Put God as Your Priority

Spending more time with God starts with making Him your priority. Your time for God should not be the time when you are just free or when it is convenient – after going home from work, finishing an assignment, or watching a favorite TV show. God should be the first, not the last part of your day.

A good way to make God your priority is by planning your day first thing in the morning. Identify all of your things-to-do, then rank them based on urgency and importance. Make sure to set aside time for prayers, reading the scriptures, or quiet contemplation.

There will be days when you will have too much on your plate, and you will not accomplish everything on your list. And that’s okay. This is where setting priorities comes in. When you have your priorities set, you’ll accomplish the most important things for the day, and leave others that are not that urgent and important for the next day.

At times, you might be tempted to skip over to Priority # 3 when you have not yet finished Priority #2 because it is easier and more fun. Don’t do it. Be firm in following your priorities. Over time, you will learn that you have more time than you thought of. You will also notice that you accomplish more during the day, even when you set aside significant time for God.

Give God the best part and not the leftovers.

Evaluate How You’re Spending Your Time

Sometimes when you say you don’t have enough time it just means you are not using your time effectively. For example, is it unreasonable for you to say you don’t have time to read a verse or two from the scriptures when you just spent two hours on social media? Evaluate how you are spending your time every day. It will be an eye-opener.

You might find that you are spending more time than you thought on things that don’t matter much, such as computer games, watching TV, and social media. You may want to change your routines and develop better habits. I am no way saying that you need to eliminate these things entirely from your life nor I am suggesting that they should not be important to you. However, compared to spending time with God, they should take a backseat.

You can still do the activities you enjoy and like by strategically scheduling them over the week or month. But, in the process, make sure that it does not affect your time with God.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven (Ecclesiastes 3: 1).”

Understand that God is Not Only For Sunday and Church

The Zoramites in the Book of Mormon had an interesting way of worshipping God. One by one, they would stand on an elevated place called the Rameumptom, stretch their hands toward heaven, and offer a repetitive prayer. After doing this, “they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they assembled themselves together again to the holy stand, to offer up thanks [to God] after their manner (Alma 33:23).”

For these people, worshipping God was only confined to a specific place and day of the week. In a modern-day setting, this is just like saying you can only worship God during Sunday at church, which should not be the case.

After witnessing this type of worship, the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon asked two questions:

“Behold I say unto you, do ye suppose that ye cannot worship God save it be in your synagogues only?

And moreover, I would ask, do ye suppose that ye must not worship God only once in a week (Alma 32: 10-11)?”

You know well the answers to both of these questions. Worshipping God involves spending time with Him, and it should not only happen during Sunday at church but every day, anywhere.

Look for a Quiet Time and Place

One of Jesus Christ’s names is the Prince of Peace. This clearly explains what He did and what He prioritized during His life. Jesus Christ understood well that in order to commune with the Father, He needed a peaceful time and place. Therefore, as recorded in the scriptures, He would often rise up early, leave the company of others, and go to solitary places to pray (Matthew 4:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16).

You can do well to follow the example of Jesus Christ in order to spend quality time with the Father. The Father speaks in a still, small voice. Other times, He puts feelings into our hearts. If you are distracted, you will not hear or feel Him.

The definition of a quiet time and place varies for everyone. For some, it is six in the morning while reading the scriptures on a study table. For others, it may be late at night, kneeling by the bedside for a long prayer when the kids are sleeping. Some opt to go to a library or spend time with nature. It does not matter when or where your quiet time and place is. What matters is that it should be your time to just be with God.

Be Realistic When Making Your Schedule

If your plate is full but you want to make time for God, be reasonable with how you plan your schedule. For example, it is not good to immediately block off one hour for reading the scriptures or 30 minutes for praying when you have three young children to take care of. It is not the length but the quality that matters when you are spending time with God.

