Last year, I had the urge from God to write and share the things that God has done and continuously doing in my life. I have always wanted to be intimate with the Lord and honor Him through the life that I live in Him. But frankly, there were a lot of distractions that kept me away from fulfilling this desire.
When I decided to create my blog site, where I could freely write my thoughts, I was wondering what tagline would I put in it. Suddenly, I found myself writing “Finding God in the Midst of Everything.” Little did I know that I would really be in a situation where I need to find God in every thing, just for me to keep on moving forward and hold on to the hope that God is in the midst of every thing.
I shared with you how my sickness has caused every thing in my life to shift and take a detour. But this does not keep me from desiring to honor the Lord in every area of my life. As I am wandering in the dark, I keep asking the Lord to help me stand still and to lead me in the direction that He wants me to take as I journey with this new reality in my life. As the Lord is revealing Himself day by day, I am able to know the areas that I need to work on in order for me to create an impact for Him.
Honoring and glorifying the Lord do not come naturally. It is a conscious effort that everyday whenever we wake up, we have the decision that “today, I will honor and glorify the Lord.” As what Paul says “ whether we eat or drink, or whatever you we do, we do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
With the daily pressures and preoccupations in life, walking with the Lord is becoming more and more difficult. Every day, we are bombarded with the things that distract us from the supposedly intimate walk with Him. Honestly, there are times that the first thing that I do when I wake up is to browse my social media account. I know that this is something that I need to always remind myself. When I realized how social media has taken a grip of me, I committed to the Lord to really devote my first time with Him early in the morning.
Today, I would like to share with you some practical ways that might also help you rethink of your daily life in the Lord in line with glorifying and honoring Him all throughout the day:
1. Start the Day Right
How can we start the day right?
I have been reading Elizabeth George’s book on Time Management for Busy Women an d I admire her dedication to fulfilling her daily devotion. In this book she shared 3 steps that will help us to set first things first no matter how hectic and loaded our day is.
Time. Your time is always well-spent when you spend it looking to the Lord through His Word.
First Time. Aim at giving the first minutes of each day to reading the Bible.
Early Time. David encouraged us to offer our early time when he said “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You (Psalm 63:1). David, as we knew is a busy person. But he opted to seek God first that would make his day right.
Seeking the Lord before the world gets into us is the best way to battle the day with preoccupations in life. We need God’s wisdom to direct us the entire day. His Word is our weapon.
2. Maximize our Time (Idleness vs. Productivity)
There are days when I feel like I just want to lay down, watch movies, and take a nap. Although, I committed to use my time wisely, temptations of being idle always comes around. I have noticed how I became lazy in doing valuable things just because I tend to prioritize things that could entertain me.
I have been reading the book “Woman of Splendor” by Linda Weber for months, but until now, I have not finished it yet. Why? Whenever I start reading, the temptation to scroll my Facebook account until I finally realized how I spend like half or an hour of my time just browsing through it. Instead of listening to godly preachings or uplifting songs, I curl up in my bed watching random movies. Although, these things are not sin in nature, the result and impact of doing these things do not count in eternity. It is merely an idle moment. Idleness does not necessarily doing nothing, but doing unnecessary things that doesn’t have an eternal impact.
That’s when I needed to plead to the Lord to help me maximize and use my time wisely for His glory. I am learning now how to apply Ephesians 5:16 that says, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” By the grace of God, I know I can.
3. Choose Gracious More Than Hurtful Words
This maybe the one of the hardest things that we need to be mindful daily. People is always a part of our day. We cannot just lock up ourselves in one place and be isolated for the rest of the day. Talking with them is inevitable. The Bible tells us how “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). Choosing to be gracious with our words tells a lot about our walk with the Lord. As what the Scriptures put it in Luke 6:45,
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which Is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
When we are right with God, whatever we brings out would reflect kindness and grace. Our words have the power to encourage or demotivate a person. May our “speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that we will know how to respond to each person” (Colossians 4:6).
4. Die to Ourselves
Our society teaches us how to love ourselves more than anything else. I have once read a workshop intended to know how women could love themselves more in order to improve the quality of their lives and health. It further stated that loving yourself first would be the best thing in life. Though, it may sound so appealing, the bible tells us otherwise. In the book of Matthew, Jesus said to His disciples that “If any man will come after Him, he must deny himself, and take up the cross, and follow Him.” Obeying the Lord at the same time, denying ourselves is not something that we can do without the Lord’s empowerment. It is an impossible thought, but the Lord honors those who does the right thing despite its difficulty. Dying to self does not mean losing the battle, but trusting the Lord that when we die to ourselves, He is magnified. And proving that we are indeed His disciples.
There are times that it is so tempting to just go for my convenience instead of dying to myself. I would rather do my “things” instead of ministering to others. I would choose being in my room than helping someone, but this is not what the Lord wants me to do. If I truly love Him, then these things should be easy for me to do for Him.
God does not force us to honor and glorify Him in our lives, but our love for Him keeps us from obeying His commandments because His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
Is your life a living testimony that you are His disciple?
Leave a comment