You may have had similar experiences that I had growing up. I remember that my step-father had certain rules around the dinner table. My brother and I were not allowed to get up until everything on our plates had been eaten. I remember on one occasion when I sat at the table by myself refusing to eat my mashed potatoes after everyone else had long since finished. However, after a two hour stalemate, I finally gave in and finished my plate. To be sure, mashed potatoes are never good cold.

Unlike my step-father, our Heavenly Father does not force us to daily eat at His table. He leaves that decision up to His children. We have the power to decide if we want to partake of the nourishment that we so desperately need spiritually or continue on in our day spiritually malnourished. The decision is up to us.

To maintain a healthy spiritual lifestyle requires that we spend adequate time at the Master’s Table in communion with Him. The other day one of my My Church friends, Lourdes, gave an excellent illustration when she responded to my blog on prayer. She equated our time with God to how we use our cell phones. If you are like me, you would never consider leaving the house without your cell phone. However, we don’t think twice about leaving home without having our time with God. She concluded that we need to treat our time with God as important as we do our cell phones. She is exactly right!      

Jim Cymbala, the renowned Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, is one of our nation’s leading experts on prayer. In an interview with the 700 Club he was asked to offer a definition of prayer. His response was that “prayer is the opening of the heart so we can receive all these good things that God has for us every day. It's like sitting down at a table that God has prepared for us. He says, 'I have everything you need today - all the grace, all the wisdom, all the provision that you need - but sit down at the table and eat. Don't be so rushed and so busy and try to live without My supply’.”

May we resolve this week to do what Cymbala suggests. Let’s decide to develop that daily discipline of having our quiet time with God. And let me add just one more thing: Let’s leave our cell phones next to our Bibles as a reminder.