Are You Making Time for GOD? How to Be Intentional During Your Busy Schedule. 3 Steps to Implement.

Has your life been chaotic lately?

Have you been finding it hard to make time for GOD?

Do you feel like there is not enough time in the day to get it all done?

Trust me... I've been there.

In today's episode, I will go over how to be intentional in your relationship with God and what it means to be intentional even with a busy schedule. I will be pairing this with pair, scripture, and 3 practical steps to implement.

First, I want to say a quick prayer: Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. LORD, I pray that you open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our minds to you. LORD, I pray that you put a burning desire, passion, and consuming fire in our hearts to love you, know you, be in relationship with you, and be intentional with our relationship with you. LORD, please open up our eyes to see the truth. I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this episode, that they receive it and they implement it in their daily lives. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Over the last few weeks, we've talked about not being conformed to this world and the importance of guarding our hearts and our minds. We've talked about who the Holy Spirit is, how we get the Holy Spirit, and all about the Holy Spirit. Now today I wanted to get into being intentional with our relationship and spending time with God even in our busy schedules because our relationship with God and spending time with Him should be the very most important thing in our lives. I know things can get pretty hectic, especially this time of year. Things can get really busy and chaotic, and you can find it hard to find time for anything. So that's why I really wanted to go into some practical steps today of being intentional with God and really go over the importance of being intentional with your relationship with God.

So if you've watched any of my episodes, then you already know the foundations of Jesus Christ being the way, the truth, and the life. You also know that he's the very most important thing in our life, or he should be the very most important thing. So we have to make sure that we are designating time every single day to spend with God, to spend with Jesus Christ, and to spend with talking to the Holy Spirit and letting the Holy Spirit guide us. It is important to carve out undivided time every single day to spend with God however long you have in your busy day. Carve out as much as you can to spend with Him because spending time with God, quiet time with him in the secret place, is so very important. There are also things that you can do throughout the day to be intentional in your relationship with God through your busy schedule while you're doing all the things on a daily basis.

So here are some scripture practical steps that you can implement to be intentional in your relationship with God:

"But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." -James 4:6-8

So, what I want to emphasize on here in this scripture is "draw near to God and he will draw near to you." God is always right here with us, He loves us, and He gives us so much grace, mercy, and love, but He wants us to draw near to Him. We have to come to God with all of our hearts and draw near to Him. He is right here with us, but whenever we are constantly seeking that relationship with God, when we're reaching out, we are praying to Him, we are inviting Him in every aspect of our lives, He is also going to draw near to us.

So, what are some ways that we can draw near to God on a daily basis? First and foremost is praying. That is a way that we can communicate with God every day and we can do this all day every day. I spend so much time praying a day that it doesn't feel like prayers anymore, because a lot of it is just little conversations with God throughout the day. Whenever I'm driving, every time I get in the car, I pray that God will put a hedge of protection over me and anyone who's in the car with me. As you may know, I have always been a very anxious person. So, whenever I go do anything, when I go into a grocery store, whenever I drive, when I'm going anywhere in public, it's very difficult or it has been very difficult for me in the past. A way that I can get through it is constantly just having that conversation with God. So, whenever I know I'm about to do something, I ask God to give me the strength and I just tell him "Lord, please give me strength. I know that you're right here with me." I will just talk to God and just knowing that He's here, He gives me strength in everything that I need, and just reminding myself of His presence and inviting Him in every aspect really helps me to do things on a daily basis.

So, throughout your busy schedule, you can still have those quick little conversations with God. Maybe you're a mother and you're taking your kids to school, taking them to dance, practice or, whatever the case may be. Maybe you have a bunch of things that you're running around doing. You can just open up little conversations with God while you're on your way to pick your kids up, while you're on your way to your job, wherever it is that you may be going. Just talking to God, giving him a few minutes of your day while you're on your way to do the things that you need to get done for the day is going to help with being intentional in your relationship with God. At first it may start out you just doing that once, giving him a few minutes on the car rides, but then you'll see the more that you practice being intentional and the more that you are opening that conversation up with God, you'll start to notice that throughout your day, all day long you're talking to Him. After a while, it won't seem like something that you have to do or something that's hard for you to try and open up a conversation, but it will just be a very normal part of your day that will seem very strange if it doesn't happen.

