Time Alone With God ~ God Says,"tag You're It"

Tick, tick, tick, tick, can you hear it? Time ticks with a constant rhythm; while it slows occasionally, most often, it has a foreboding quality with an alarming presence of things left undone. This methodical sound of time passing is hypnotic. Have you ever allowed yourself to be quiet long enough to listen? I pray your experience creates moments to hear a clock ticking.

During a slowdown, watch the second hand tick in your mind. It prompts contemplation on how to use the precious time. Suddenly, it stops!

Time simulates a game of tag, a game where you’re always it; whether chasing after the minutes ahead of you or trying to get them back, time keeps ticking!

Allow yourself a moment to live between the ticking of the clock. Uncover a place where time ceases, life holds purpose, and seizes each minute to its fullest. Take time alone with God and then tag someone into your game.

Tag, you’re it!

How do we or should we invest our energy? I often think, did I squander a tick of the clock? Did I waste any valuable time? After being called to faith in Jesus Christ, I yearn to live my life in service, yet I fail. I don’t like this, as it’s not my preference, but my physical self responds to a flawed world.

Knowing the goal of obedience to God is the desire of my heart. But sometimes I’m not doing what I know I ought to! Even as a thought of anger flashes or impatience grabs, I am robotic in my acts of wrongdoing. I fall within a second to a sinful nature that seeks to overwhelm and pounce on my weakest link. This world makes the flesh vulnerable. Establishing the Holy Spirit exceeds that of this world. Still, the power of evil seeks to entrap us in the woes of temptation.

To survive truth, stay with others seeking this accounting. If I fall short, I would like to take Time in submissive prayer. I prefer a tranquil place where I discover the whisper of His Spirit inside my heart. There He is, sitting tight, waiting for me to seek His wisdom. This Time alone with God tags me into His Spirit and gives the change to exceed in His ways of benevolence toward others. However, how often do I let the world’s business to keep me from this tranquility?

His Spirit fills every moment if we listen to the whisper. They’re in between. He is pouring into our hearts, keeping us attached as a branch to the Vine. We strive to stay connected to God in every possible way. We feel tormented when slipping from His grip; notwithstanding, we need the concentration and restoration of His lessons in these moments.

These lessons fulfill a thirst where we no longer isolate ourselves from the lost, for we all are lost and found. And now we share the good news of how He found us broken. Despite future judgment, He has freed us from sin and brought us to Himself.

Until that time when we go home, we’re in danger of responding to human nature’s wickedness through outrage, talk, judgment, or prejudice. We appeal to God for the cooperation that joins imperfect Christians by His Grace, managing the individuals who look for Him to restrain their slips in transgression.

The weight of impending judgment hangs heavy over us, reminding us of the imminent consequences. Let’s reflect on our part in disconnecting from God by examining ourselves in the mirror. When we look at the disdain of our flawed selves, we should weep at our reflection, as we could all use a makeover by God’s grace.

During reflection, we recognize our flaws and not dwell on worldly sins that divide us further.

Instead, we look for surrender in dutiful submission to the change God organizes in each of us. When our concentration occupies with distraction, we miss outstanding notes and disturb His Orchestra.

Living a life of atonement and service requires compliance and the Holy Spirit’s help. We will walk among the garbage heaps, the prison cells of life, and share Him, when, and where He leads. When doing anything other than glorifying Him, we will feel the pangs of sin. We rebuke pride in becoming righteous because we are flawed and often get it wrong. However, we will do our best to take simple action with a Christ-like love seeking to praise His beautiful example.

I pray we deflect negativity by attempting to shine a light in the dark places as our focus aspires to a more constant state of awareness that God is all-knowing and present.

We can’t hide from the eyes of God; therefore, remember the moments when the ticking slows to concentrate on our Lord and Savior? Our goal is to be with Him and sin-free at the finish line. Lord, let us value time and use it for God’s work.

Time Alone with God and His word is how we can get it right. We can choose.

How are we investing in our Time? What percentage are we giving to our Time alone with God, TAG? You’re it, tick tock!!!

Time is inevitable; even when it slows, it’s ongoing, and when it stops for some, it continues for others. We must wait as time passes. In the past, I went through a similar situation while in a hospital ICU during a medical emergency.

I could hear the rhythmic sounds of a mechanical ventilator that whisked air into my lungs. This allowed them to expand and contract. Time slows, it doesn’t stop in these moments. Death was no longer the concern as I was already at death’s door. Honest, it was surreal, despite knowing I was never alone. God had my back.

I know you’ve had one of these moments, with a near-miss of a car heading toward you as you swerve. May have had an emotional time in your life or losing a loved one. Is your moment of relief when your teen comes home after a night out? It could be when they first handed you your child and stated there’s a problem?

Regardless of age, these moments have happened, and they make you feel you’re waiting for a bomb to go off. In times like these, you’re in shock, hit by a proverbial bullet. You think under attack with almost nothing left to give, lacking motivation, or dare, I assume, FEAR. When it came, you screamed, please, MAKE IT STOP! You process a way out, thinking to yourself, let me fast-forward, or can I rewind?

Your heart races as you familiarize yourself with the quiet of these moments. When you feel I’m all by myself. I want you to stop and think past that moment you may have been screaming, sobbing. Fighting hard to suppress the emotion your fear may take you over. Go further to where you have nothing left but complete and utter surrender. You give in to hopelessness and enter a place where time moves slow.

PEACE, stillness, quiet - hands, comfort, take hold of you. If you close your world for a minute, you feel lifted, even carried like a child. Your heart rate returns to its average pace, and you now know you’re not alone. You have encountered FAITH firsthand. Faith in something unusual. Imagine going deeper within yourself. Finding the courage to believe in an all-powerful deity.

Let’s go one more rung on the ladder and say you may have fallen to your knees. Talking from your heart to someone, hoping for the answer. If you’ve encountered such a moment, as I assume you have, you must concede the serenity. You conquered the swirling chaos and emerged triumphant.

Question: how did you get there? What gave you solace? How fast did you forget feeling normalcy returning? Help me, God, with this overwhelming feeling. In this world, we can forget and convince ourselves we are always in control. We may even honor ourselves when it passes, hoping to regain our normal life.

Nothing ordinary, my friends; He is all-loving, protective, and forgiving. He is your Creator and Father in heaven. Your faith acts as a protective shield, allowing you to access Christ in safety. People believe in moments, yet often forget when money, loved ones, and a calm life are present. Few needs remain, and the storm has subsided.

Let me offer some references before I continue. I want to pique your interest and give you trustworthy words that are not my own.

John 3:16

New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Romans 10:9

Believer's Prayer

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the person you want me to be.

This prayer is your beginning; They make you new. The old you, dead and gone, and God now lives in your heart. You can try, but you always know when you deny Him. You will never feel the same if you don’t listen to the Holy Spirit guiding you. You are now convicted when faced with the reality of sin in your life.

You are not perfect once you have faith and belief in God. It is now that the purposeful work begins.

Baptism is the cleansing and washing clean ~ some have experienced this in infancy, and it indeed is baptism and cleansing. To have a Believer’s Baptism, you then take the steps of commitment and obedience to God. You will now live a new way for Him as His servant. They gift you with the fruits of the Holy Spirit and recognize those gifts. Allow yourself to be His instrument, bringing others to understand a life with Christ at the helm.

You will mess up ~ Romans Chapter 7: 14-25