Finding Time For God In Your Busy Schedule

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Is the Father your first thought in the morning? Or do you find yourself jumping out of bed, rushing through the morning routine, and flying out the door before realizing that you hadn’t even taken a moment to acknowledge our Creator?

In today’s world, our busy schedules dictate our time and attention. It seems impossible to sit down for a 5-minute devotion or start the day with prayer.

Christians need to cultivate a relationship with the Lord. But how do we find time for God in our busy schedules?

Making Time for God Is Important

Our relationship with the Creator is more than a Lord-servant relationship. God did not give us eternal life to merely serve Him and do His bidding. 

God created all things for His glory–He is a glorious God, and it shows in the intricacy and splendor of creation itself. But humankind is more than a created being; we were created in His image, giving us a special relationship with Him.

God Desires to Have a Relationship With Us.

God created humankind differently than all other creations. When the world began, God spoke all things into existence. The day, the night, the sun, the moon, and the galaxies were all spoken into the heavens. The land, water, vegetation, and the flying, creeping, and wandering animals were spoken upon the earth.

But when God was ready to make humankind, He made us with a body, soul, and spirit.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

God didn’t speak Adam into existence. He gathered the dust of the earth together, molded and shaped him into what He found desirable, and then breathed life into the intricately formed man. He then created woman the same way, but she started with a piece of Adam inside her so that we would all be interwoven–God’s magnificent creation of humanity!

God wanted a special relationship with humanity. Unlike any other creation, we are created with a spirit so we can worship God. 

God chose the Israelites out of all other nations to have a special relationship with them. 

He desires to have a special Father-child relationship with all who trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Relationships Take Time to Grow

All relationships take time to grow. A marriage, a friendship, even the relationship between parent and child take time.

I mean, you may have been totally enchanted with that sweet little baby when they first placed them in your arms. However, after the all-night vigils of a colicky baby, the endless months of the terrible twos, and the years maneuvering the dangerous pitfalls of teens, that relationship may experience some strain.

But through time and a little effort, that relationship is maintained or rebuilt, whichever the case may be.

Our relationship with God is the same. To know who God is and to get to know God are two very different things. The Bible tells us that the demons know and shudder. (James 2:19)

You may know God, but do you want it to stop there? Or do you want to experience a personal, intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe who desires for you to call Him Father?

Do you want to know about His promises? And discover His attributes? Wouldn’t you love to know why His love is so deep that He loved us even before we cared about who He was? 

Or why He sacrificed His only begotten Son on a cruel cross just to save the wretched people we are? 

God wants to reveal Himself to you in many spectacular ways. 

God Reveals Himself When We Spend Time With Him

So how do we get to know God and His wondrous works? 

Of course, we know the answer to this question is spending time in prayer and reading His word. But it’s so much more than doing–it’s becoming. 

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 4:24

When we desire to know God, to really know God, He will reveal Himself to us because He wants to be found!

God Reveals Himself In Nature

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Psalm 8:3-4

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:7-10

God Reveals Himself In the Person of Jesus

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Hebrews 1:1, 2

Jesus said to him, “…Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

John 14:9

God Reveals Himself In the Scriptures

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:21

God Reveals Himself Through Believers

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1 Peter 2:12

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and…forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:12-13

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Making Time for God When Life Is Too Busy

Busyness in today’s life can cause us to miss out on God’s better things for us this side of heaven. Daniel prayed three times a day. Jesus would go off by Himself early in the morning or late in the evening to get alone with His Father. The Psalmist proclaimed His dedication to rising in the morning and lingering in the evening to meditate on God’s word.

So, how can we fit God into our busy schedule? Here are some quick and easy methods to getting more Bible into your busy life.

Devotionals

Devotionals are great! They usually have a short paragraph or two to read with a Bible verse to read. Sometimes there may be a question or two to give you something to ponder on throughout the day.

Here are a few examples:

Live in Grace, Walk in Love

40 Conversations With God That Will Change Your Life

Prompts and Prayers to Reflect and Connect with God

5-Minute Devotions for Mom: 150 Days of Peace, Prayer, and the Power of God

Reading Prayers

Reading prayers may not sound sincere, but I find them encouraging. It’s like reading the book of Psalms; you’re reading others’ thoughts on God’s greatness. Several websites have prayers for everything. And it just so happens that Pray for Everything is one of my favorite sites. 

Affirmations

Biblical affirmations are more than repeated words to build your confidence or strengthen your resolve. God has given us many promises in the Bible, and when we read these promises, they provide us with the assurance of who God is and how great He is to those of us who call Him Father.

