Establishing daily quiet time with God is necessary for anyone who wants a close, intimate relationship with Him. Many of the great men and women of faith throughout Scripture and history have testified to morning being the optimal time.

Yet a wandering mind can challenge many Christians during their quiet time with the Lord. Have you ever started praying, only to find a few seconds later you’re thinking about what you’ll have for dinner that night? Or begun reading the Bible, only to have your thoughts jump to that Facebook post you liked?

The world trains our minds to jump from thought to thought constantly. Television, advertising, the Internet—all with fast moving images—encourage these thought patterns.

But the good news is that with God’s help we can learn to focus and quiet our minds as we develop new habit patterns of silence. We simply need less of us, and more of Him.

For ten years hero of the faith George Müller had regularly spent time in prayer each morning—but he struggled considerably with a wandering mind. So he changed his habit to meditating on Scripture. As he did, he found he would almost effortlessly go into prayers of thanksgiving, confession, intercession, and supplication.

From that time on, prayer was no longer such an effort! Reading and meditating on Scripture provided a natural springboard to praise and prayer. Müller then sustained the habit of Bible reading and prayer for the next 40 years with much more ease.

When relationship with the Lord becomes a priority, He reveals and helps us with the things we need to change, including learning to control our thoughts. 

In the 16^thcentury, St. Francis de Sales wrote:

If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master’s presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in our Lord’s presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour will be very well employed . . .

We must build new habit patterns of silence, taking the time to tune out life’s demands and distractions, and entering the secret place of His presence. It is only there we find rest.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”  (Psalm 91:1-2)

If you struggle with a wandering mind during morning devotions, try meditating on Scripture, as Müller did. If you’re not comfortable with quiet, or you struggle with racing thoughts, take heart. Jesus Christ is with you, helping, strengthening, and encouraging you in all your endeavors.

With His help in developing these disciplines, in time we learn to carry His stillness with us, wherever we go.

Let the Prince of Peace Himself welcome you into the new day. He is with you . . . just waiting for your call!

Copyright © 2018 Cheryl Elton

For more on the value of cultivating quietness, see chapter 16 “The Quiet Classroom” in my book Pathway of Peace: Living in a Growing Relationship with Christ

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Yesterday, while heading out the door to go to the movies, my husband announced “I don’t have my phone—but we have yours, right? We need at least one phone with us.”

Funny how for years we lived with no cell phones—now we can’t seem to survive without them! I thought.

For most of us, leaving the house without our phones, we feel lost, even vulnerable, unsafe.

The ability to communicate and get information anywhere anytime has tremendous value, but can also serve as great distraction.

Reaching for the phone—for some while still in bed—is often the first action of the day. Yet this simple act, as innocent as it seems, can quickly distract us. Before we know it, we’re responding to messages, checking emails, reading articles—and we’ve robbed ourselves from entering the day fully engaged with God!

Many heroes of the faith in Scripture spent quiet time with God, usually early in the morning.

David tells us in Psalms:

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.  (Psalm 63:1-2)

Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5:3) 

Daniel had quiet times of daily prayer. Job would rise early to offer sacrifices and pray for his children.

And of course Jesus understood the importance of daily quiet time with the Father. In the gospels we read He often went out early in the morning to seek silence and pray.

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.  (Mark 1:35) 

Establishing daily time with God is necessary for anyone who wants a close, intimate relationship with Him. Although morning devotions aren’t a command in Scripture, it’s clear that many of the great men and women of faith throughout history have testified to morning being the optimal time.

In his book Power Through Prayer, E.M. Bounds writes:

The men [and women] who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day. 

Without setting our hearts with God first thing in the morning, it remains difficult—once we move into the demands and distractions of the day—to be still within, to hold His peace, and to hear His voice throughout the day.

It’s a matter of priority, isn’t it? I won’t occupy myself with other things until my heart is first engaged with You. 

In that precious morning time of Bible reading, prayer, quiet meditation and listening, He fills us with His presence, His peace—and the heart we need to love Him and others through each new day.

What a joyful way to live!

Copyright © 2018 Cheryl Elton

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“I hope gas prices fall.”

“I hope we have a lot of snow this winter.” 

These are common ways we use the word hope when we look forward to something with expectation and desire; or when used as a person or thing in which expectations are centered: “The medicine was her last hope.” 

When differentiating something from certainty, hope is often used as “wishful thinking.” When we say, “I hope it happens,” we’re really saying “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m desiring that ‘such and such’ happens.” 

From the Greek, hope in the Bible is “the confident expectation of something in the future.” It is not wishful thinking as in “I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I hope it happens.” 

Rather, biblical hope is when God promises something, and you put your faith and trust in that promise, even though you can’t presently see the outcome. 

Biblical hope is not positive thinking or being optimistic. While optimists consider circumstances and find the positive, those with godly hope ignore signals from circumstances. Rather, their hope is firmly fixed on the promises of God. They expect with full certainty, leaving no room for doubt. 

Hope is a part of faith. Hope is faith in the future tense. 

Is not much of faith hopeful expectation? 

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1) 

If our future is not firmly rooted in the things of God through faith, it’s easy to remain anxious and fearful throughout life. Many people are. However, we don’t need to have “blind faith.” As you read through the Bible, you see that God has a track record of faithfulness. He is trustworthy. 

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19)

What He promises, He performs. He promised the Messiah would come, and He did. He tells us Christ will come again, and He will. 

While optimists think they or others can, those with biblical hope know God will. 

Biblical hope also gets us away from “me” land, and allows us to love others more freely. 

Without a trust that God has a hand on our lives, isn’t it way too easy to think mostly about ourselves? Our future, our problems, our stuff. When dominating our thinking, these thoughts tend to keep us from loving others as God says we should. 

But if we allow ourselves to be taken care of by God, through hope, trust, and faith in His promises, we can then be free in our hearts to love others. 

God can carry out His purposes through us. 

When Christ satisfies our souls so deeply that we’re free to love other people, we demonstrate His love—His hope—to the world, and God is glorified. 

In hope we fulfill our reason for living!

Copyright © 2014 Cheryl Elton 

The post HOPE: Part 2 – What is Biblical Hope and Why is it Important? appeared first on Cheryl Elton.