DAILY DEVOTIONS TIP: Be Ready For A Spiritual Battle!

by Andy Deane
(Old Bridge, NJ)

Satan will fight you tooth and nail to keep you from your daily meeting with the Lord. He hates nothing more than seeing a Christian getting down to business with God, because he knows that such believers are dangerous to his kingdom of darkness. Watch out for these problems:

The Battle of the Blankets
Almost every morning you will be tempted to hit the snooze button and sleep in and shorten or miss your time with God. Resist at all costs! Go to bed early enough and with thoughts of Scripture (the night before leave your Bible open to the passage you'll read in the morning) and get out of bed immediately when you wake up!

Concentration
Your mind will easily wander. Make sure you are ready. Try praying out loud in a whisper to help you stay alert when sleepy. Avoid having your quiet time in bed. Take a shower, drink some coffee, and keep a notebook handy so that when your mind wanders to a task that you need to do that day you can write it down, and then forget about it until later. Take control of wandering thoughts. Keep bringing your mind back with quiet firmness and without scolding yourself.

Dry Seasons
Sometimes you won't feel like you are getting anything out of your daily devotions. Just realize that obedience to truth is more important than following your emotions. Feelings come and go but the Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:25). If you only had a quiet time when you felt like it, the devil would make sure you never felt like it. Dryness can be caused by:

Disobedience
is there unconfessed sin in your life?

Your Physical Condition
Are you getting enough rest?

Rushing
Don't try to do too many things. Be simple.

Routine
You have to watch out for staleness.

Selfishness
Start sharing your insights with others. Don't hog them!

Satan's most vicious attacks will come in connection with your desire to be diligent in your quiet time. He knows that if he can keep you out of the Word, he has defeated you. If he can keep you from spending quality time with the Lord at the start of a day, then he's won the battle. Expect these types of attacks. Dropping your quiet time is usually the first step in spiritual backsliding. You must persevere!

Please Don't Give Up!
If you miss a meal, it does not mean that you should give up eating. The same is true of your quiet time. It takes time to develop and maintain good habits. Remember, a habit is like a ball of twine: every time you drop it, many strands unwind. Develop good habits by doing your best to:

• Always be consistent, so that spending time with the Lord each day will become rooted in your life.

• Avoid exceptions that will take you away from your quiet time. Recognize that yielding to such distractions will only reinforce the idea that other things are more important.

Visit www.Youth-Bible-Study.com for more Bible study tips for students.