Immediately

I was reading in Acts chapter 16:1-10 today and the word immediately stuck out at me. This chapter is talking about how Paul and Timothy were going from town to town preaching, but some towns like Asia were not allowed to preach in. They had started churches and doing amazing things, but some places they went to people didn't want to hear about Jesus. I was at the part of the story where Paul received the Macedonian call/ vision or dream. (verse 9) This vision made Paul take the gospel to the west, which if you know history you would know that had never happened before. Now the gospel is global. 

Different denominations believe different things, if dreams or visions can still happen today. If healing can happen today, if speaking in tongues is biblically supported for this day and age. I have no degree in theology, I am just a woman who reads God's word. I do not have all the answers. From what I have studied neither do the doctors or world-renowned theologians have all the answers either. It might not be up to us to know. I do know that Paul had a dream, and it was so powerful that it changed his entire game plan of where he was going to preach. Due to this dream, he had, He immediately went to Macedonia. 

Did you catch the Title in there, immediately. Paul didn't have to question or wonder why. Paul didn't wait to make sure it was from God truly. He didn't ask Luke (the author of Acts) or Timothy if that is what he should do. He just did. He went out on faith and tried his best. 

How many times do we put things off? I can tell you personally, I do all the time. This morning for instance, I took my older daughter to school and normally when I would get back home, I would stay up and do my devotional time. This morning, I crawled back into my warm cozy bed and went to sleep, thinking I can get to the devotional time later. I woke up about 2 hours later and made a cup of coffee, then began to proceed with my time with God. The problem was not that I didn't have time to do what I wanted to do, because I had already learned my lesson on priorities and trust me your "quiet time" with God is a must. If you do not have a time set apart, you definitely add to your routine. Another topic for another day. 

The problem is now I am studying, spending my time with God, and it is being interrupted by my other daughter who needs something every five minutes. Once I get her settled, she wants to join me and copy what I am doing. Adorable, yes, I know, but when you spend time with God, you need to devote that time to Him and only Him. I am quick to justify it in my mind that she is learning from me. I am leading her by example, all true; however, I am cutting out one on one time with God. I am leaving out the feeling away from the wisdom, the Holy Spirit, the full attention. I am not saying that we should listen to our feelings and based our emotion is how we feel close to the Lord. I am saying that He deserves my entire mind focused on Him and I should be able to let the word guide my thoughts and have a better understanding because of that. Will I be able to learn, regardless? Yes, of course. Could I have gained more? Yes. The best analogy I can think of is when you swim underwater, if you have goggles and a snorkel sure you are prepared and will be able to see what the sea has to offer. Let's say you have a scuba tank and oxygen hooked to you, you are allowed to go so much deeper into the sea, and will discover so much more. What you put into something, basically is what you will get out of it.

I am also distracted by my thoughts; I start to write them out and feel like I have to share this conviction that I am feeling. Not only am I taking my attention away from God, to give him my best. I am also taking away from my two-year-old who is a constant reminder of a need for patience. My little girl wants me to fix her more drink, change the tv channel every 20 minutes and is just whiny because I am not devoted to her needs. I am once again not saying that you should spoil your child. If you are a parent of small children or ever have been, you know how hard it is to concentrate when toddlers are around. This could lead to me feeling guilty or rushed, I could also feel like a bad parent. I know that is not true, but how the enemy works is on our mind. 

If I would have gotten out of bed this am and done like I knew I should have I could have prevented all of these hardships on myself. We can cause things to be difficult on ourselves, because we ignore what we should do for what we want to do. Read that over and over until it sinks in.  If we would Immediately without hesitation do, we would allow God to work deeper in our lives and give ourselves more time for everything we need to. the anxiety of being rushed would be gone and the anger of trying to multitask would be no more. Parenting would be easier, and we wouldn't always be late. The guilt would fade away and the like mindedness of God would fill our minds to give us a peace that can surpass all understanding. When we only reach the surface of God in our daily life, we miss the beauty of what is deep.

Dear Lord

You know my heart; you know my intention. You know that when we don't immediately do what we are supposed to do, we are not allowing ourselves to become who you made us to be. We are not able to grow like you intended for us to. Lord, you know that when we feel rushed, and our anxiety level is through the roof that it is only because we sometimes bring it on ourselves. God, you love us in spite of that. You know that when we do not give you our all that, we are missing a blessing. I pray that you will forgive me for not listening, for not putting the time with you above something so simple as sleep. I pray that I can learn from this and grow from this, to know that even though I still can get it done, just because it is checked off a list doesn't mean that is what you have intended for this time for us to be. I pray that every time I sit down to have my quiet time with you that I am able to dig deep into your word and fellowship and worship you like it should be. I pray that I don't create situations like this due to disobeying and laziness to where the enemy can  use it against me to bring me down, away from what is true. I thank you for your forgiveness and I thank you for teaching me no matter what I do wrong in your eyes. I thank you for not giving up over and over when I fail. I love you and I pray this touches the mind and hearts of whoever reads it, to know that your grace is deep and the wisdom from you is greater still. 

in Jesus Name, Amen