Showing posts with label Charles Swindoll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Swindoll. Show all posts

Friday 4 December 2015

God Wants Your Attention.







Who is God?

Someone who wants to live inside you.

Jesus said, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."  John 15:4,5

Who am I?

Someone who knows what it is like to live without God and is glad she is now living in God.

I've started to read books by, Charles R. Swindoll. I enjoy them very much. The one I am reading now is called, "So, You Want to Be Like Christ?"  His first chapter is on having intimacy with God.

"God will never adjust His agenda to fit ours. He will not speed his pace to catch up with ours; we need to slow our pace in order to recover our walk with him. God will not scream and shout over noisy clamor; he expects us to seek quietness, where his still, small voice can be heard. "

Swindoll says to create room in our life for God; Christ-likeness is a journey not a destination, 
He writes, "Our responsibility is to pursue time away from television noise, radio chatter, endless and silly commercials and the din of mercenary traffic around us."

One time, I listened to a sermon online and the preacher said, "Ask God what he wants you to do."  So, when the program was over, I went on my balcony and asked God, "Is there anything you want me to do?"  Instantly, I heard him say in my mind, "I want you to stop watching those violent TV shows you watch with your sister."  Then, silence.  Well, it didn't take him long to find something! Lol

My sister was living with us then, she has since moved to Washington State. We were watching Walking Dead, and some other violent shows. We spent each evening watching TV in her room while my husband slept. He has to go to bed at 7am.

I thought to myself, "Well, I don't mind giving up those shows myself, but Liz will be disappointed because we have a lot of fun doing that."  But, I was thankful God had even deigned to speak to me about something he thought was important, so I said, "Okay, God."

I never missed those shows. I spent time with God instead and learned so much and had a great time with him and still do. I searched for lots of Christian sites online and found many. I signed up for newsletters and joined some blogs. I found some new preachers to listen to, which led me to a deeper understanding of God's love for me. 

My sister took it all in stride. She is a Christian too and understood. We sometimes watched some innocent shows (not that there are many).

I think I blogged about this before; you will have to excuse me as I'm 65 and don't remember everything. Anyway, I'm glad I did what God asked me to do. He was right, as usual; I am happier and don't have nightmares as much! And of course, I think the main reason he asked me to do this was to spend more quality time with him. It has been wonderful, top-quality time for me.