I mean, we all have those days that are very busy, we've got people around us, and we don't really want to seem like a crazy person just talking to God out loud while we're in the car with people in the car. So, there may be times that we don't spend as much time with God as we would want to. Those days are going to feel very strange whenever you're getting in the habit of spending that time with God and just opening up that conversation with Him whenever you get a chance. So that is one thing that really will help with being intentional with your relationship with God, is just opening those conversations with Him whenever you get a chance. Not just whenever you need something but also just to express gratitude to the Lord. Thank him for waking you up. Thank him for allowing you to be able to go to your job. Thank him for allowing you to have kids to pick up or whatever the case is. Just express gratitude to him and praise him in your heart with gratitude. That is another big thing. We don't want to just come to God whenever we're having issues or when we need him to fix something, but we want to come to God with every single thing. We want to draw near to Him in every moment of our lives because He's the very most important thing. Without God the Father and Jesus Christ, we would not have eternal life. We were dead in our sins, but we're alive in Jesus. He gives us everything He is everything. He's the way, He's the truth, He's the life and nothing in this life matters without Jesus. So, we have to remind ourselves of that daily because I know things can get busy and a lot of things may be happening in your life right now, but you wouldn't have any of it without God.

"But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." -Matthew 6:6

So, the second thing to implement while you're being intentional in your relationship with God is praying to him in the secret place. I may do a whole separate episode about praying in the secret place another time but having that uninterrupted quiet time with God in private every day is crucial to your relationship with Him. I know you may be thinking, "I'm too busy to do that. I cannot designate a bunch of time to spend in private. I don't even get five minutes to myself." I'm telling you guys, regardless of how busy your schedule is, you need to find time for God. This is unnegotiable.

Time with God is more important than anything else. God should be above everything. He should be above your spouse, your children, and anything in this world. So, whenever you have something that's so highly important in your life, you're going to find time for it. Now, in this busy season in your life, you may not have as much time as you would like but designate as much as you can to spend time with Him in the secret place. If that means you wake up before everybody else in the house wakes up so you can spend 10, 15, or 30 minutes with Him, however much you can during that time, or you go to bed a little bit later so you can spend time with him after everyone's gone to sleep. Designating time every day, however much time that you can, to spend quiet time with God uninterrupted in the secret place is so very important. Having that time to be still, to hear his voice, to listen to him, and just soak in his presence will help you so much when you're going through the day-to-day things in life. I mean, there's no way that I would be able to even get through life without spending quiet time with God.

For some people, it may be easier to do day-to-day things. It may be easier for you to go to the grocery store, to be out in public, or to do things that are a little bit harder for me. But whatever the case for you, whatever the hard things in your life are, it becomes a lot easier whenever you are rooted in God, when you have that firm foundation in Jesus, and when you're being intentional.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you." -Matthew 6:33

You guys, this is amazing if you think about it, this is incredible. God the Father sent His only Son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins. Jesus Christ rose three days later, He went back to heaven, and God the Father sent the Holy Spirit down to counsel and guide us. Whoever is saved by Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit within them and we have eternal life in heaven with Jesus and God the Father. That is the gospel and that is incredible.

So just like that verse says, we have to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We can't worry about everything else. I know things are hectic right now. I know it may seem like everything is just in a spiral, you just can't keep up, and you don't even know where to turn or what to do, or it's just hard to find any time to do anything. I get it, I've been there, but I'm telling you, just like it says in this verse, we have to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We can't worry about everything else. We have to be intentional in spending that time with God every day. We have to draw near to Him. We have to open up those small conversations and that constant communication with Him. We have to spend time in the secret place with Him. We should be expressing gratitude for the Lord.

He has done so many things in our lives, things that we don't even realize, things on a day-to-day basis. He has protected us from so many things and He has kept us safe from things that we didn't even realize. He has blessed us with so many things, and it's so important for us to be intentional and show him that gratitude. We need to praise Him, worship Him, spend quiet time with Him, and invite Him in every moment of our lives.

