Focus and Prepare

Recently I have found myself working harder than ever for the Lord. I won't go in to all the things I have been doing because I don't want to give the impression that I am boasting. The reason I am telling you that is to tell you that I have found myself using my service to the Lord as an excuse to back off of my personal time with Him. I have found myself using my lesson preparation as my quite time and praying with others more than I pray alone. I realize that this goes against everything God requires of us but did not realize I had fallen into that trap until recently. I felt like I was in a funk and didn't know why so I ask what am I doing differently. God wants a personal relationship with us above anything else. He wants us to talk to Him one on One everyday and several times a day. He wants us to study His word everyday so that He can give us a very personal message. He wants us to seek Him everyday and all day. It is after we have done all of these things that He wants us to serve Him. We can not serve Him effectively if we don't first let Him prepare us for service. If we don't let Him prepare us it is the equivalent of signing up for the military but skipping basic training and going straight to war. We wouldn't last very long before we were taken out. The war that we as Christians have signed up for has far greater importance than any worldly war and our enemy is much more deadly than any leader we would face. Satan is prepared to battle us every day. He knows our weakness and he knows how to use it against us so we have to be more prepared than he is. Study, pray, seek His will, and then go into battle. If you have caught yourself making the same mistake slow down, be still and listen to God. Remember that it is about a personal relationship and then we are to serve. Okay I have to go pray now....