Spending Time with God and Ensuring Your Windows Are Open
Do you find yourself spending time with God—
Only in the mornings?
At night right before bed?
Did you know you can talk to God anytime throughout the day? I know, strange right? (wink, wink) In fact, you’ll find it refreshing to have this open window of communication with Jesus, similar to a cool summer breeze. Throughout this blog post, I will be discussing—
Why it’s important to be spending time with God.
Different ways and times in your day to talk with God.
How to get closer to God with THREE specific scriptures.
Are you ready to expand your communication with God beyond your morning meditations and nightly prayers? Let’s dive in, shall we…
Spending Time With God
I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here near the Rocky Mountains, we are starting to experience the first signs of Spring. For the most part, it has started warming up throughout the day, so much so that people have their windows down while driving and wearing flip-flops while walking.
Everyone is outside enjoying the sunshine and the season of growth is upon us.
Spring brings in the fresh breeze you can feel all around and refreshes my soul.
If I'm walking, I enjoy it to cool me off (I notice it), and if I'm sitting outside, I'll often close my eyes just to feel the breeze (I look for it). I promise you I don't plan on talking about how much I love the feeling of the wind this entire post, but let me ask you this…
Can you think of anything else we perhaps close our eyes to experience or look to for refreshment?
Maybe something that we notice only sometimes when we are busy but often look for it when we're still?
How about our experiences with God or our daily interactions with Jesus?
Talk With God Through An Open Window
Just like the wind, we know He is there. Yet we can't see Him with our eyes, and it takes some time to understand how to feel Him with our hearts and hear Him in our minds if we aren't actively looking for it. I wish I could tell you a foolproof way to hear from God that you would never second guess yourself again, but he speaks to us in many different ways.
I can tell you that being familiar with Him and being able to experience Him as part of your everyday life starts with a relationship.
What do you do when you are trying to get to know someone? You talk to them.
What do you do when you are interviewing someone? You ask questions.
You don't ask questions like, " What did you have for breakfast today?"; instead, you ask questions to get to the heart of the person, who they are, and what they stand for— to build a relationship with anyone involves asking questions to get to know them better.
Asking questions and listening to the answers are not possible without an open window of communication. (see what I did there?!)
How to Get Closer To God Through Scripture
Step #1: Seeking Him is Realizing He is Everywhere
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
Step one can be challenging if you aren’t ACTIVELY seeking Him with all of your heart. He is everywhere. God never leaves or forsakes us; even in mundane times, He is there. I've heard some people pretend they’re sitting across the table from Him, talking aloud, having a conversation. Other people seem to remind themselves that the Holy Spirit is inside them and sense a sort of filling-up or overflow of the heart– taking deep breaths to "fill themselves up with the spirit" and exhale negativity or anything that isn't pleasing in the sight of God.
However you choose to remind yourself of the omnipresence of God, it is important to keep your senses attuned and sharpened, and present as God will use the littlest things throughout your day to speak to you. There are so many books on this subject. If you're interested in some of my recommendations, let me know. I'd love to talk about this further!
Step #2: Pray Without Ceasing
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Praying IS NOT all about asking to receive but also about giving thanks. From a thankful heart comes a humble heart, and from a humble heart comes one that God can transform.
Having young children, I tend to narrate everything I do with them throughout the day. For example, “Mommy is going to change your diaper and then get you dressed.” or “Yes, we are going to have a snack, but first, we need to clean your hands.” While I’m not suggesting you narrate your day to God about you doing the dishes and then the laundry, I am suggesting you remember that He is with you everywhere, every moment of every day. Sometimes we just need to turn to Him first before we turn to other things (or people!). The ways in which we turn to Him should be practical and purposeful as these two things need to honor God with our intentions.
God longs to be active in your decision-making process, not only acknowledged after the fact.
For Example–
Including God in your decision-making process when your child is misbehaving.
“God, my child is misbehaving and pushing all my buttons. Lord, give me the wisdom to handle the situation with grace and show me how to respond in love. I want to respond to her in the spirit, not in my flesh, because my flesh has zero patience and will react instead of respond.”
There are endless ways to communicate with God that is not just asking when you are in need. Remember to include Him in your decision-making process, praise Him, and share your needs.
Step #3: Remain Connected to Him
“Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” John 5:19
A few weeks ago, I read “The Shack,” a fictional book discussing God’s role in our lives. One of the things that stuck out to me that I never considered before was that Jesus didn’t come to earth with his own power. He only did everything he did on earth through connection with our Heavenly Father.
Jesus remained in the Father, and as a result, He could do his Father’s will. That is what life is about– remaining in Jesus so we can do His will by following all the prompting, the nudges, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What if, instead of thinking that we need to pray, seek Jesus or try to find Him from our efforts and abilities– instead, we looked at these things as a reflection of being connected to Him?
Out of His Spirit inside of us comes the connection and the recognition of “the wind” blowing through the window and hearing God’s whispers, and being rendered by the glory of God’s creation. Seeking God as our Father, receiving and giving His love to others. It isn’t easy to remain connected with Him throughout the day, but it is the only way to be fully who we are created to be. To remain and abide is to be alive and free.
Final Thoughts
There we have it, friends. Meditating on these three scriptures allows us to seek him– as we seek the Lord, we surrender our will for His. We pay close attention to the stillness we are called to and continue to align our hearts with His. We pray to Him– this demonstrates our faith in action. Our spiritual windows need to remain open as we view prayer as an ongoing conversation with God.
We abide in Him– there is no you without God. He created you to be in connection and dependence on Him. By abiding in Him, you ensure that you are not following your own ways but His ways. Having your spiritual windows open allows God to speak to you in a way that you may never have experienced before.
God will speak to you in the quiet and stillness of your heart, and He honors our obedience to spend time with Him. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to approach your time with God. As long as your spiritual eyes and ears remain open and your heart remains humble and thankful, then you will be able to experience God in a much deeper way.
I pray blessings of open windows and humble and thankful hearts over every one of you! If you feel called to continue the conversation, feel free to head over to my social media, instagram/fb @stephaniemillercoach, and let me know how you keep your windows open!