This is especially true when you are just starting to prioritize God more in your daily schedule. Do it gradually. You may, at first, set aside 15 minutes for God. Then, as you get your footing, you might want to increase it to 30 minutes as time goes on. As you learn to manage your time more effectively, you may be able to give one hour of undivided attention to God and so on.

Pacing is important so you will not get burned out, or discontinue your efforts to spend more time with God completely. With time, you will learn what works and what does not work for you.

Make Use of Reminders

You might get up in the morning and feel absolutely confident that you will spend 30 minutes reading the scriptures later that night. However, as unexpected events arise during the day, you may completely forget about it, and find yourself sleeping soundly in your bed without doing the thing you promised yourself you would do.

It is easy to forget your spiritual goals when things get busy. It is also easy to put things off until tomorrow. As humans, we are bound to forget a lot of things. My suggestion is to make use of reminders.

You could set an alarm on your mobile phone, post sticky notes in places where you will easily see them (e.g. your bathroom mirror), or ask people to remind you verbally. What the old adage says is true – “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Keep Your Appointments with God

Just as you try hard to honor your commitments with other people, you should also do it with God. Your plan to spend time with God is your appointment with Him. Do everything you can to keep it.

Jesus showed us a perfect example of making time for God.  Aside from waking up early and leaving the crowd for a quiet place, he also climbed up a mountain to show His willingness to talk with the Father (Matthew 14:23).

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do not require us to climb mountains just to be with Them. What They ask of us though is to make time for Them in our daily lives and to bring our spirituality to a higher level. Spending more time with Them is as simple as saying one short prayer, reading a scripture verse or two, or just sitting still and waiting for inspiration and revelation to come from above.

These are just a few suggestions to give you a head start. You can spend more time with God as soon as right now if you make the conscious decision to do so.

Can you think of any other practical ideas to add to this list?  Share your thoughts below. We would love to hear them.

Reference:

1 Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Of Regrets and Resolutions,” Liahona, October 2012, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng

The post Seven Ways to Spend More Time with God appeared first on morefaith.ph.

In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin counseled, “See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27). This counsel from King Benjamin is also very applicable in these latter days.

Many people get tied up in a knot of commitments, responsibilities, relationships, and extra curricular activities. They seem to want to be a part of everything all the time. Twenty-four hours never seems to be enough to accomplish everything. But is it really not enough? Or are the twenty-four hours filled with many hurried moments, and fulfilling the expectations of others that we forget to choose the “good part” of things in life?

Choosing the “good part”

In the Book of Luke, Jesus counsels a woman named Martha, to choose the things that are “needful”—the “good part[s]” that cannot be taken away. There are many noteworthy activities that people can do in their daily lives, but how many among these are the good parts Jesus counseled not only Martha, but also all mankind to choose?

The good parts of life are family relationships, genuine friendships, service to the widows and the poor, scripture study, Sunday and temple worship, family and individual prayers, seeking education, earning a living without overworking, and taking time to slow down, be still and rejuvenate from the stresses and fatigue of life. These are just some of the many “good parts” that we can choose from. The bottom-line is that our physical capabilities have a limit. Weariness, physical and mental fatigue, stress, and spiritual drought are real and our bodies and spirit can only do so much to recover. But we know that when we give heed to the Lord’s counsel to choose the “good part”, we will find strength in Him.

Principles over Preferences

A man can get so busy working for a bigger home for his family, but in doing so he must make sure that when he finally gets his dream home, he still has a happy family to live in it. A working mom can get so tied up in her career, but can still put piano recitals, school plays, and football games on top of her list. A young adult can actively build a career but make time to find someone to build a family with. A couple can waste their money on trips around the world, but never forget to do charity work and service.

If people don’t confuse principles and preferences, life will be filled with less hurried moments. God gave mankind twenty-four hours because He knows it is enough time for them to do the “good parts” and choose the items on their to-do list that will speak of principles and not preferences.

We are all created and given the same twenty-four-hour timeframe everyday and under the same nature—subject to weariness and fatigue. May we all choose our activities wisely that we may not run more than we have strength.

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