Need Refreshing???

“Water, please!”  My boys LOVE to play outside with their daddy!  Football is usually their first choice.  When they get started, they don’t stop…until, of course, they are panting for water.

Ice cold water on a hot summer day – isn’t that refreshing?

As Tad gulped his water and ended with an ahhhh sound, I began to think about the Word of God.  The way Tad felt after that big glass of ice water is exactly the way I feel after I spend time with my Savior…ahhhhh.   Isn’t that precious time refreshing?

How about you? In these days of busy, fast paced lifestyles, refreshing may be just what you need.  I know, I know, some days it is difficult to find time.  And when you do try to find time, the phone rings or the children awake.  Have you ever gotten up and thought, “Oh well, I tried.”  Have you ever gone to bed and promised the Lord tomorrow would be different?

You know, Tad isn’t thinking of that water as a choice.  He needed refreshing, so it was a priority to stop playing long enough to get refreshed.  We should make our time with God even more of a priority.  It isn’t something else on our to-do list; it is necessary for our relationship with Christ.

I read once that we should stop trying to fit God into our plans and start letting yourself fit into God’s plans.

Acts 3:19 says that times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.  Is your soul thirsty? Give it a drink of Jesus!  The Bible says you will never thirst again!  (John 6:35)

This mama has it going on! OR does she?

Look at all of these children’s devotionals I have bought over the last few years.   Bet you are thinking this mama has it going on at her house!  Well…the truth is they don’t do any good unless they are used.  Of course my intentions have been to read and study the Bible with my children every night.  But, it doesn’t always happen.  WHY??  Let’s see…

My husband and I were discussing this very topic last Sunday morning.  Why is it that we can have devotions every night with our children and then all of a sudden we realize that a week has passed with no devotion??  His response…”The tv, we have to cut off the tv at night.”  Hmmm…sounds like a good reason to me and because I don’t watch tv, it sounds even better.  It is his fault because he watches tv at night!

My thought?  Because I’m busy (cleaning the kitchen, packing lunches, signing papers, checking homework, bathing children, presetting the coffee pot, etc)  I wait until it is pushing bedtime to tell the children to brush their teeth and begin on their nightly routine.  Then it is bedtime, everyone is tired and ill, we say our prayers and go to bed.

WHY, IF I REALLY WANT TO LEAD MY CHILDREN IN SPIRITUAL GROWTH, CAN I NOT MAKE IT A PRIORITY? 

My priorities must be out of line.  Right?  OR is it our flesh?

“The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41b  (The disciples did not stay awake to be on guard while Jesus was praying for this same reason.  They wanted to, but their flesh was weak.)

As I began to get depressed, wondering if this would ever become routine and not be skipped, I remembered another scripture.

Lamentations 3:22-23  His mercies are new every morning.  Great is Thy faithfulness.

Today is a new day!  God is not the one making me feel defeated, satan is.  God is the one reminding me that today is a new day.  He forgives me for my weak flesh and allows me to begin anew!

I am happy to say last night makes 7 consecutive nights of devotions and Bible reading with our children.

What is it that you need to begin anew today?  Remember, God is a God of second chances!    Great is thy faithfulness!