a friend on the phone. We always talk about God or the things of God, we seldom have ‘small talk.’ As we talked today she shared how God had spoken to her about time, she shared that the first thing she did was look up what the internet said about time. I laughed and said ‘God has been speaking to me about the importance of the Holy Spirit.’ I said ‘the first thing I did was order four books on the power of the Holy Spirit. I knew instantly that God was telling each of us to look only to Him for our answers…if we were going to Google something, Google God. We both laughed but we got the message loud and clear.
We hung up and I sent her a text and said ‘you get your bible and see what God says about time and I will grab my bible and see what God says about the Holy Spirit.’ She later texted me and said the first thing she found was the ‘test of time.’ Now, I thought she meant passing the test of the time in between prayer and the answer to that prayer manifesting…you know, standing in faith until you see the answer to prayer – but she was referring to another aspect of time – she was talking about what we do with our time. It caused me to think and ponder on what God was showing us about time.
What are we doing with our time? Are we passing the test of time? Two things, in my opinion, will expose where our priorities lie. One is what you do with your time and the second is what you do with your money.
Are we putting God first in both? I began to look at my days and really evaluate how much time I was spending with God. I looked at how much time I was spending doing other things – meaningless things – things that will not produce any good fruit – not bad things, not sinful things – but unproductive things.
For instance, I love to watch Fixer Upper – it is interesting to me how Joanna and Chip Gaines take a home and completely redo it – there is absolutely nothing wrong with that show. But, I watch one show, then another and before I know it I have spent three hours watching this show that produces absolutely no fruit in my life. If I spent the same amount of time with God, the fruit would be much different from what it is when I spend three hours watching Fixer Upper.
My question is, what kind of fruit are you seeing in your life? What fruit is coming from your time? Perhaps you spend all your time working in your job or business and maybe it is producing fruit. Perhaps you spend all your time with your family – I know that produces awesome fruit and is much needed. But what about your free time? What do you do with your free time? Do you take time to spend with God daily or do you remember God late at night when you are exhausted and worn out from the day – do you take those last ten minutes and say ‘thank you God for this day – I will talk with you tomorrow’ only to have to get up and hit the ground running once again?
I am only responsible for me and my time, and this day has really caused me to stop and take a look at my time. Today, I spent the entire day worshipping God. I did not turn my television on at all – I wanted to a couple times but I remembered those words….are you passing the test of time? I kept worship music playing all day and kept my mind on God. Did I miss anything? No. I still cooked dinner for my daughter and grandkids – we still spent some great time together – but the rest of the time my mind stayed on God. This day I can say I passed the test of time. But I don’t pass that test every day. There are times I fail that test for a few days – I find myself so busy that I can’t get continual time to spend with God. On those days when night comes I can feel the difference. I feel tired and spiritually exhausted – not built up in my spirit as I would have if I had spent more time with God. When I spend my time with God I can feel HIS life flow through me.
Life flows from God. LIFE, the ZOE life of God, flows from Him, we can’t have that continual flow without continually making time for God. I don’t know about you but I am tired of those spurts of LIFE and ready for the continual flow that the life of God brings – to have that, I am going to have to pass the test of time and make sure that I am spending continual time with God, continual time in prayer, continual time in worship – if I don’t, I will find myself mentally and spiritually exhausted.
Friends, we all have the same 24 hours in a day – we all have the same opportunities – what are you doing with your time? Are you making time for God? If you are you will find fruit coming from that time. If you are not seeing the fruit of the Zoe life of God, check your time and what you are doing with your time, perhaps you are neglecting time with God. If so, don’t beat yourself up, simply change and begin to spend continual time with Him, quality time with Him. LIFE…that is what I want to see for each of us…the ZOE life of God…it flows from spending time with Him…continually. Make Him your priority today.
