How to take God with us into every moment & give Him the glory He deserves

Life is chaos. From one moment to the next we don’t know what will happen, the best-laid plans fall apart with the slightest change. Yet within it all, we are supposed to obediently live the life God has called us to. It seems impossible sometimes to even fit time with God in our day when really our days should be shaped around God and if it doesn’t fit that reality then out it goes.

The problem with our lives isn’t necessarily the busyness it’s that we let ourselves get distracted by it and take our eyes off of God. Then in that moment of weakness, the enemy strikes with stress and fear and all things bad. And at the end of the day, we look back and think where was God in all of it? Where did I go wrong that I lost sight of Him?

This is the problem we’re going to solve today, how can we take God with us in every moment and glorify Him each day?

KEEPING GOD IN EVERY MOMENT

So how do we keep God in every moment? Well, it all starts with our mind.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3

We know God promises to give us peace when we walk with Him, and when we aren’t walking with Him we are usually filled with stress. Isaiah 26:3 speaks of how we keep that peace when our minds are constantly on God. Or in Isaiah’s words stayed on Him.

“Set your minds on things above, not earthly things.”
Colossians 3:2

Colossians 3 contains a similar statement that our focus should be on heavenly things. So keeping our thoughts on God helps us to bring Him into every moment. It’s not always easy but when we love God with every inch of our being as we are told to do in Matthew 22 it makes it a little easier.

“He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Matthew 22:27

What other ways can we take God into every moment?

“Pray without ceasing”
1 Thessalonians 5:17

1 Thessalonians says we should pray without ceasing. How do we do that? It’s simple, the first thing we do in the morning is pray, the last thing we do at night is pray, and every moment in between we take every opportunity. Someone crosses your mind? Pray for them. See an ambulance? Pray for the people in them.

Sometimes we overcomplicate what our prayers should be like when inspiration is all around us. They don’t have to be long prayers, the point of praying without ceasing is to bring us closer to God by spending time with Him as often as we can. And if we don’t have the words, the spirit will intercede for us.

“He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring.”
Acts 17:27-28

The truth is that God isn’t very far from us. He is with us in every moment.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20

Christ lives within us as it says in Galatians and nothing can separate us from Him.

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39

GLORIFYING GOD DAILY

Now we know how to keep God with us in every moment how do we bring Him glory every day?

Well according to John Piper, we should seek what he called a ‘Christian Hedonism’ lifestyle. This is where we seek to increase the intensity and length of our enjoyment of God above all things because God is glorified best when we are satisfied with Him.

If we are most satisfied by anything other than God we will diminish His glory.

Pain and pleasure are the two main tactics the enemy uses to take us away from God. As such we need to value God more than comfort or pain for pleasure can make us forget God as we become satisfied by things or experiences.

“But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ.”
Philippians 4:7-8

We should not love the gifts God has given us more than we love Him. We can enjoy the gifts but not at His expense. To glorify God as He deserves we need to treasure Him above everything else and we can do that by keeping our focus on things above. We can become like Paul and change our perspectives so that what we once thought was a gain with earthly thinking is now a loss, and perhaps what we once counted as a loss will now be a gain because it has brought us closer to God.

While we aspire to be ‘Christian Hedonists’ there are six things we can do to work towards that and also bring glory to God each day.

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31

PRAY

We’ve briefly discussed prayer in the context of bringing God into every moment but through it we also glorify God. We can be praying for others, our present circumstances, strength and energy to finish the rest of our shift at work. It can be anything as long we make time to humble ourselves throughout the day before God in prayer making our requests to Him or just simply telling Him about our day and how we feel.

Colossians 4:2 warns us to stay alert in prayer with thanksgiving which leads to the next point.

GRATITUDE

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Regardless of our circumstances, there are things we can be thankful for. We can be thankful that things aren’t worse when things are bad. We can be thankful for the people in our lives, and for the fact that we have food. It’s an endless list.

