Balance
Balance, Thinkin’ today about balance. Not the world famous “balance” definition but another one.
The world says we can have it all if we balance our diet, our obligations, our work and play,
and on and on.
The world says we can have it all if we balance our diet, our obligations, our work and play,
and on and on.
I’m thinkin’ today about balance in my devotional life. On my first generation IPad, I have
downloaded the Jesus Calling app, the Bible Hub app, and the Bible for Kids app. In my ibooks
library I have the devotionals : Maximize Your Mornings; Jesus on every Page; and The Shelter, God’s Promises. By email I subscribe to: Devotionals Daily, Study Gateway, Max Lucado,
Spirit Led Woman and ibelieve daily. On my nightstand right now are hard copies of Moving
Mountains by John Eldridge, Awaken by Priscilla Shirer, Jack Hayford’s Moments with Majesty and
Anne Graham Lotz’s The Daniel Key . I’ve read all of them, I’m just referring back to them everyday
or two.
I am currently in a Bible Study with my women’s group at church on “12 More Women of the Bible”
and I am personally studying Women of Faith’s “Power in Prayer”. From that study, I was inspired to
look more closely at Psalm 119. In my excitement, I cleverly came up with 22 days in Psalm 119
and promised myself to spend the next 22 days studying each section of that Psalm. However,
(at the tim of this writing), my church was in 24 days of prayer and text me a devotion each morning,
so, I was doing that. Additionally, my church posts “reflection questions” after each Sunday sermon
and I really try to look at those and journal them each week. I am a marvel at Bible study!
Even as I type this my head is about to explode!
In retrospect, I don’t access the ipad apps EVERY day. I haven’t accessed the devotional ibooks
in months. I’ve been deleting Max Lucado, Devotionals Daily and Study gateway in favor of
Anne Graham Lotz the last 30 days. Awaken is a 90 day devotional that took me 120 days. I do the
Women of Faith study on Sunday afternoons, it’s only a 12 weeks. I started 10 weeks ago and I’m
on week 8. On paper and in blog, I look like an amazing study machine.
I also keep a prayer journal. I record specific requests and their answers or updates when I’m still
praying. I started it because I thought none of my prayers were ever answered. That’s a subject for
another blog and I digress. While I have lots of books on prayer, the devotional books do outnumber
them. And while I set aside devotion time every day, I’m intrigued by the time spent studying or
reading as opposed to prayer. Intrigued might should be convicted. Confession: Some, several,
many mornings I pour over the scripture and journal my thoughts, read several translations and
then, in haste, shoot an arrow prayer upward, mention a few pressing needs, maybe even log them
in the prayer journal, sing a praise and worship chorus and get up for the day. All, GOOD,
GREAT, WONDERFUL things to do. But, in His great love and mercy for me, He gives me this line
out of today’s study on prayer. (It’s the one Women of Faith that I do on Sunday and am four weeks
behind. “ This week, instead of spending extra time searching out the scriptures, spend
a little extra time in prayer.”
downloaded the Jesus Calling app, the Bible Hub app, and the Bible for Kids app. In my ibooks
library I have the devotionals : Maximize Your Mornings; Jesus on every Page; and The Shelter, God’s Promises. By email I subscribe to: Devotionals Daily, Study Gateway, Max Lucado,
Spirit Led Woman and ibelieve daily. On my nightstand right now are hard copies of Moving
Mountains by John Eldridge, Awaken by Priscilla Shirer, Jack Hayford’s Moments with Majesty and
Anne Graham Lotz’s The Daniel Key . I’ve read all of them, I’m just referring back to them everyday
or two.
I am currently in a Bible Study with my women’s group at church on “12 More Women of the Bible”
and I am personally studying Women of Faith’s “Power in Prayer”. From that study, I was inspired to
look more closely at Psalm 119. In my excitement, I cleverly came up with 22 days in Psalm 119
and promised myself to spend the next 22 days studying each section of that Psalm. However,
(at the tim of this writing), my church was in 24 days of prayer and text me a devotion each morning,
so, I was doing that. Additionally, my church posts “reflection questions” after each Sunday sermon
and I really try to look at those and journal them each week. I am a marvel at Bible study!
Even as I type this my head is about to explode!
In retrospect, I don’t access the ipad apps EVERY day. I haven’t accessed the devotional ibooks
in months. I’ve been deleting Max Lucado, Devotionals Daily and Study gateway in favor of
Anne Graham Lotz the last 30 days. Awaken is a 90 day devotional that took me 120 days. I do the
Women of Faith study on Sunday afternoons, it’s only a 12 weeks. I started 10 weeks ago and I’m
on week 8. On paper and in blog, I look like an amazing study machine.
I also keep a prayer journal. I record specific requests and their answers or updates when I’m still
praying. I started it because I thought none of my prayers were ever answered. That’s a subject for
another blog and I digress. While I have lots of books on prayer, the devotional books do outnumber
them. And while I set aside devotion time every day, I’m intrigued by the time spent studying or
reading as opposed to prayer. Intrigued might should be convicted. Confession: Some, several,
many mornings I pour over the scripture and journal my thoughts, read several translations and
then, in haste, shoot an arrow prayer upward, mention a few pressing needs, maybe even log them
in the prayer journal, sing a praise and worship chorus and get up for the day. All, GOOD,
GREAT, WONDERFUL things to do. But, in His great love and mercy for me, He gives me this line
out of today’s study on prayer. (It’s the one Women of Faith that I do on Sunday and am four weeks
behind. “ This week, instead of spending extra time searching out the scriptures, spend
a little extra time in prayer.”
Thinkin’ about balancing my prayer time with devotional and study time.
How much time did you spend in each this past week? Think about it.
