Five Ways to Sit at His Feet
Do you ever put tasks ahead of spending time with Jesus?
A story in Luke 10 tells of two sisters and how they spent their time when Jesus came one day for a visit. Martha was busy scurrying to get to the end of her “to-do list,” but Mary chose a different path. She settled herself at Jesus’ feet, soaking in His words and His presence.
Perhaps today we can set aside our to-do lists until we’ve mimicked Mary. Let’s stop scurrying and be seated instead. There is always plenty of room at His feet.
Here are five ways to slow down and soak in the presence of Jesus:
1. Give your to-do list to the Lord.
Sometimes it is so hard to hear the Lord’s voice through all of the hustle of our day. We stress and obsess about our to-do list and all of our many appointments. The best way to focus in on our time with God {and to leave our to-do list behind} is actually to take our to-do list along with us!
Get alone and get quiet. Ask God to bring to your mind all that you must get done. Make a list of these things. Then, spend time praying through each item on the list.
As God brings more tasks to your mind, write them down. Don’t worry that it is unspiritual to stop halfway through a prayer and jot an item down. It helps you to clear your mind and then allows you to focus better on your time alone with God. He is concerned about all of the details of our life even if it is our plan to go grocery shopping or run to the dry cleaners.
2. Get intentional.
Treat your time alone with God as serious as any other appointment you have. When you have to go to the dentist, you brush your teeth and make sure you show up on time. Why do we assume our time alone with God will just happen spontaneously? Learn to treat it with intentionality. Enter in the time you will spend with God in your digital calendar or write it in your paper planner. You can even set an alarm on your phone. Have a designated time and stick to it.
3. Read and write.
Get a hold of a good devotional book or Bible study workbook. You can check out some of my favorites here. Use them to help you know where to read in the Bible. But don’t just read the Bible. Write your thoughts down too.
Keeping a journal will help you grow your relationship with God. You will process as you write out your thoughts. Also learn to both read and write prayers. Read prayers in the book of Psalms out loud to God. Then, write out your own specific prayers to Him as well. It will amaze you when you go back later and see the ways that God answered your prayers.
4. Make a recording and memorize.
Ever vowed to memorize scripture but then failed to follow through? One way to remedy this is to memorize verses by listening to them audibly over and over again in your own voice. Use your phone’s voice memo app to record yourself reading out loud any verses or passages of scripture you would like to commit to memory. Then, pop in your headphones and listen to the verses each day as you walk, do housework, or cook dinner. It makes it so much easier to cement the words in your in your mind this way!
5. Discover the Bible’s non-negotiables.
Grab a Bible and a notebook. Pick a New Testament book such as James or Colossians. Read it through stopping each time you see a non-negotiable command that we as Christians are supposed to do. When you come across one, write it down. For example: James 1:19-21 (CSB) says…
“My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
So you would write in your notebook:
When dealing with others, I need to:
~ Be quick to listen
~ Be slow to speak
~ Be slow to get angry because being angry doesn’t accomplish the things of God.
I must also:
~ Get rid of that which is morally wrong and evil.
~ I need to spend time planting the word of God humbly in my heart. It will save me!
When we read the Bible, we learn. However, when we write out the commands in a way that is personal to us, we allow the word to take root deep within our hearts. This will help us the next time we are faced with a situation where we need to react in a godly manner but find it challenging. When we have trained our brain to recall the non-negotiables of a Christian’s behavior, it allows us to act, and react, in a much better way.
Free Printable
Here’s a printable reminder of this list for you.
Blessings to you as you sit at his feet.
Your life is loud. But if you will just press pause for a few minutes each day, you can discover what Jesus longs to give you: His peace.
Whether you’re a working professional, a wife, a mom, a sister, an aunt, a daughter-in-law, or any combination of these, your life is busy. And no matter what stage of life you may find yourself in, what your hurried and overcrowded heart needs most is rest. In Settle My Soul, my co-author Ruth Schwenk and I invite you to carve out a few moments in your day to deepen your relationship with the Lord through 100 encouraging devotions.
**affiliate links may be included at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that bring value to my readers’ lives.
To be frank, my problem is laziness. My mind is willing, but my flesh is not. But, making an appointment with God might help. I am a sales rep and appointments are very important to me. Thank you for the suggestion. God bless you.
love this post. what GREAT insight into time with God. i am scattered and feel rushed most days – job change, schedule changes, kids with medication changes. it’s a lot to adjust to and i’ve been anxious about all of it. i whisper “help me, God” through the day but don’t sit quietly with Him because i feel like I can’t. this post was a lovely reminder that i can JUST BE with God and it’s all good!
