Tuesday

Quiet Time: A Simple Plan

The main rule is this: Keep your plan simple.

Wait on God (Relax) -- Be still for a minute; don't come running into God's presence and start talking immediately. Follow God's admonition: "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) Be quiet for a short while to put yourself into a reverent mood.

Pray briefly (Request) -- Ask God to cleanse your heart and guide you into the time together. You need to be in tune with the Author before you can understand his Book!

Read Scripture (Read) -- This is where your conversation with God begins. He speaks to you through his Word, and you speak with him in prayer. When you read your Bible, try to do it -

Slowly -- Don't be in a hurry and don't try to read too large an amount.

Repeatedly -- Read a passage over and over until you start to picture it in your mind.

Without stopping -- Don't stop in the middle of a sentence to go off and do a doctrinal study. Just read that section for the pure joy of it, allowing God to speak to you. Remember that your goal here is not to gain information, but to feed on the Word and get to know Christ better.

Aloud but quietly -- Reading it aloud will improve your concentration. It will also help you understand what you are reading better because you will be both seeing and hearing what you are reading.

Systematically -- Read through a book at a time in an orderly method. You'll understand the Bible better if you read it as it was written - a book or letter at a time.

When we spend time with God, we shouldn't just do it without a plan. God wants us have a plan whenever we worship him, so we can be completely focused to him. Usually, I don't have a plan when I spend time with God. And at times, I end up not having a ready heart to worship him. So, whenever we spend time with God, we should prepare our hearts before learning his word. And we should be focused on the Bible and not on anything else that can distract us. Reading it aloud and repeating the passage can help, as we can then have the image in our heads. And we shouldn't rush the passage, as we will miss information of the passage.

I have a sort of format for praying to God at night. Its what Sam taught us one friday night. Basically he said we should pray in the same way that the Lord's prayer goes, because Jesus gave us that to tell us how to pray. So first we should acknowledge that Hod is holy, powerful, loving, perfect, etc (Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name), then we should tell God that we trust in his sovereign plan (your kingdom...earth as is it in heaven), then we can present requests, needs or desire to him (give us this day...bread), then we repent and forgive other (forgive us...who trespass against us), then we ask him to lead us (lead us...deliver us from evil), then we glorify him again (thine is the kingdom...forever and ever. Amen) Thats basically what I try to do every day and sometimes it gets tedious so I think its important to switch things up too. We should never let prayer and qts become mundane and meaningless.

Take your time when you're with God.
Do not be impatient, prepare your heart before starting. I find tht many people talk to God and only complain and list things to kill time. That's not a relationship since its just demanding. For example, Have you ever said good morning or good night?
Also, If you come before God with a heart that is not willing to change, he can not do much for you. Some talk to God continuously asking for something and wil not take no for an answer. He is always open to talk, share, and ask.

As it says in the devo, make sure to Relax, Request, then Read.
Do all three when setting aside time for him. Some only do one or two of these three.

You don't have to drag your devos on to match a certain length in time. It may be a few minutes of a couple of hours, take the time you need.

My favourite saying:
"It's QUALITY, not QUANTITY that matters."
~Audrey~

There isnt only one way to have quiet time. Everyone gets in contact with God differently. Sam gave us an example we CAN follow for quiet time. This can also be another example of how to pray during quiet time. QT is a time when you let go of everything else and just focus on God and pray/talk to him. I cannot put enough emphasis about how we should all have quiet times atleast once a day. Not only is this helping your spiritual strength, it is also giving you the feel of what to do. Praying is something that can be taught but is more easier to learn it through experience. You can listen to someone pray for hours and hours but you will not get much out of it. Instead having your own prayers and doing your own prayers will benefit you more.

Although not everyone is the same, the message of the devo was telling us a method that will help us 1) remove all distractions and focus on God, and 2) really connect with God and spend some quality time with Him. When the environment that we out ourselves in for devotionals is quite and one without distractions, we can give our full attention to God. Really instead of "simple", I think a better adjective for the process is slow and steady. When we slowly go over God's word and really take the time to medicate on it, that is when we get the most out of our quiet times. Going slow allows us to think about, talk to, and listen to God. It also helps us understand a passage or message in greater detail.

Today's devotion is pretty much self-explanatory since it outlines how QT should go.
I especially like how it points out things that we don't set apart time for; we tend to rush into QT as we rush headlong into our busy (and sometimes- lazy) lives.
Wait on God (Relax) -- Be still for a minute; don't come running into God's presence and start talking immediately. Follow God's admonition: "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) Be quiet for a short while to put yourself into a reverent mood.

Pray briefly (Request) -- Ask God to cleanse your heart and guide you into the time together. You need to be in tune with the Author before you can understand his Book!

Read Scripture (Read) -- This is where your conversation with God begins. He speaks to you through his Word, and you speak with him in prayer. When you read your Bible, try to do it
Aloud but quietly -- Reading it aloud will improve your concentration. It will also help you understand what you are reading better because you will be both seeing and hearing what you are reading.
I agree that this is a very effective for concentration, and it is a lot easier understanding it by ear rather than just eyes, since I , as a fast reader, have a tendency to read very quickly.