Here’s a download of 30 Biblical Affirmations from Calming Grace

Apps

I love my Bible app, Olive Tree Ministries. It’s the Bible online, but it offers so much more. It has different versions of the Bible, which you can quickly switch back and forth. 

It also has reading plans for many topics: faith, love, forgiveness, Christmas, Easter, fasting, certain books of the Bible, and the one I’m using now; Reading the Bible in three years. 

It sends me reminders if I forget to read that day, and it also keeps my place. I click on the reading for the day, and it tells me where to stop. 

Audio

Ok. Audio is my most favorite way to consume biblical knowledge. I listen to sermons and teachings on YouTube. I downloaded books from C. S. Lewis, A. W. Tozer, and other double initialed preachers on Audible. 

Charles Stanley, Michael Youssef, and Chuck Swindol are always playing on my Podcast app and Bott Radio Network. (ok, I just sang that last jingle in my head). 

I love audio because you can listen while you’re doing other things. 

Finding Time for God and Making It a Priority

There are several ways to squeeze God into your schedule, and doing a little something is better than doing nothing at all.

However, if you really desire to know the Creator of the universe as your heavenly Father, it will require time. 

• Time to study the Bible
• Time to spend time in prayer
• Time to meditate on His writings
• Time to memorize His words

But how do we make our time with God a priority?

I’m so glad you asked! 

When my husband and I were raising our nine children, we were busy. Activities of going to church at least three times a week, his work, my work, our farm, family responsibilities, and whatever other time-consuming monsters appeared kept us from nurturing our relationship. 

I know, with nine kids, it doesn’t sound like we hadn’t spent time together, but we had to carve out quality time to talk, discuss, relax, and recover from all the responsibilities that kept us jumping.

So, we set aside a date night. Saturday night was our time to spend together. And it was practically written in stone. We didn’t let anything interfere with that night. 

Most of the time, we would go to Casey’s and get a small hamburger pizza ($5.99) and split it. We eventually ventured out to other exotic places like McDonald’s, Hardees, and Burger King.

But wherever we ate, we would take up town and park on the main street and watch the traffic go by, or down to the State Park, and once in a while, we parked on our own driveway. No dining and dancing. No loud crowds or crowded theaters. We were seeking quiet time alone to build our relationship.

And since we will be celebrating on 45th anniversary this year, I would say it works! 

I said all that to say this, you can spend time with God anywhere and anytime, but to grow in your relationship with Him, you have to make that time a priority. You need alone time together with Him to build that relationship. 

• Make time to quiet yourself and pray for more than a grocery list of wants and needs. 
• Make time to read God’s words slowly as you think about what’s going on in the story you’re reading.
• Make time for meditating on and memorizing key verses that will give you strength, courage, and hope as you walk in faith.

But you’re busy, right? So how can you find quality time to spend with God?

You need a date night with God. A time set aside that doesn’t get pushed out of the way by less important distractions. It doesn’t have to be daily, maybe once a week or a couple of times a month. But something that you schedule, treat with importance, and anticipate. 

I’ve listed a few ideas to get your imagination started.

• Wake up early on Saturday mornings and start journaling
• Take yourself out to lunch one day a week and spend time reading your Bible
• Download a Bible app and find a reading plan that you can follow
• Find an hour a week where you can sit and watch nature and think about God. 
• Go out on Thursday night and sit in your car and listen to worship music
• Take off on Sunday afternoon (or hide somewhere in the house) and begin memorizing Psalm 1 or another long passage.
• Tell the family you’re going to take a nap but pray instead.

Going on a drive or sitting in the driveway or parking lot is usually a better idea than staying home. Go off for an hour by yourself and read your Bible, memorize Scripture, write in a journal, or sit and pray. 

You may not be able to do this every day, but can you carve out one hour a week for a date night with God? Give it some thought and choose something that you will enjoy doing for yourself.

Our time with our Father is not about quantity but quality. 

I’ve enjoyed getting to know Him. In fact, I think most of us would agree that the more we know, the more we want to know.

“If you knew Him like I know Him, you would want to know Him more!”

God loves you and wants a relationship with you. He understands that we get busy and overwhelmed with life, and He has answers for that in His word. 

We’re reminded of that in the following verses:

• Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10

• You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

• I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

• And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

• For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6

If you are feeling exhausted or overwhelmed check out April Bragg’s site on being a Confident Christian Woman.