You can be with God all the time by doing three things: (1) find time to be with God alone in prayer, (2) learn to talk with God throughout your day, and (3) read the Word of God on a daily basis. If anyone can develop these three habits they will be with God all the time.
Jesus was a perfect example of Someone who was with God all the time, and we see these three attributes in His life and actions.
First, we see Him always finding time to spend with God alone no matter how busy he finds Himself.
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
As we can see from the verse above Jesus woke up well before everyone else and found a place where He could be alone and there He spent time with His heavenly Father.
Another important thing to notice is that Jesus, just a few verses before, most likely had to stay up well into the night due to the fact that He had a whole city seeking healing from Him.
“At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door.” (Mark 1:32-33)
I mention this because it reveals the priority that Jesus placed on spending time alone with God in prayer.
Jesus was also one who communed with God throughout His day. He would do this in two ways.
First, He would often slip away from the crowds, and often His disciples, to spend time with God in secret prayer (Luke 5:15-16).
Second, He would live in constant awareness of God. The Bible never mentions this indefinitely, but it does give implications of this in a few verses.
A verse that implies this is when Jesus said, “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)
As you can see, this verse shows us that Jesus lived in constant awareness of God to see where the Father was leading Him at every moment, because of this Jesus could say, “I only do what the Father does.” (Related article: Dwelling in the Secret Place: What it is and How to do it).
And finally, Jesus also was a Man of the Word of God. He not only spent time in secret prayer and communed with God throughout the day, but He also knew the Word better than anyone.
The obvious reason for this is because he was the “Word made flesh.” But on a much more practical note, He studied the scriptures whenever He got the chance.
We know this because the Bible reveals that when He was tempted by the devil the only thing Christ responded to him with was the Word of God. Every time the devil tempted Jesus He would respond with “it is written” or “it has been said.”
And one occasion, He even quoted the scripture from Deuteronomy that said, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Luke 4:4)
So, judging from this encounter we can see that Jesus lived by the Word of God and if we want to be with God all the time we should live by the Word as well.
How to spend time with God alone
Our time alone with God should look something like this. First, we should come before Him in praise and worship. Second, we should have time to pray for our needs and the needs of others. And finally, we should end our time alone with Him in praise and worship.
This model is exactly how Jesus taught His disciples to spend time in prayer when they asked Him to teach them how to pray in Luke 11:1-4 and Matthew 6:9-13.
“In this manner, therefore, pray:
“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (Praise and Worship)
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. (Intercession and praying for our needs)
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Praise and Worship again)
Notice Jesus said, “In this manner, therefore, pray.” This prayer was never meant to be a prayer recited word for word, rather it is a prayer that is meant to be a modeled structure to how our prayers should look like. [Related articles: Prayer Life of Jesus & How to pray like Him and How to Pray like Jesus (For Beginners)]
Jesus was not in the business of creating vain repetitious prayers. In fact, He even taught against it when He said, “when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.”
If we said this prayer word for word, day in and day out, that is exactly what we would be doing. So, we can see Jesus was simply giving us a guide on how we ought to spend time with God alone in prayer.
We can also see this model practiced by other men of God throughout the Bible.
King David said in Psalms 100:4, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”
The prophet Daniel said that when he prayed he would “pray and give thanks before his God” (Daniel 6:10).
The apostle Paul would also follow this model. In Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas were “praying and singing hymns to God.” Paul also exhorted the churches to “pray with thanksgiving” on multiple occasions (Phillipians 4:6 & Colossians 4:2).
Every time we see prayer mentioned in the Bible, we almost always see a form of praise and worship mentioned right next to it. This is God’s method of prayer that He wants us to adopt.
So, every time we come before Him let’s express our heart to Him through supplications, but let’s equally express our gratitude through praise and worship. (Related article: Singing in the Spirit: What it is & How to do it)
How to spend time with God throughout the day
Spending time with God throughout the day can seem like a fairly daunting task at times, but it doesn’t have to be if we can break it down to a few simple tips.
1.Schedule your alone time with God sporadically throughout your day rather than scheduling it all at once.
