St Nic's: Living on the edge with Jesus

Time with God

Chris Easton
Youth and Student Pastor

Deep down we all know that if we are to become more like Jesus we must spend time with Him. But this is often easier said than done! We know that being a Christian means having a relationship with Jesus but we must admit that it seems crazy to have a relationship with someone whom you cannot see or touch. We know and can grasp in our head that God exists. We believe that Jesus is real and alive today. But it is hard when you cannot see him.

To grow as a Christian we must do three things:

  1. Spend time with God.
  2. Get support from others — Church!
  3. Put what we believe into practise — share our faith.

Numbers 2 and 3 are not too tricky but spending time with God is something we all struggle with.

We are going to look at it in two parts — first prayer and then second getting stuck into the Bible. The best example we can have is Jesus himself whilst on earth. He spent time with God and taught his disciples the importance of taking time out with God. Have a gander at Luke 5 verses 12–16. In verse 16 we see that Jesus took time out to be with his Father. Again we can see in Luke 11 verses 1–4 Jesus showing his disciples practically how to pray. Jesus relied on God fully; he spent time talking with God and he knew the scriptures. When he was tempted (Luke 4), each time the devil chucked something at him he refered to scriptures from the OT. This meant that he was relying on something solid and true rather than how he felt as he listened to the devil. If our aim is to be just like him, it may seem impossible but we have got to try. The only way we can do this is to spend time with him. If you want to be good at something you have to learn how to do it and practise it time and time again.

The key element to spending time with God is routine. We don’t all like routine because at times we can feel trapped by it. When we think of routine we think of bordom, school or college. But the most important part and the hardest part about praying and reading the bible is just getting down and doing it. I certainly find that the hardest part. I love reading my bible and when I spend time in it I get so much out of it. When I pray I feel myself drawing closer and closer to God, so why do I find it so darn hard? The reason, I believe, is that I think I should be doing other stuff and God gets sidelined. A wise person once said to me that if you do something about 20 times in a row it will become a habit. It is so true and we need to get into the habit of taking time out with God. This means not just time once in a while, but setting aside a time and place on a daily basis.

Here are some ideas:

  1. Find the best time for you and try and stick with that time each day. Guard it!!
  2. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed and there is little to distract you.
  3. Tell other people and ask them to make you accountable for your quiet times.
  4. Don’t feel guilty if you miss a day, week or month. You are not alone — everybody does it! The important thing is to get back to it.

A cool quote from Mother Theresa is this:

" God is the friend of silence. If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks.
The fruit of silence is prayer,
The fruit of prayer is faith,
The fruit of faith is love and
The fruit of love is silence. "

Ideas about Praying

  1. Keep a diary/journal. Write down what you are praying about. You could keep a sort of diary and then when God answers your prayers you could write in the date or some other sort of indication that it has been answered.
  2. Use some sort of framework for your prayer. An excellent one I was taught was S T O P.
    Sorry
    take time to say sorry to God for the things you have done wrong.
    Thanks
    thank God for all the cool stuff he has done for you.
    Others
    pray for other people, friends and family, other countries, non-Christian mates, whatever.
    Please
    this is a time to ask God for help with stuff.
  3. Write down your prayer on a piece of paper. Some people find this easier than others. You can do it as a form of letter to God.
  4. Use a worship tape/CD to help you focus on God and give thanks. I find the Soul Survivor stuff really helpful. I play a couple of songs over and over again because I love the words so much.
  5. Take time out to thank God for what he is like/his character.
  6. Form a prayer triplet. Find two other people you get on with very well and commit yourselves to meeting regularly to pray.
  7. Get stuck into the Deeper/small groups that we have.
  8. Pray for a few of your non-Christian friends. Prayer really does work and is one of the ways God works within our friends lives. Write their names on a card and keep it in your bible as a reminder to pray for them. Pray for them regularly in your small group and you will be amazed at what God will do!!!
  9. When you see something on the news or in a newspaper that gets to you, pray for it then and there.
  10. Prayer walk. Take a walk and ask God to show you what to pray for. You can do this on your own or as a group.
  11. Ask God to show you what you should be praying for. Try to let Him guide your prayers.
  12. Don’t be scared of being still with God. Silence can be a good thing — remember what Mother Theresa said: “the fruit of silence is prayer”
  13. Please don’t dismiss this one, but what about praying with your old folks or brother or sister? I know it is hard enough to talk to them at times but you could be helping them to ignite their prayer life.
  14. Find out more details about missionaries or someone who works for the church and commit yourself to praying for them regularly. Ask them what to pray for.
  15. Pray for your church but also pray for your city or town.
  16. Remember that God may not answer your prayers in the way you expect. Be aware that he may say “Yes”, “wait”, or “no”, or he may ask you to do something.

These are only some ideas that you may find helpful to spice up your prayer life. If you have any other ideas please let me know and I will add them to this page. The most important thing is to keep trying and get into the habit of prayer.

Ideas For Getting Stuck Into The Bible

  1. The most important thing to remember is that little word, ROUTINE!!
  2. Find a bible that suits you. There are loads of different versions around, Youth Bible, New International Version, The Message, New Living Translation to name a few. The one I use and recommend is the Youth Bible (New Century Version). It is easy to read and has good introductions to each book. It has bible studies, footnotes to explain stuff, and a sort of file at the front which helps you find stuff in the bible when you have questions or struggles.
  3. Use daily notes. There are loads of different notes out at the moment that help you get into the bible. Some are dated and some are not. Dated notes are notes which have a section for each day of the week. Check out all the different notes you get at a Christian bookshop. There are two in Nottingham city centre, Castlegate (just down from St Nic’s) and Wesley Owen in Hockley. Two sets which I would recommend are DAYZD which cover loads of different issues and Foothold. These are both not dated so if you miss a few you won’t feel too guilty.
  4. You could attempt to read the bible from cover to cover in a year. You can get books that help you and will give you a set reading for each day.
  5. Another idea is to read a chapter or two from a book in the OT and then a chapter or two from the NT. It is important that you work your way through a whole book. That way it will make more sense and you will get more out of it.
  6. You could do a character study. There are loads of studies that will help you get to know a bible character well and you can learn loads about God.
  7. Billy Graham, the evangelist, reads a chapter from the book of Psalms and the book of Proverbs every day. If it works for Billy it could work for you.
  8. Do the same thing as your friends are doing. If you use the same notes or read the same book in the Bible you could ask each other stuff and encourage each other to keep going. This is a way to really strengthen your relationships with your friends.
  9. Treat it as a book! This may seem a strange thing to say but if you have spare time pick it up and have a read. You will get more out of it if you read more. Some of the books are really short and take hardly any time to read.
  10. A great help to many people is to underline or highlight stuff in the bible or jot down notes when they really get something out of the Bible that is relevant to them.
  11. Try to memorise some key verses or passages/bits that really have spoken to you. You could write them on small pieces of card and carry them with you. Remember — what did Jesus do when he was tempted by satan in the desert (Luke 4)? He quoted back to him OT scripture passages.
  12. If you have missed reading your bible for a while don’t feel guilty — loads of us do it. Just start again and if you are not enjoying your notes do some others. Using a variety of notes and Bibles and styles can really help to bring alive your time with God.
  13. You can get notes sent direct to your computer check out www.word-on-the-web.co.uk.