Internet? Or Interference?

While it is a great opportunity to connect with people and to shine for them with the Spirit that inhabits me....It is also an opportunity to write my thoughts and to talk about what the Lord has done in my life.  It is a great means of getting prayer and finding the needs of others which are assignments to me for prayer.  So what is wrong?

I am a slave to this laptop.  I even read my daily Bible reading online...and what's wrong with that? I cannot mark meaningful verses or look up the meanings of the original Hebrew and Greek as I can in my Bible (The Key Word Bible) There are Bible resources on line but I haven't found any of the quality I have in  my Bible.....And I spend time in the morning conversing with friends starting about 5:00 AM and that quite neatly severs me from my morning communion with my Lord.  

And since I've been diagnosed with three autoimmune  diseases I require a lot of sleep...so I generally am in bed by 6:30 PM and am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow...so my all night long periods of intercession for my family and others are no longer a possibility.

What can I do about  this? There are some people who depend on their talks with me...and it would be hard for them to accept not speaking in the morning so that I can have my Penuel (meaning "the Face of God...") which I call that because it is when God reveals his face to me..  Yet my spiritual life has faltered because of not meeting  with him first thing.  And he IS the first thing...and my Morning belongs to HIM.  And I know that if I am to give him his due, it means I cannot even turn the computer on to check email...because once I do, the internet vortex will suck me in and pull me under.  And my time of prayer and study  goes right out the window.

And I know that if I try to study at 5:00 AM, I will be falling asleep.  So maybe if I make a set time, say 8:00 before which I cannot turn on my laptop...then maybe I will get  one extra hour of sleep so that when I  go to my Penuel I will be rested and ready to study

I think I must do this for the sake of my spiritual health...which has felt kind of starved and ill lately. And maybe I will also institute an hour during the day when I shut the computer off and pray.  The challenge will be on the home front when I won't be available to meet demands and requests. I think the hour in the daytime will have to be set each morning according to that day's schedule. 

The question is do I type my notes and feelings in Word? or do I hand write it in a little notebook?  I can write more quickly and legibly in Word. But does that make the temptation just to "peek" at my email irresistible?  I will have to play that by ear.  If I find myself signing  on then I will have to refuse to turn the computer on at all.

What about you? Has reading a quick devotional online sufficed as your Quiet Time?  Are you realizing that your spirit is dying of malnutrition?  What keeps you from the feet of Jesus?  Going to the Gym? The snooze button? Working long hours?  Have you ever heard of the quote which says "I'm too busy not to Pray" 

Just as God keeps his promises regarding our tithe, so too will he make time for you if you initiate the effort.  I would suggest reading Ecclesiastes 3...read it and meditate on it and then offer your time to God as a sacrifice with which He will be greatly pleased.