time with God

Clutter? Or Clean?

/ Mark Brady / 7 Comments
Photo by: cottonbro

Is there any correlation between a clean house and a clean spiritual life? Is someone who is too busy, too lazy, or too distracted by life to pick up the place where they live also due to that stuff challenged to pick up the mess in their life with God? I would dare say, “yes.”

I’ll share a truth with ya; if people enter your home and don’t see clutter, they tend to think your house is clean, even if it isn’t, but if they see a mess everywhere, they will sense your home is dirty.

Keeping a house clean is a constant job. There are no days off, vacations, or holidays. The same goes for maintaining your spiritual life with God. I learned from my parents to look around whenever moving about the house and to pick up something out of place and return it. I also learned to put things up as soon as you finish with them. I understand that living with others who do not share your desire to keep items picked up can make your job more difficult.

So how does all of this relate to your spiritual life? Keeping on top of your relationship with God takes desire, time, and effort. You have to make a mental decision to make it a priority. Even when there are things in life that are begging for your attention. Yes, you may be tired, have distractions, hardships, financial pressure, or have relationship struggles, but you still need to make time to spend with God. In fact, if you have anything from that list going on, you would be crazy not to go to God and take it with you to turn all of it to him.

15 But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses. 16 Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.
Luke 5:15-16 (NET)

Sometimes you can’t get to the house, but don’t let anything keep you from your time with your heavenly Father. Take the example of Jesus himself. He knew how important it was to spend time with his heavenly Father. Doing so keeps your mind and heart clear, clean, and uncluttered.

Copyright © 2022 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

Time Out? Or Out of Time?

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

One thing I learned from my father was that spending time with people was a gift and to be generous. I have noticed an alarming trend. When desiring to get together with others more often than not they will respond, “We just don’t have time.”

I feel as though people have “time” for what they want to spend it on. Kind of like money. They spend it on what is important to them at least in most situations. There are times when their life situations prevent having extra time or money.

Jesus was busy! He could easily be one to say, “I don’t have time” and be justified in saying it. Yet He spent time with people. He made time for them, and there were moments when they interrupted what He was planning on doing. (Matthew 14:14)

“As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.”
Luke 5:16 (MSG)

More importantly, Jesus spent time with his heavenly Father, God. Since he set the example of how often and how important it was to do so, then we should as well, especially in these current times, but if the truth was known every period people needed to spend time with God. We should be generous with that time as well.

Take time out and spend it with God before you run out of time.

Tell him what bothers you. Share with him your concerns, what scares you and what you are thankful for. Ask him for help with everything. Ask for guidance and direction. God loves you so much and cares about what you care about. He wants to spend time with you as well. You will walk away feeling recharged, encouraged, but most of all, loved.

Copyright © 2022 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

One Mile till Empty

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Charlie 0320Just before a car’s engine runs out of gas it shakes violently, sputters, and knocks hard.  It is then, the driver’s stomach does the same thing.  Unless you are driving a very old clunker there is a light on the dash that does its best to tell you when you are running out of and in need of filling up again.

A friend of mine is living overseas.  No friends, or family went with him.  He has been there long enough to make new friends, get new co-workers, but he hasn’t found a church quite like what he had in America.  In fact, not even close.  We were talking the other day, and I said to him, “You are getting low on God.”  How did I know?  By the way he talked about life there, and I could tell he was forgetting a lot of the wisdom and understanding from the Word of God he had learned.  He agreed.

It is critical, to the life of one who is a serious follower of Jesus Christ,

to keep an eye on the God gauge.

To know the signs of when you are drifting away from true north.  When your half of the relationship with Jesus isn’t what it once was.

Some of the things that cause this to happen are; busyness in life, missing church, you know, the forsaking the assembling of the brethren, slacking off on your devotion to God, and over all lacking in spending time with Him.  It happens slowly, and before you know it.

As we are entering into troubling times it is more important than ever to stay close to God.  In fact, it wouldn’t hurt anything to draw near to God even more!  Take you fears and concerns to him.  Walk in confidence of knowing God, and knowing he knew long before the news channels what today would reveal.  God loves you so much, and he cares about the things you are concerned with.  Spending time with Him fuels you to overcome the things in life that can trip you up.  When your tank stays full of God you wind up getting more MPG (Miles per God) in life.  You never want to find yourself on the road of life and realize you are one mile till empty.

Copyright © 2020 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

Magkano?

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Being with somebody must cost a lot, because most people don’t spend enough time with others.  Especially time with older people.  Sure, they might tell you the same stories you have heard a hundred times, and bore you, but there is one thing, no matter their health, older people can still do; talk!  Magkano?  In the Philippines it means, “How much?”  So magkano time are you willing to spend?

Spending time with God will enlarge your heart for others.

Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

Walking with God

/ Mark Brady / 1 Comment

080212 327“God, I want to walk with you.”
“Then let me set the pace.”
“But I can’t wait to reach my promise land.”
“”Then you will miss the lessons along the way.”
“Do I really need them?”
“You will when you reach my destination for your life.”
“But I thought you gave me the desires of MY heart?”
“I do, after they line up with MY will.”

“God, we have been walking for a long time.  Aren’t there any shortcuts?”
“There is a lot in you that I have needed to adjust.”
“It’s not my fault!”
“It’s not mine either.”
“Are we there yet?”
“Just a little bit longer.”
“Ya know God, I think I like walking with you.”
“This is what I intended for man all along.”

Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved

My Chair

/ Mark Brady / 3 Comments

20180605_123227HER CHAIR:  “Hi.  How are you?”  I stood, holding open the door to the bank.

“Oh, I’m okay I suppose.  I just came from seeing my foot doctor, and well, I just can’t wait to get home to my chair,” the elderly lady said doing her best to conceal her pain.

A CHAIR:  As I reached the car, the words “my chair” were still echoing in my ears.  I was reminded of a pastor I once listened to, who used to encourage us to have a chair, where we would sit and have time with God.

THE CHAIR:  Then I thought of James Rubart’s book, “The Chair”.  A good read about an antiques dealer who is given, what appears to be a simple chair, but he is told it was made by Jesus when he was working in his dad’s carpenter shop.  He struggled to believe this, but when things happened to those who sat in it, his acceptance, begin to grow.

Your CHAIR:  Do you have one?  Do you have a special place where you like to go and sit and spend time with God?  Either in his word, or talking with him through prayer, or a place where you just go and absorb God.  I hope so.

MY CHAIR:  I have a chair, and I value the time I take to sit in God’s presence.  Yes, I know, life gets busy, and it takes discipline, or a strong desire to be with God, to take a moment and step off of the hamster wheel.  You know the wheel just goes round and round.  No matter how hard you try, you get nowhere.  Perhaps getting off, and resting with God will get you further down the road of life than you ever could imagine.  Sit, invite God into your room, into your life, and see what begins to happen in you.

Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved