Day by Day by Faith

I recently listened to this sermon by Betsy Ricucci about managing time according to God's priorities for me. She Rises Early - Our Pursuit of the Spiritual Disciplines

Betsy does a great job describing the importance of practicing the "Spiritual Disciplines" - prayer and reading, studying, and memorizing scripture. She cites several respected, biblical teachers in her sermon.

John Piper reminds us that in order to be happy in God, we must know God. He also says that "Entering the day without a serious meeting with God over His Word and in prayer is like entering the battle without tending to your weapons. The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep... We replenish our hearts not with sleep but with the Word of God and prayer."

Betsy convicts us of prioritizing Godly pursuits, such as maintaining a clean home, over God Himself. It is very easy to say that I don't have time to pray or read scripture since I have 2 young children. However, after evaluating how I spend my time, it is easy to see where I am not choosing "the good portion, which will not be taken away from [me]" (Luke 10:42).

When my day starts with God, it is much easier (though still difficult) to fight the flesh with the spirit. As my friend says, "Claim the power of the Holy Spirit!" The only way to know what power there is to claim is by reading scripture and praying to the God that lives in us.