When we take time to be grateful, we realise how much we actually have and that despite our desires we don’t usually need more. It helps us learn how to be content, and if Paul can be content in a prison cell with nothing then I think we can manage to be content with what we have it just might take some time.

“I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content – whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11-13

WORSHIP

Worship is more than just attending church every week, and it is good to attend church but we need to make worship a daily practice if we are to give God all glory.

Colossians 3:16 speaks of worship as singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with a thankful heart. So why not incorporate worship music into your day and sing along. Or make your own music to God if you so desire. Be like David and pour your worship into dancing.

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
Psalm 95:6

Romans 12:1 speaks of worship as presenting our bodies as living sacrifice to God, meaning we surrender our plans to Him each day and let Him redirect us if what we had intended doesn’t align. The little things we do each day like skincare can be an act of worship as we take care of the body we were gifted with thankfulness.

“So glorify God with your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:20

BIBLE STUDY

One of the best ways to glorify God is to get into the Word. To open up the Bible and let God renew your mind and transform you through His Word.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12

Even though it’s a book the Bible has more power than most people will ever understand and yet the wisdom in its pages even today still forms the basics of most human rights laws. It can literally change lives, I am convinced that I’ve had headaches healed simply by spending some time reading the Bible.

But today is not about convincing you to read the Bible, although you totally should. It’s about how we can glorify God every single day. And one of the best ways to do that just happens to be the Bible. In Joshua, we read that we ought to meditate on the Word night and day. We should have it memorised and kept in our hearts because you just never know when Bibles might be banned or you’ll be speaking to someone and need the right verses in hand.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Joshua 1:8

A good routine is to start the day with God, open up your Bible before anything else and even if you only have time for a verse or a chapter. That is time well spent with God before stepping into the world. Ending the day with God is good too, and if you can do both even better.

SERVING OTHERS

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
John 13:14-15

Who better to take an example from than our Lord Jesus? When we help others, when we put their needs before our own we bring glory to God. While we may not be washing feet the principle here is still the same. It’s a bit like the phrase – ‘do unto others as you would have done to you.’

Paul says in Philippians 2 that Christians must shine like stars, be the light in the world that leads others to Jesus and helping people is one way of being that light.

SHARING FAITH

Another way of being the light is by sharing the faith and sharing the gospel. This is the purpose that God has called all of us to do, the great commission. This is one of the greatest ways we can glorify God because we speak His name, we share His love and His goodness and with every word that we speak in praise of God, we make the enemy a little smaller.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 28:19

LIVING A RIGHTEOUS LIFE

The final way we can glorify God each day is actually a combination of the above and more. Leading a righteous life means praying, worshipping, serving others, being thankful, and sharing our faith. For it is through these things that we act as a living testimony to God’s goodness and love.

We show it in the way we talk and act as it says in 1 Timothy 4:12:

“Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity”
1 Timothy 4:12

We try our best to not gossip, to not swear, and to speak positively. We do our best not to slip up in front of others knowing it might be what pushes them away from seeking God.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Ephesians 4:29

“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”
James 3:10

We try to pursue lives obedient to God’s calling and to live according to what the Bible says. We try to find joy in the bad times, and things to be thankful for in every circumstance.

“Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:8

Just like this verse in Philippians 4:8, we try to keep our focus on heavenly things and not let the world bring us down. It is in the effort of trying to lead a righteous life and be a light for God in this world that we bring glory to Him.

I hope this post finds you well and has enlightened you on how to bring God into every moment and to bring Him glory every day. Let me know in the comments how you keep God in the centre of your life.

Sources:

John Piper (2020) How Do I Glorify God in my Daily Life? Available at: How Do I Glorify God in My Daily Life? | Desiring God [Accessed 26 February 2024]

R.C (2020) How To Be With God In Every Moment. Available at: How to Be With God in Every Moment – radiant culture (radiant-culture.com) [Accessed 26 February 2024]