Monday

Quiet Time: A Special Place

The location where you have your quiet time is also important. The Bible indicates that Abraham had a regular place where he met with God. Today's verse tells us that Jesus had a custom of praying in the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.

Your place ought to be a secluded place. This is a place where you can be alone, where it's quiet, and where you will not be disturbed or interrupted. In today's noisy world, this may take some ingenuity, but it is necessary. It ought to be a place - where you can pray aloud without disturbing others; where you have good lighting for reading; where you are comfortable.

Your place ought to be a special place. Wherever you decide to meet with the Lord, make it a special place for you and him. As the days go by, that place will come to mean a lot to you because of the wonderful times you have there with Jesus Christ.

Your place ought to be a sacred place. This is where you meet with the living God. Where you meet the Lord can be just as holy as the place where Abraham met God. You don't have to be in a church building. I know people have had their quiet times in their cars parked in a quiet place, in an empty closet at home, in their backyards, and even in a baseball dugout. Each of these places has become sacred to them.

God doesn't want to just have a conversation at church. He wants us to have a place where we can communicate with him privately. He wants to talk with us as often as possible so we can develop a stronger relationship with him. But it doesn't matter where the spot is. It can be anywhere, as long as it becomes sacred later on. To be honest, I don't really have a specific place to talk with God other than church. I usually just talk to him whenever I want to and the conversation takes place anywhere. I should start making a specific place other than church so I can have more interaction with him. So, we should make a place to talk with the Lord so we can spend a lot of wonderful times with him.

WOAHH. scary. no, not scary but very interesting how God might be speaking to me through this devo message. honestly, I don't really have quiet times often- i pray before I sleep every night but I don't take time during the day to talk with God or worship him. today was just a terrible day for me. it wasn't even really any one significant thing, just everything over the course of the day brought down my mood and up until about an hour ago, I was feeling really sad and depressed. i sat down by my desk (that i rarely ever use) and started working on something when I started feeling worse and worse so finally I went on youtube and searched up some praise songs. i started singing a bunch of them and i started to question God and start to figure things out about where I am in my relationship with God. i did this for a while and then my mom came down and interrupted me completely and now my train of thought is severed so I came here to do my devos. then i saw this message, which is the most relevant message that there ever could be for my situation today. I honestly think God's speaking to me directly through this devo. i need to find a better place to have quiet time with God and I need to start doing it consistently. In chicago i was stuck in this slump of feeling empty, worthless and like life was just a chore that i had to get through before i could just go to sleep and lose consciousness. every time i sense those feelings creeping back up I start to panic because i never want to go back to feeling that way. ive found that the ONLY consistent, reliable and effective method of feeling satisfied and loved is to keep a strong relationship with God. if any of you are feeling like theres no purpose to life or youre just kind of coasting through life with no meaning, i strongly encourage you to start saying a short prayer right before you sleep- you can even do it while lying down. it actually does make a difference and once you start to connect with God you will feel a difference and want to continue to do so.

During our past couple of friday nights, we've been talking about prayer and how to pray. Its really important to know how to pray where your doing your quiet time but its also very important to know when and where you should pray. If you pray with distractions in your head, i find it that i get distracted and my thoughts are not focused on God. I may sometimes be thinking of other things while i am praying to God and whenever i do this i get frustrated...

Sometimes I'd try emptying my mind for a good 10 minutes and i still have thoughts and distractions. and this is obviously frustrating and sometimes I'd just continue to pray because i dont wanna restart or wait any longer. But whenver i do this i feel like its not right. Having quiet time is so very important and i emphasize it to all you guys to have quiet time atleast once per day. Doesnt matter where as long as your having God at the centre and everything else away from it.

For me personally the special place that I spend the majority of my time with God or doing QT's and worshiping him is in my room. But with that being said, it is also the same place where i get very distracted easily and get off task. i feel as though although there are many things in my room to keep me from focusing on what is important, i ultimately have full control of what i want to do and how i want to spend my time.
Pastor Sams sermon last week about why we have a sabbath day and how we need to give our all throughout the rest of the week really got me thinking about what is giving it our all? i know there is a big space for improvement in my every day life spiritually and just in general that i need to realize, and the biggest way to take control of this and benefit myself is to not be lazy and give my 100%. When you give your very best effort, all things will be easier for you and be better for you in the long run as well. overall, I know where i excel and where i need to improve some things, and one thing i am trying to really work on is pushing myself to try and build a closer relationship with God. Whether its through prayer, QT, or whatever it may be, the goal is to become closer to God

When you set a seperate time devoted to God, it should be a special time of the day. Therefore show some respect. When you seek God, distance yourself from the world and take a break. There are plenty of bible scenarios were Jesus and other great people withdrew from this busy world and spent some important time with God. He wants to have a relationship with you so make time to create that special place in your heart and soul for him.

Three more weeks til the holidays! (I don't think I can survive school much longer).
~Audrey~

Today's devo really applies in my life because I have trouble focusing on one task for an extended period of time. When it comes to God, He deserves our full attention and not just a half-witted talk or quiet time with Him. This is something I am admittedly guilty of, some times all I want to do is get the devo done so I can sleep. That however is definitely not at all the attitude we should be approaching God with, and the setting plays a large role in this. I usually spend time doing my qts and devos in my room, but like John said it is a place with all too many distractions. For me also I tend to do devos at the very end of the day when I am tired and worn out by schoolwork. While physical setting is important, I also need to see what time setting works best for me so I can do devos with all of my effort put into learning and thinking about God. The devo today really made me question these things. I'll start to change my devo habits for the better

So yeah I should really do qts...
I've always had positive experiences with quiet times but for some reason I don't think I've ever done them on a regular basis. When we feel really overloaded with things to do or life in general, quiet time is a place that we can go to calm everything down and just refocus. Rather than doing nothing based on the fact that there's a lot going on, refocusing allows one to start finding solutions or finishing the tasks no matter how daunting the overall might be, or it can make you see your situation in a different light, changing your attitude towards it as well.
But yeah so quiet times are important as they are times that we take willingly and intentionally outside of the rest of the day to converse with God, grow spiritually, and get strength from Him for the day.
We can't know what to do in our lives or which decisions to make or how to act or become like Christ without talking with God. Which will grow our spiritual lives. Also, so many times I felt really tired and so hazy that I didn't do my devos or really pray to God because I felt that doing so would be doing them with less than all I should be giving. However, if being with God is something that can give strength, it doesn't make sense that someone can be too tired to be with God and have fellowship with Him.
I know this devo was more about the place and I didn't go there but this is what I got from it, mainly because you have to be willing to do quiet times to be thinking about where to do them.

I used to do QTs back in the days when I was a little more diligent in the mornings...

QTs should be a sort of a refuge to us, a calming and meditation of sorts, where we can open up to Him and talk.
When QTs start becoming tedious if too regular, then perhaps QT may not be serving its purpose for us to get closer to God. Instead, it's becoming a routine, like these devotions do sometimes become. I don't think I found such a place yet where I could pray aloud without nervously checking if I'm bothering my parents and/or the people in my surroundings; finding such a place is a hard task, and I find that in secluded places (like the retreat settings), I am more able to open up to God (naturally). I also find that as I spend time in church and in fellowship with the rest of the PT members, it's not really a SET place, but rather a feeling that I carry with me, a feeling that God is there- in close proximity- at times.
A possible option for me so far is my much-used closet. Heh. Funny story actually.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6