How Do You Prepare to Come Before the Lord?

What is your attitude when you come before the Lord? Is your mind racing through all the things you need to accomplish after you finish your quiet time? Is your heart right with God? Does peace fill your spirit when you’re reading God’s word?

All too often we have too much going on. Even in the midst of what is supposed to be our quiet time with the Lord. Those of us that do our devotions in the morning may battle with kids getting out of bed or a husband getting ready for their work day while we’re trying to start our days off right. When we attempt to have evening devotions we’re faced with tired eyes and a comfy bed just waiting to be crawled into.

How Do You Prepare to Come Before the Lord?

Since moving I found myself sleeping until the same time my kids were waking up and then trying to sneak in my quiet time with God while they were getting breakfast. It just wasn’t working. I couldn’t read without having to ask them to quiet down again and again, my spirit was in no way at peace while reading God’s word and my heart was definitely not right toward them or the Lord. Something had to change and I knew what it was, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled with more change. Especially when it involved moving my wake up time backwards by two hours. Yet, I knew that is what I needed to do in order to have time with the Lord alone, undistracted and peaceful.

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As I was reading Exodus 24 today, I was drawn to how Moses took steps to ensure that he was rightly prepared to worship, see and talk with the Lord. In verses 5-8, we see that they offered a peace offering unto the Lord as He directed and then in verse 14, Moses left the people under the authority of Aaron and Hur.

Moses knew that God was calling him unto the mountain to receive the 10 commandments (vs. 12), he knew that he was going to see and talk with the Lord while he was on the mountain. Before he made this trip Moses made sure that he was prepared for this time with God.

While we may not be taking a trip up a mountain to see and talk to God as Moses did, we have the opportunity to meet with the Lord, read His word, talk with Him in prayer and be guided by the Holy Spirit. Yet, how do we come before the Lord? I fear that most of our answers would not be worth voicing.

Personally, I do not come before the Lord in the quiet spirit that I should, nor are my thoughts focused solely on worshipping Him as I spend time in His word. I find myself rushing through prayer time more often than I would like to admit and the things I need to accomplish begin to run through my mind as I’m wrapping up my quiet time.

This was my first week waking early to try and grasp quiet time before the rest of my house rose. Monday was wonderful, I had a wonderful time with the Lord and quiet time even while I finished some online work. The rest of this week has not gone anywhere near as well, proving that it isn’t just about being alone that makes a proper devotion time, it’s an attitude of the heart and a peaceful spirit that will make the largest difference in our quiet time with the Lord.

I want to learn to take the right steps to come before the Lord with a peaceful spirit, knowing that I am coming before my Lord rightly as I should. I know that I don’t have it right today, but I’m taking steps each day towards being prepared to meet with the Lord each day rightly prepared.

 

How do you prepare to come before the Lord? Do you take certain steps to ensure you’re right with God before you begin your quiet time with Him?

 

About Misty Leask

Misty is a Daughter of THE King, Texas girl always, Navy brat at heart, loving Fisherman's wife, blessed mother of 2. She is passionate about being real throughout all of life's struggles, successes and dreams. Her heart is full of ideas and passions, but the hours in her day never multiply to get it all done. Misty loves writing and reading in her spare time. Music and photography are favorite past times of hers as well.

Comments

How Do You Prepare to Come Before the Lord? — 18 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for the perspective! I have often thought about the attitude of the heart while preparing for church on Sunday morning, and how we are usually rushed and in poor spirits by the time we arrive. Quite a contrast to how much time the priests took preparing themselves before they entered the presence of God. And here we have been given free access and we come in with hard, frustrated, resentful hearts, then leave service thinking. .. “well I didn’t get anything out of that today! ” If we take the time to quiet ourselves, remember who we are coming to worship, and why we age coming to worship, like you said our hearts become filled with his peace and rest. You have brought this even closer to home. .. our daily worship time in his presence. What a great reminder!

