Last week, I shared with our community of subscribers my personal struggle with learning to abide in Jesus.
I began this year with a clear feeling that ABIDE was my word for the year, and I started in January spending quiet time with Jesus and seeing how it changed me.
But soon the busyness of life began to distract me from the things that mattered most—including my abiding time. So, as this year comes to a close, I am recommitting to focus on abiding. Even if it’s only for a few moments each day.
In the email, I asked you, my faithful readers, for your tips. What helps you avoid distraction and maintain a focus on abiding with Jesus? A few of you sent me your tips, and I am so grateful that you chose to share your thoughts and ideas with me. Here are some helpful tips for those of us who want to make the most of our time spent with Jesus this Christmas season and beyond.
Begin your quiet time by reading a Psalm.
Merry emailed with this idea: “A new discipline I have adopted is to begin my quiet time by reading a Psalm. I go to the same Psalm each morning for a week. This prepares my heart to focus on God's presence.”
I absolutely love this idea from Merry and plan to implement this as a spiritual discipline in my life! Reading the same Psalm each morning for a week will help seal God’s Word on our hearts as we read and spend time with him.
Create a purposeful page of JESUS NOTES on your laptop.
William sent me this innovative idea for starting the day focused on Jesus: “When I open my laptop...I have purposely a Page of JESUS Notes (useful words, devotionals, prayers and commands); so before opening my mail, it enables me to see/view a reminder of being close to JESUS...first.”
This is such a great tip! William also added that every time he closes his laptop, he sets his Jesus Notes document to be the first thing he sees as he re-opens.
I could see how this would work with a phone or tablet, too. Maybe even use a tool like Canva to create an image to set as a screen saver, so a Jesus-reminder is the first thing we see when our phone wakes up!
As you talk to Jesus, remember that he is your friend.
Linda reminded me of an old hymn I love, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” What a difference it makes when I think of Jesus as my friend when I am spending time abiding with him. I find those are the times when I hear his voice most clearly. Jesus himself says:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 ESV
As we spend time with him, we get to know him and his Word. We know his voice when we hear it and gain clear understanding of his presence and guidance in our lives.
Read an Advent devotional.
Last week, I signed up for a “free” advent devotional from an advertisement in my inbox. From the time I submitted my email address, a crazy thing happened. I received email after email asking me to buy something. The free devotional was buried beneath so many advertisements, I got frustrated trying to find it. I ended up unsubscribing.
During the holiday season, we will be bombarded with ads claiming the latest and greatest thing. We may try to block out the noise, but that’s hard to do. Distractions abound at Christmas, so we must be intentional about turning off something that is causing a distraction from our quiet time.
There are many sites out there offering daily devotionals with little or no distractions. The YouVersion Bible app offers a variety of Advent devotionals, ranging in length from 5 days to 4 weeks. You will also find quality devotions from Your Daily Prayer on Crosswalk, like this one I wrote recently, “A Prayer of Gratitude for the Gift of Jesus.” You may see a few pop up ads, but nothing excessive. You can also listen or watch a video version on their YouTube channel.
Christmas is the best time to re-center our hearts on the reason we celebrate. May we continue to seek him with longing hearts by abiding in his shadow. Merry Christmas to you!
