Pssst!

Do you work out at all? Working out in a gym isn’t practical for me with my schedule, nor does it fit into my budget; however, I know I need to take care of my physical wellbeing. I work out at my house with DVD workout programs.
I used to work out with a friend of mine who was a trainer and it was easy to stay motivated to work out because she and I had so much fun laughing and talking throughout our workouts. There were days when our workout would be finished and it seemed like we had just started. It was great, because I was getting healthy and I was having fun.
It is important that we take care of our spiritual wellbeing also. However, it is not practical or even realistic for us to drive to church every day and sit through a sermon and a Sunday school class or small group. We need to have a personal plan to take care of our spiritual wellbeing just like we do our physical wellbeing. Unfortunately, you’ll find more people focusing on the later rather than the former.
The workout I did today was progressive interval training. We did a move in a simple form, then stepped it up to a moderate speed and intensity and finally ended at a fast speed with high intensity. The trainer encouraged you to start at the beginner rate and stay there as long as necessary before advancing to the next level.
Spiritually speaking, very few people are going to start spending time with the Lord for an hour or two a day and sustain that practice. Start small with something like reading one or two verses of Scripture a day or the devotional from one of the many devotional books out on the market today. Talk to Jesus about what you’ve read (that’s called praying) and then sit and listen to see if He says anything to you. You can work your way towards spending larger amounts of time with more intensity as you dive deeper into the Word. As your level of intimacy with the Lord progresses, you’ll find yourself reading chapters of the Bible at a time and spending large amounts of time in prayer. The time will fly by and you’ll feel like you just started.
Just like with physical exercise, don’t compare yourself to others. Simply move at your own pace. There is not a check list of what has to happen in order for you to have a successful quiet time. The point isn’t to complete a “to do” list and walk away fulfilled. The point is to build a relationship with a living God who loves you and desires to spend time with you. He wants you to get to know Him and He wants to reveal things to you.
Jeremiah 33:3 is one of my favorite verses of the Old Testament. It says: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” You only tell your secrets to those you love and trust. Jesus wants us to come and find Him and develop a relationship with Him so He can tell us His secrets. “Pssst!” Do you hear Him calling?