An example of this would be to spend time with God alone three times per day rather than once in the morning or evening. [Related article: Pray Three Times a Day (What the Bible Says)]
I have personally found this to be very effective for me to not only have much more focused times of prayer, because I’m not sitting there for as long so my mind doesn’t wander, but also to stay aware of God throughout my day because I am constantly coming back to Him.
The amazing part is I’m still spending the same amount of time as I did before, but the time that I’m spending with God has more quality now. Of course, this is just a recommendation. The most important thing is that you are spending time with God on a consistent basis no matter when, or how often, you do it.
2. Commune with the Lord during the mundane tasks of life.
This is the easiest way I know to maintain an attitude of prayer throughout the day. How it works is as you are doing a normal chore or activity that doesn’t require much concentration, you talk with God.
This works while you are doing the dishes, laundry, driving, vacuuming, making the bed, showering, mowing the lawn, getting the mail, sweeping, brushing your teeth, etc. All of these daily tasks that take up a huge portion of our time can be used to know God!
This tip is also known to keep your house clean as well!
3. Take time throughout the day to read the Word of God.
I use to spend time with God in prayer and the Bible in the same block of time. I no longer do this simply because the schedule of my day doesn’t allow it.
However, now I break it up throughout my day. Whenever I get the chance to read the Word (usually at night or in the morning) I’ll sit down and read through the Bible. [Related article: Spending Time Reading the Bible (Common Questions Answered)]
In addition to this, I will also read the Bible on my phone whenever I get the chance. Instead of scrolling mindlessly through my phone, I open up the Bible app and read a proverb or a few chapters from the book of Acts.
As you can see, to spend time with God throughout the day and to be with Him all the time requires that we schedule alone time with Him and that we make it a habit to talk with Him whenever we get a chance.
This is what is required in every healthy relationship that we have so it is no surprise that it is this way with God.
You can read more tips I have about how to spend time with God throughout the day in another article I wrote titled 7 Tips on How to Spend Time with God Throughout the Day. You can read it by clicking the link. Enjoy!
How to find time to spend with God when busy
A busy schedule is no doubt a hindrance to finding time to be with God, but keep in mind that no matter how busy we are there will always be reasons to not spend time with Jesus.
Let me show you some examples from the Bible about men of God who were incredibly busy but still maintained their prayer lives, which have been admired throughout history.
The Bible reveals that the prophet Daniel and King David both prayed there times every day.
“And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” (Daniel 6:10)
“As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” (Psalms 55:16-17)
Even though it is impressive that they prayed three times every day consistently, it is even more impressive when you discover how busy these men were.
The Bible says that Daniel was one of the three leading governors of the Babylonian Empire. He was even the chief among the three. The only person above him was the King of Babylon, and the King even considered making Daniel ruler over all the people (Daniel 6:1-4).
Can you imagine how busy this man must have been? Yet, he still found time to kneel down and pray three times every day.
King David is no different. David was king over all of Israel and even made Israel a powerhouse of a nation during his time, and he still found time to spend with His God.
Another example, of course, is Jesus. I doubt if any man was as busy as Jesus was, which makes Him a perfect example.
We read in Mark 1:32-34 that Jesus had an entire city come to the house where He was staying to be healed by Him. Not only that, but these people didn’t show up at the beginning of the day, they came “in the evening when the sun had set.”
So, it no doubt took Jesus a good while to heal these people and finally get off to bed.
Why am I mentioning this?
Because the very next morning, He woke up well before the sun rose to go and spend time with His Father in prayer.
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
As you can see from these biblical examples, it makes no difference how busy you and I are. The only thing that makes the difference is the amount of priority we place on spending time with God.
If spending time with God is number one in our life then we will find time to be with Jesus no matter what. But if it is not a priority in our life then no matter how empty our schedule is we will fail to meet with Him as we should.
I have an article that covers this in a similar manner. It is titled 7 Tips to Develop and Maintain a Consistent Prayer Life. You can read it by clicking the link. Enjoy!
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