Monthly Archives March 2019

The last few blog posts have been quotes from the puritan pastor, Thomas Brooks, addressing the excuse that some Christians use to avoid spending private time in prayer.  “I have too much to do to stop and spend quiet time in prayer.” Or there is, “There is much to do at my job, then there is the family, and there is also …”

These are made to condemn you but to make you aware of excuses that work their way in to your mindset and need to be kicked out. It is too easy to let the old flesh nature talk you out of the most important thing you can do in your waking hours.

I have two responses from Brooks that are pretty point-blank, black and white.

Closet prayer is either a duty or it is no duty. Now that it is a duty, I have so strongly proved, I suppose, that no man nor devil can fairly or honestly deny it to be a duty. And therefore, why do men cry out of their great business?

In his writings Brooks gives some scripture and historical illustrations for both of these responses. If you want to plunge into the subject of private prayer, I recommend purchasing this book.

That God did never appoint or design any man’s ordinary, particular calling to thrust private prayer out of door.

I believe that our occupations and daily business are given from God. If He gave you the job you have, and skills to do the job, surely He didn’t give these to you to use as an excuse to neglect time with Him. That is saying it straight.

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Brooks, T. (1866). The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks. (A. B. Grosart, Ed.) (Vol. 2, p. 207). Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert.

The puritan pastor, Thomas Brooks, has helped me see prayer with new perspectives, and fresh light. Now and then his encouragement and lessons hit like a hammer on the thumb. The lesson when we smack our thumb with the hammer is to get your thumb out of the way. Unless of course, if you like pain. Not me. I think I’m allergic to pain.

Excuses that I tell myself for not following through on spiritual exercises and/or obedience vaporize in the light of this thought:  “The day that I see Jesus face-to-face will I be able to tell Him that I couldn’t find time for prayer?” Obviously not.  Just because I can’t see Him physically now, makes Him no less in my presence. When I use an excuse for disobedience today, I am doing the same thing–telling it to Him face-to-face. That though it hurts, right?

“Jesus, I’d make time to sit at your feet and learn from you–in Your word, and in prayer, but I just can’t make the time. Maybe another day. I’ll work on it, I promise.”  Are you kidding me? Not only do I love being in His presence in the proverbial closet, but also, would I brush my King, my Savior, my God off like that? What could possibly be more important than my King? No, I will say, “Lord, I am anxious to sit with you in the morning and learn from You; to open my heart to You; to be refreshed by Your Spirit. My soul is thirsty for You. Help me put all things in their place in my life and make You priority number one.”

Luke 10:41–42 (NKJV) — And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

If I dare say that I don’t have enough time in my day for private prayer, may I remember this response from Thomas Brooks.

No man dares plead this objection before the Lord Jesus in the great day of account, Eccles. 11:9; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10. And why then should any man be so childish and foolish, so ignorant and impudent to plead that before men, which is not pleadable before the judgment-seat of Christ. O sirs! as you love your souls, and as you would be happy for ever, never put off your own consciences nor others’ with any pleas, arguments, or objections now, that you dare not own and stand by, when you shall lie upon a dying bed, and when you shall appear before the whole court of heaven, &c. In the great day of account, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, and God shall call men to a reckoning before angels, men, and devils, for the neglect of private prayer, all guilty persons will be found speechless: there will not be a man or woman found, that shall dare to stand up and say, ‘Lord, I would have waited upon thee in my closet, but that I had so much business to do in the world, that I had no time to enjoy secret communion with thee in a corner.’ It is the greatest wisdom in the world, to plead nothing by way of excuse in this our day, that we dare not plead in the great day.

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Brooks, T. (1866). The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks. (A. B. Grosart, Ed.) (Vol. 2, pp. 203–204). Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert.

The answer to the title question is 24, right? Dah!  Some days seem shorter than others, we all get that. For me, this last weekend didn’t seem like two days but one stretched a little longer than 24 hours. It went by so quick. We can all relate to having time fly right by us.

One of my priorities each day is managing my time. If I don’t manage it, it is wasted and gone, and I cannot get it back. This includes my sleep time, my getting ready for work time, my travel to work and back time, my time with family and friends, my time on pastoral duties, relax time, and so forth. I maybe sounding too rigid, but I’m no different than you. You do the same, but you may not have thought of it this way.

It would be easy for my devotional time with God to be lost in that busy 24 hour period. What do I do so this necessary part of my day doesn’t get lost and I miss it? I plan for it. I prioritize it. I plan and prioritize other important parts of my day–sleep, getting ready for work, travel to work, meal-time, spending time with family, chores, and etc. I wouldn’t I take the same approach to this important part of my life–devotional alone time with my God.  I need this time in my life. I NEED IT!  It is a priority and so I treat it as such.

Honesty says that I waste a good chunk of time during each day. This is actually squandering time on frivolous actions; seriously we do, all of us do … everyday.  I don’t think it is necessary for me to list the most common ways we foolishly waste time. I am challenging you to examine your daily routine, each step of it. God has given us 24 hours in each day and there is ample time to drink from the fountain of life within that 24 hours. If you are still unsure whether you can find that time for His fountain, here is the sure fix:  Make it a higher priority!

Thomas Brooks gives us another one of his objections to those who have convinced themselves that they do not have time in the day to spend in private communion with their God.

It is ten to one but that the objector every day fools away, or trifles away, or idles away, or sins away, one hour in a day, and why then should he object the want of time? There are none that toil and moil and busy themselves most in their worldly employments, but do spend an hour or more in a day to little or no purpose, either in gazing about, or in dallying, or toying, or courting, or in telling of stories, or in busying themselves in other men’s matters, or in idle visits, or in smoking the pipe, &c.

And why then should not these men redeem an hour’s time in a day for private prayer, out of that time which they usually spend so vainly and idly? Can you, notwithstanding all your great worldly employments, find an hour in the day to catch flies in, as Domitian the emperor did? and to play the fool in? and cannot you find an hour in the day to wait on God in your closets?

There were three special faults whereof Cato professed himself to have seriously repented: one was, passing by water when he might have gone by land; another was, trusting a secret in a woman’s bosom; but the main was, spending an hour unprofitably. This heathen will one day rise up in judgment against them who, notwithstanding their great employments, spend many hours in a week unprofitably, and yet cry out with the Duke of Alva, that they have so much to do on earth, that they have no time to look up to heaven. It was a base and sordid spirit in that King Sardanapalus, who spent much of his time amongst women in spinning and carding, which should have been spent in ruling and governing his kingdom. So it is a base sordid spirit in any, to spend any of their time in toying and trifling, and then to cry out, that they have so much business to do in the world, that they have no time for closet-prayer, they have no time to serve God, nor to save their own precious and immortal souls.

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Brooks, T. (1866). The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks. (A. B. Grosart, Ed.) (Vol. 2, p. 203). Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert.