In my previous post, I highlighted 6 ways of developing consistency with God. Today, I want to highlight a few benefits of being consistent with God. Spending consistent time with God, like many other things in the world, is not simple or easy. There are days when you will just not feel like it or might have to rush out of the house but it doesn’t mean that we should give up. It requires discipline, being intentional and effort but the benefits far outweigh the costs of spending consistent time with God so let’s do better. Here are a few of such benefits:
We know God more and more when we spend consistent time with Him- As we show up daily to read the word of God, to speak with Him and have Him speak with us, We get to understand the person of God, we understand the heart of God and what is important to Him. We know his likes and dislikes and obtain a general understanding of how to relate with Him. The word of God, from Genesis to Revelations is filled with powerful messages about God’s love, compassion, wisdom, power and might among other things. When we show up daily to study His word, we get to see Him throughout generations and see each day, how He showed up for his people, how He even rebuked those who did wrong, His sacrifice for mankind and how He gave us His Holy Spirit to us because of His love. We see God in the capacity of Father, Friend, Warrior, Protector, Healer, Provider, Brother, Son and so many more, which allows us to understand Him more and more and how to relate with Him better. We develop a deeper relationship with Him when we spend more time with Him because we know Him better.
We know more about ourselves when we spend consistent time with God- Psalm 139:13-16 says “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Even before we were thought of, conceived and born, God knew us. He thought of everything about us, how we were going to spend our days on this earth and put us together intricately for a reason and purpose. The way we express ourselves, the way we think, our uniqueness and giftings are all for a reason and purpose. If we do not spend time with our creator and maker how do we find out his original intent for creating us. Thus it is even more beneficial to us when we spend consistent time with God because we are able to understand ourselves even better and in turn, find, follow and fulfil God’s purpose and plan for our lives. Additionally, we can only bear fruit when we spend consistent time with God as we see in John 15:4-5, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Spending Consistent time with God means that we abide under the shadow of the Almighty- Psalm 91:1 says that “He that dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”. As believers our secret place is where we spend time with God and to abide means to dwell or live. Our spending consistent time with God leads us to dwell in or live constantly in God’s presence and under the shadow of the Almighty The whole of Psalm 91 basically highlights what happens with such a person. The Lord becomes their refuge and fortress, the Lord delivers him from the snare of the fowler and deadly pestilence. It goes on to say in Vs 9 that “because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High, your refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague shall come near your tent.” The amplified version quotes Psalm 91:1 as this: “HE WHO dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]”, Powerful!. Abiding under the shadow of the Almighty therefore leads us to other benefits because under God’s shadow we are protected, guarded and shielded in a way that no foe can withstand. If God be for us, who can stand against us?
Spending Consistent time with God allows us to win the war in our minds- Whether you like it or not, whether you admit it or not, we are at war. A constant battle is going on in our minds. A battle of right and wrong, a battle of faith over fear, a battle of purity over immorality, of hopelessness over hope and these happen every single day. The ability to choose the option which is in line with the will of God depends on what we are exposed to or what we have more access to. If we are more exposed to God and his word through consistent time spent with Him, then we obtain more ammunition to overcome the negativity and lies spewed by the enemy to push us off the edge. Consistent exposure to the word of God, allows us to think about that more, enabling us to use the word of God as weapons to fight and overcome the constant battle in our minds day in and out. Without the word of God, life really looks bleak and confusing but with the word of God, we are able to look beyond the here and the now unto our source of everything, the Lord, God Almighty, who is the impossibility specialist. Showing up daily to meet with God makes us overcomers.
Spending consistent time with God makes us more productive- For most of us, our excuse for not spending consistent time with God is that we are too busy or that the time is not enough, or that we generally don’t feel like it. But do you know that being able to show up daily to meet with God, spend time with Him and read His word builds in us intentionality. As we become more intentional with the time we spend with God, we become intentional with other areas of our lives. At the heart of productivity is intentionality, we are usually able to carry out planned activities only when we are intentional about them. Even when we plan out our day to be the most productive day possible, it can only be productive when we intentionally carry out our list of activities, one after the other. Without intentionality, it is just a list on a piece of paper. Therefore if you want to be more productive in your life, why don’t you try being more consistent with God.
We generally become wiser when we are consistent with God: Proverbs 2:6 says “it is the Lord who gives wisdom, from Him comes knowledge”. The more we spend time with God, the more our way of thinking and view of the world changes. Our thoughts, desires, intentions, likes and dislikes become more aligned with God’s. We begin to have the mind of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in us become more pronounced. As God is the source of all wisdom, time spent with God allows us to draw from the well of wisdom and we also become wiser. The bible also says in James 1:5, that “if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” Solomon, who is seen in the bible as the wisest man on earth during his time, did not just get up one day to become wise. 1 Kings 3:3 says that Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the status of David, his father who we know as the man after God’s own heart. Vs 4-15 shows that as Solomon went to offer sacrifices at Gibeon as he usually did, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he wanted. Solomon who by now, had his desires aligned with God, asked for wisdom to rule his people which God gave him happily and in addition, riches and honour incomparable to none all his days. God did not just appear to him. This was born out of a deeper love, connection and relationship with God which can only come from consistent time with God. Consistent time spent with God is never wasted.
When we spend time with God, we are able to trust Him easily- Would you be able to trust someone you don’t know or surrender to someone you don’t know? I don’t think so. Trust is easier when there is a deeper relationship. As such, when we spend consistent time with God, we are able to know him more. To know more about His Love, Compassion, power and might to carry us through life. As we know more about Him each day, trust gradually becomes easier. Trusting God benefits us more than it benefits God. Trusting God allows us to offload all our burdens to Him. Matthew 11:28 says,”come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Resting in God is when we get to that place where we are calm and confident in God’s promises, even in the midst of storms and we can only get here when we choose time with God each day. Proverbs 3:5-6 also says that we should trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding, In all our ways we should acknowledge Him and He shall direct our paths. Our trust in God, leads us to acknowledge God in everything and as we do that, He directs our paths because we learn to lean and rely completely on Him.
As I share this, I pray that this encourages you to continue to be consistent with God if you already are. If not, please strive to develop consistency with God and your life will never be the same. None of this is easy or simple but God is always ready with open arms to welcome us into His loving embrace. In His arms we are secure, loved and cherished. He has also given us His Holy Spirit to help us every step of the way therefore we don’t need to do this all alone. Let’s all strive for better and not miss out on these benefits.
Please comment below, any other benefits you may have experienced or seen in spending consistent time with God for all of us to also learn. Thanks.
Consistency with God has really helped me to hear God more in certain situations.