How to have your Quiet Time
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he (Jesus) went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
Get alone, find somewhere quiet, put away distractions and set your mind on God. Discipline yourself in this regard, to not only have your devotions, but to have them as you ought. Finding a quiet place to have a quiet time with God goes against the flesh and our busy lives. We either don’t want to get going or we don’t want to stop. But you need to get going and you need to stop. Do what you must to get alone with God. Ask God to show you in His Word, by His Holy Spirit, what it is that you need to see, and that He would help you to understand, retain and apply it (Ps. 119:73). There is a monumental difference between opening the Bible and just reading it and opening your Bible, reading to learn, and pleading with God to teach you. Come to God’s classroom every morning, sit at the feet of Jesus, ask Him to teach you, and if you are willing to learn, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13).
Read the Word without rushing, for there is no quota of chapters you need to reach per week. The goal is to learn of God, draw closer to Him and spiritually grow. If you choose to thoroughly chew on every verse before swallowing you might only get through a couple of verses in a twenty-minute session of reading and meditating, but that is alright. The Word of God runs like water off a duck’s back to those who rush through it. If you dwell on the Word of God, however, the Word of God will dwell in you.
Reading plan for the new Christian (or for anyone who wants to spiritually flourish):
Just munch on the New Testament for as long as you can every day, supplementing it with Psalms and Proverbs. You could thoughtfully study one chapter, or thoroughly devour twenty chapters. What’s important is that you get God’s Word in you and be always seeking to understand, retain and apply what you are reading.
Optional reading plan for everyone else: Read 2-3 chapters of the New Testament (starting with Matthew), supplemented with a Proverb or Psalm. If you can make time for more, include 1-2 chapters of the Old Testament (starting with Genesis). Try to carefully and systematically read through your Bible.
Have an optional pen and paper to jot down notes. These notes could be new insights or things over which the Holy Spirit is convicting you. Your mind will engage more with what you are reading if you continually seek to write down what you see. Pray, or in other words, “have a meaningful conversation with your heavenly Father.” It’s easier to live a week of busyness for Jesus, than it is to pray from the heart to Him for an hour. But the more you pray to Him, not the more you do for Him, will result in a closer relationship with Him. Every vibrant relationship has consistently good and respectful communication, not just lots of busyness.
Do you see that you need to draw closer to God? Then talk to Him more. A married couple might not always feel like talking to one another, yet for the sake of the relationship they must. You will find that the more you pray the easier it will become to pray. Likewise, the more time you spend alone with God, the less you will be tempted to do the things that displease Him, and the more you will know and want to do what actually does please Him. You might ask, “But how should I pray and for how long?” There is no time limit, but, far more importantly, try not to rush your devotional prayer time especially when you feel dry, irritated, tired or just plain apathetic. Rather, ask God for help and keep praying. There is a Biblical prayer scaffold you can follow, and that scaffold is the Lord’s Prayer.
Meditate (dwell) on your devotions. Take what you have just read and prayed about into the rest of your day by thinking on and seeking to act out what you have just learned. When you choose to meditate on God’s Word, it will do two things. Firstly, it will guard your mind against falsity and temptation. Picture God’s Word as a wall protecting your mind from intruding unbiblical thought; the more of the Word you have in your mind (and believe, for words on a page or in your mind have no effect unless believed), the thicker and higher the wall of truth will be. Secondly it will be like having a spiritual packed lunch to feed on throughout the day; remember the more you eat and apply the Word of God, the quicker you will spiritually grow.
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