Words from the Office
Today’s “Word’s from the Office” is an excerpt from Joyful Surrender: 7 Disciplines for the Believer’s Life, a book by Elisabeth Elliot (1926 – 2015).
People wish they had more leisure time. The problem is not too little of it, but too much of it poorly spent. The Sunday papers, nearly all magazines, and nearly all television programs are an unconscionable waste of time.
Jesus calls us, “Come to me, all whose work is hard, whose load is heavy; and I will give you relief. Bend your necks to my yoke, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted…”
How shall we come to Him? In faith first, for our salvation. No step can precede that one. But the one who has put his trust in the Lord must continue to come daily to learn from Him how to be gentle and humble-hearted. Time management, a highly developed science today, begins for the Christian with time set aside for God. Other things cannot fall into a peaceful order if this is omitted.
The life of Daniel illustrates the discipline of time. He had a regular schedule for prayer. King Darius issued an ordinance that anyone who in the next thirty days offered a petition to any god or man other than himself would be thrown into a lion’s pit.
We can imagine Daniel’s perplexity. Should he alter his prayer time? Reduce the frequency? Eliminate prayer altogether? Choose a less conspicuous place? A casual posture?
His enemies were looking for a way to catch him, and of course they had no trouble finding it. “When Daniel learnt that this decree had been issued, he went into his house. He had had windows made in his roof-chamber looking towards Jerusalem; and there he knelt three times a day and offered prayers and praises to his God as his custom had always been.”
He was an easy target, but saving his skin was not nearly so important to him as serving his God. Prayer was indispensable to that, so he was willing to let himself be caught.
Just a few words about the most important time of the day, that is spent alone with the Lord.
Let it be a regular time. At least five days a week have a special time for solitude and silence. If you have never done it before, start with ten minutes. You will be surprised how quickly this goes, and you will soon need to plan for more.
Have a special place. Anywhere where you can be alone, even if it must be a closet, bathroom, or the car in the garage.
Let your prayer include worship, thanksgiving, confession of sin, petition (including one asking God to speak to you during your quiet time), and intercession (prayers for others). Lists of names of people to pray for are a great help for most of us. When people ask me to pray for them, I need to write down the names, so I won’t forget.
Keep a spiritual journal, noting lessons learned, Scriptures applied to a particular need, prayers answered. This is a great encouragement to faith.
Read a portion of the Bible in some ordered sequence. Three chapters per day and five on Sundays will take you through the whole Bible in a year. Some people like to read two chapters of the Old Testament and one in the New each day.
During his lifetime, Billy Graham read from both Psalms and Proverbs daily, along with whatever other portion of the Bible he was in. The best time for most people is early morning-not because most of us love jumping out of bed, but because it is the only time of day when we can be fairly sure of not being interrupted and because it is best to commune with God before you commune with people. Your attitude toward them will then arise out of your life in Him. Offering to God the first hour of the day is a token of consecration of all our time.