    • Yes, it is so true that worship doesn’t just occur in church, but in our homes as well. We must strive to take our time to prepare and come before the Lord with a right heart, no matter our location. <3

  2. Hello from a look at the book linky party. I must admit that like you I find myself rushing through my devotion time. Like you, maybe I need to start getting up earlier. Another problem with me is turning my mind off of my problems and focusing only on Him.
    Blessings,
    Mary

    • Hi 🙂 Yes, turning your mind off is definitely something that is hard to do, I think that’s why the early morning hours help me…I can’t focus on much else because I’m still sipping away at my coffee and waking up. It is a joy to wake up and spend time in God’s word. Praying you find a good time for quiet, peaceful devotions. <3

  3. Dear Misty, I so enjoyed your post and delighted that it had so much depth to it. How insightful it was not only for you but for me as well. I too have had this experience while raising my two boys. Now I am a grandmother (a.k.a., Nene) helping my son raise his son. Let me just say that there is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise. For me, that “quiet time” is praying without ceasing and then be attentive to listen for Him. You will find your quiet time because you already have the right mind-set and heart.
    Thank you,

    • Thank you so much for your encouragement Sidney. I am striving to come before the Lord in a right spirit and without any distractions, but find that much of my day is full of them. So, the early morning it is for me in this season of life. I’m thankful that I am able to rise early and have time alone with my heavenly Father. Blessings Sidney!

    • Yes, the peaceful morning is a wonderful sacred time for me now though this week I’ve been overtired and slept a little later than I have been. I’ve still enjoyed my quiet morning time alone with the Lord. It’s the perfect way to begin a day. <3

  4. Love this! I have been having this same thought a lot lately. I’m a new mom and with so much going on I struggle to not rush through my quiet time. I don’t want it simply to be a check mark on my to do list.

  5. What a beautiful reminder to prepare and position ourselves as we come before the Lord. He does deserve our complete attention, just as we gave our complete attention to our future husband when we were dating. We were all eyes and ears for him, so we should be all eyes and ears for Jesus as we visit with Him each day. So glad I stopped by from #gracetruth.

    • Yes, it is so important to ensure that we’re prepared to come before the Lord! I love your comparison to coming before our husbands! That is a wonderful view! Thank you so much for sharing that and for stopping by! <3

  6. Up until two years ago, my quiet time was usually in the morning, after my husband went to work (my kids were grown). Then my husband became disabled and was always home in the morning. I desperately needed to be alone, uninterrupted, with the Lord. So I–like you, Misty–decided getting up in the quiet early hours of morning was it. Actually, I believe it was God telling me that’s what I needed. Because my alarm is set for 5:00 a.m. and I delight to get up before everyone else is awake. I start on my knees–literally, bowing before the Lord to give my honor to Him. That’s not something I did before. But it has made a big difference in focusing my mind on Him and His voice. I never used to be a morning person, but now I long to have this solitude with my Lord. Thanks so much, Misty, for encouraging us to prepare well to meet with Almighty God.

    • It is such a wonderful blessing to have the early morning hours to come before the Lord and spend time alone with Him in solitude. It helps me so much in getting started before my children rise to ensure that my heart is prepared for the day ahead. Blessings!

  7. I’ve been struggling with making my morning devotion meaningful. It’s seems like I have not had anything meaningful in a long time. As I read your post, I thought of how it could be improved and decided that I should have a time for song , at least one, before the reading to prepare my heart and settle into the spirit of worship. Thanks for bringing this up and making us think.

    Great post.

    Thanks for sharing at Grace and Truth

    • Over the years I’ve changed how I do my devotions. From things like adding song, to increasing my prayer time to color coding my Bible readings. It truly is between you and the Lord what He would have you to do during your quiet time with Him! I’m praying that God continues to direct you and that your quiet time alone with Him is blessed! <3

  8. Thank you, Misty for sharing your struggles, I was beginning to think that I was alone. I feel the Lord calling every morning and I say just another 10 minutes of sleep Lord, before I know it that sleep turned into an hour and again I missed that quiet time with my Lord. Thank you again for sharing.

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