"You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace for it is trusting in you." -Isaiah 26:3

So, whenever we are trusting in the Lord and we depend on Him through every aspect of our lives, He's going to keep our minds in perfect peace. You want to know the way to not feel like the world is crumbling down around you and you just have this busy schedule, and you don't know what to do? You have to rely on the Lord, depend on Him, and trust in Him through every aspect. That is so very important and something that I have had to learn myself. I don't come on here and tell you guys to do anything that I myself don't do on a daily basis. I'm constantly depending on the Lord through every aspect of my life because I know that I can't do this without him. We cannot do this without him. I've tried, if you've seen any of my past episodes, I've tried doing it without the Lord and it did not turn out well. Not at all. Even though there are times that my mind goes crazy, there are times that the devil tries to get ahold of me, there are times that I'm tempted and I'm going through it, I will tell you that the peace that I have now that I depend on God and trust in him through everything, there's nothing like it. I did not feel this peace one bit without God when I was just living my life on my own. I did not feel the peace that I feel now with Him. It makes it a lot easier to be able to get through very tough things for me whenever I do depend on the Lord and trust in Him. It doesn't mean that it is easy or it's always going to be easy, but it is a lot easier to be able to do it with Him than without Him because I know that he is right here with me and he keeps our mind in perfect peace whenever we trust and depend on Him.

Let's recap the 3 steps to implement to be intentional with God during your busy schedule:

1. Draw near to God

How can we draw near to God? We need to be praying to Him and having that constant communication throughout the whole day and expressing gratitude to Him.

2. Spend unnegotiable designated quiet time with him in the secret place.

However long you can designate, start with 5 or 10 minutes, however long you can do every day. Spend unnegotiable time with him. I'm telling you guys, this is crucial.

3. Trust and depend on Him through every aspect of our lives.

   What does this look like? Before we make a decision, we come to the Lord and ask him for guidance. Whenever you trust in someone and depend on them through every aspect, you are going to want their opinion. You are going to want their guidance. You're going to want them to tell you what the best thing is to do throughout every aspect of your life. So, trusting and depending on the Lord means coming to Him before you make any decision. Coming to him before you do anything and letting him guide you. Ask the Holy Spirit to move you to do the will of God the Father, to guide you into truth, and to show you what to do on a daily basis.

   
   
   
   

   These are things that I do every single day and it helps so much when you're being intentional, even through your busy day. I know you may not be able to spend as much time as you would want to do with these things, but you have pockets in your day that you can spend talking to God, inviting Him in, expressing gratitude, and thanking Him for the things that He's done in your life. You can spend a little bit of time uninterrupted, even for a few minutes to just be still and listen to him. Throughout your day, you can just trust and depend on Him and just stop and listen to Him and let Him guide you before you make decisions in your life. Especially big ones, but even small ones, even little decisions. Through every aspect we need to invite God into everything that we're doing.

   
   
   
   

   Whenever you practice these things on a daily basis, you are going to see such a big difference in your life. You're going to see a big difference in your mental health, and just feel more peaceful because you know that God is always right there with you and you've been opening up that conversation with Him all day every day. You will know that you need Him, you rely on Him, and you lean on Him through everything and it's just going to become a normal part of your day-to-day life. It's not even going to seem like something that you have to strive to do every day because you're going to want to do it.

   
   

   You're going to want to spend more and more time with Him. You're going to try and find ways to spend more and more time with Him and get bigger windows and bigger pockets of time that you can devote to your relationship with God. Because there's nothing better than spending that quiet time with our Lord and Savior. There's nothing better than just feeling His presence, His peace, and His love. It's amazing and if you haven't been experiencing that, then you need to invite him into your life. You need to spend that time with Him. Just open up little conversations with Him, let him know that you are here, you love Him, and you want Him to speak to you. You want to have that close relationship with Him and if you don't know how to do it, just say, "LORD, I love you. I need you. I don't know where to begin. Help me to get close to you." He's already right here with you., He just wants you to draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.

So, I hope this episode helps you to know the importance of being intentional in your relationship with God because he's the very most important thing in our lives. Also, I know that if you implement these steps that I talked about in this episode, you are going to be able to see such a big difference in your daily life. It will help you to keep God in the forefront of your life because He should always be the very first, the very most important thing in our lives. We cannot let busyness get in the way of that. We cannot let anything get in the way of our relationship with God.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

If you do want to contribute in any way, if you want to donate $5, $10, $500, whatever you can do to help me go on this mission trip, there are specific things that you will want to do whenever you click on that link to make sure that they know that you're supporting me as the missionary. So I'm going to tell you exactly what to do. If you want to click on that link and donate whatever you can. So you're going to go on the website: https://globalventures.tv/give and then you want to make sure you click on where it says "support a missionary." Once you do that, you'll put in however much you want to donate. Then in the "memo" portion of it, make sure that you type in my name so they know that it is for me, my name is Lorena Espy. Whatever you can do would be so greatly appreciated. I will be praying for you guys. I love you guys so much and if you can just send love and prayers and that's all you can do, that's amazing.

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Scripture taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.