Episode 324
My Guide to Spending Intentional Time With God
"Allow God to lead you and guide you. This is not my time to be in control. This is God's time, and I allow Him to lead me."- Wesleyne
Morning devotion is a daily practice of setting aside intentional time to connect with God.
Wesleyne shares her personal routine to help strengthen the relationship with God and encourage others to allow Him to enter into their lives.
- Wake up at least 30 minutes before the day's demands begin, regardless of whether you're a morning person or not. Allocate this time specifically for God.
- Physically move to a quiet space in your home, signaling the start of your sacred time. Prepare yourself mentally and spiritually, just as you would for any important task.
- Invite God into your space and ask Him to lead you according to His will. Let go of controlling the session and allow God to direct your actions.
- Be open to God's guidance. Your morning devotion may involve various activities, such as reading the Bible, praying, journaling, or simply sitting in silence. Listen to God's voice and follow His lead.
- Spend some time in silence, allowing God to speak to you. When distracting thoughts arise, pray over them and refocus your attention on God.
- Practice morning devotion consistently for at least 21 days to establish it as a habit. Over time, you'll experience God's presence more profoundly and see His influence in your life.
Takeaways
- Dedicate intentional time each morning to connect with God.
- Invite God's Guidance: Allow God to lead your morning devotion and be open to His direction.
- Your time with God can take various forms, so be adaptable and listen to His voice.
- Spend moments in silence to listen to God's whispers and pray over distracting thoughts.
- Make morning devotion a habit by practicing it regularly for at least 21 days.
Chapters
- 00:00 Inviting God's Presence
- 02:22 Preparation for Connection
- 04:31 Flexibility in Worship
- 06:47 Silent Reflection
- 08:58 Consistency in Devotion
What questions are you struggling to answer? Wesleyne would love to answer these questions for you personally. Send any questions or prayer requests to hello@askwesleyne.com
Follow Wesleyne on Instagram @wesleynewhittaker
Transcript
Dear Heavenly Father, please enter into this place. Please allow us to calm our minds and allow our thoughts to be focused on you. In your holy and precious son's name I pray, amen.
Wesleyne (:The daily practice that I follow, the time that I spend with God each morning.
I want to share with you some specifics on what I do so that you can strengthen your relationship with God so that you can allow him to enter into your place of connection.
I'm a morning person. Some people are night owls. Some people tend to find their energy in the middle of the day. But whether you are a self -proclaimed morning person or not, it's really important to start your day with God. And what you have to do is you have to wake up at least
30 minutes before you're required to be up. So whether you have to get yourself ready or get your children ready or get things ready for your spouse, you need at least 30 minutes before you have to focus on the hustle and bustle of the day to allow yourself to spend some intentional time with God. We're talking about intentional time, about making Him.
a priority. So in those moments when you wake up, be sure to get out of your bed, go to a different place in the house, somewhere that is, you know, quiet, somewhere that you can speak loudly if you need to speak loudly. This might be your closet.
Wesleyne (:maybe this is your living room, maybe this is your kitchen table, it doesn't matter, but it is important to get out of the bed so that you can truly be in the posture that you need to be to be ready for God. And I want you to think about it, if you are getting up and getting ready for work or getting ready to go to church, you would
brush your teeth, wash your face, put some clothes on. And that's how we prepare for the world. So I want you to prepare for God in the same way. It could be a simple brushing your teeth, washing your face, maybe you change your clothes, maybe you don't, but prepare for your time with God. It's important to do that, to signal to your brain and your body.
I am getting ready to do something that is important to me. And when you sit, whether it's on the floor, on a table, on the couch, doesn't matter where you're sitting.
But ask God to enter into that place. Ask Him to lead you in the way that He wants to lead you. Oftentimes when we have our time with God, it's a, I read a verse, I read my devotional, I listen to this podcast, I read a book, I journal, and you do it in the same order every single day. Allow God to lead you.
Sometimes I enter into my time with God and the first thing that I do is I pick up my recording and I record something for you. Sometimes I sit down and flip my Bible open. I never have a specific verse I'm going to. I literally just have my physical Bible sitting next to me and I flip it and I open it.
Wesleyne (:and I read a verse or I read a chapter or I read a whole book of the Bible. It just depends on where God is leading me. Sometimes I get on my knees and I pray and I cry out to God and I speak to him and sometimes I have tears streaming down my face and sometimes I am praising him and laughing and clapping for joy.
Allow him to lead me and at other times I may read a Book I have many books written by Christian authors that I I Tap into and so I allow God to lead me. This is not my time to be in control This is not my time to drive. This is God's time This is his time and I allow him to lead me to guide me
And it's important during this time that you spend a little bit of time in silence. Sometimes I spend two minutes in silence, sometimes I spend 20 minutes in silence. Again, I allow God to lead me. Because if we're always talking to Him and we're always filling our mind with His Word or with the words of other people who are listening to worship music or listening to...
a podcast or a sermon, we never allow him to speak to us. So sit in silence for a bit. And for many of us, our minds are racing and we're thinking about everything that we have to do. And every time a thought comes in, pray over it. Say, Lord, I'm thinking about having to make lunch for the boys today. Lord, take that away from me.
and then you center right back to where you need to be. Or Lord, I'm thinking about this big meeting that I have going on. I'm just gonna ask you to continue to strengthen my mind, to make sure that I'm prepared, to make sure that I'm.
Wesleyne (:And then you get right back to where you are in listening. And that listening piece, that is something that takes time to develop. Don't beat yourself up if it's hard for you to sit in silence. But this practice, this thing that I've been doing, I've been doing it for well over two years now. And I routinely spend...
anywhere from 45 to about an hour and a half of time in the morning specifically with God and I allow him to lead me and what I have seen in my life is I have seen him show up in ways that I could never imagine even when the world is swirling around me and things seem like they're just going to collapse I can feel the presence of
God. When I have moments of stress or pain, I can hear the voice of God. I can hear specific, I have specific scriptures on my heart and my mind. I have songs that I've listened to that I filled my mind with that help calm me during those times that are tumultuous. So I encourage you today to start with just 30 minutes, just 30 minutes.
every single morning and try this for at least 21 days because it takes 21 days to make a habit stick. So for 21 days I encourage you to try this practice. I pray that as you spend more time with God intentionally that he shows up in mighty ways for you. Be blessed.