What a blessing to find your site. As I really need to spend more time with my Lord. I’m gonna try the ways you spoke of to do this. God Bless you.
distractions and not being organized
Many things distract me from being consistent at my Bible studies! I have 5 kids, homeschool, work in a couple areas at church, help take care of another teen, my niece and little nephew, and co-own a home-based business with hubby! So, sometimes I find it hard (feel lazy even) when I sit down and spend quiet time with God. I know this is crazy and will have small periods of time when I stick to my Bible study plan (and the benefits are amazing…I definitely feel the closeness that I long got when I don’t spend time with Him). However, one day I will make a bad choice to keep on working through the time set aside for Him and I quickly lose focus and fall out of the healthy routine back into the bad one!
thank you for sharing this.. I needed this right now.. I am letting life distract me from what is most important to me and that is the Lord.. Blessings to you and to your ministry.
Taking care of my 4 kids but specifically in this season because I have a newborn.
Selfishness, lack of discipline, and disorganization keep me from my quiet time.
Definitely a lack of planning. Then by the time I get to it I’m so tired my mind wanders and it’s difficult to stay focused.
Karen, thank you for sharing! I am trying to be diligent about studying God’s Word. I desire for His Word to become ingrained in my heart so that I can overcome Satan’s lies, and even lies to myself, with God’s truth.
The thing that keeps me from doing so is not making the time, intentionally. I appreciate your recommendation of making it a set appointment in my planner or setting an alarm, and I like the example you gave about going to the dentist.
Christ really is my number one priority, so why am I not actively choosing to spend more alone time with Him?!?!
The perfect remedy to let God take our worries and distractions from His peace. Thank you for sharing.
My expectation for every connecting time with God to be brimming with FIREWORKS & deep connection keeps me from settling in for a visit with my Lord when I am pressed for time. I need to be content with an occasional quick visit until the next time I can really sit & linger.
All of the above… I am a horrible time manager, so I’m always tired from staying up too late then having to function on a ridiculous amount of sleep. I’m not saying this for sympathy, I’m just pointing out how I sabotage myself. When I’m not rested, I procrastinate, and so forth and so on… I wind up losing all of my functional time in the day, and the next thing I know I’m putting the kids down to bed, and it’s the first time I’ve REALLY talked to God all day.
I always let other things get in my way. I don’t stop and make it a priority in my life. I always mean to but then the day gets away from me.
Love this! i read my Bible and I journal, but honestly have never thought to really schedule that time with God. I will be implementing this into my routine for sure! Thank you for your obedience to The Lord and bringing this list to us! :)
Blessings, Shelly
My biggest distractions are the season of life I am in now, my life is slightly disorganized and I feel I don’t have time to do the most important thing. I have been trying to get back on track and be more organized, but its been hard. Thanks for the good tips, I’ll be sure and input them into my life.
I have to be honest and I’m embarrassed to write this but Social Media is distracting. I’m constantly on my phone or tablet.. Like now.. I’m suppose to be doing my Bible Study homework but saw this and couldn’t pass up a chance to enter. Thank you!
The season pic life I am in for sure. Full time employee sole parent 4 time a week therapy for my son how car yard helping my son’s friends get to church and home and a visit or 2 a month with the residents at the new prison. Obedient and hopeful while I walk in a season such as this. Love your Burndle of goodies.
I am distracted so easily! I think my to do list distracts me the most. Even at church I sit and think of all the things I need to do at when I get home. I hate not living in the moment!
What a great devotional and some great tips to have a better quiet time. I think all the things you mentioned get in the way of my study time. I oversleep, or my mind is racing with a million things that I need to do or I get distracted and start doing something that could wait. I really want to do better!
I love getting up early, before my husband, putting the dogs out, and enjoying my morning coffee with God! No better way to start the day :)
Wonderful devotional- so many things distract me. I try to read off and on all day long to combat this but the suggestions you give here are spot on and I need to remember them. Thanks
My children vying for my attention, housework and unfortunately social media. :(
Life! The busy life of 2 babies and a hard working husband. Sadly I don’t put God as my first priority instead everyone else tends to come first.
I get up early every morning to spend time with God, but busy thoughts of the day ahead distract, I also become easily sleepy when reading. Often I just don’t know where to read for the day. Your devotional was very helpful as I often feel I’m not giving all if to do thoughts pop in while spending time with God.