Quiet Time

    Quite often Pastor Brett urges us to “live large” make weekly church worship a must.  He also encourages us to “live small” be in a small group that fellowships regularly.  I completely agree with both ideas, I also feel as Christians we need to do something else to help us grow in our relationship with God.

     When we read the Gospels how often do we read about Jesus going off alone to pray?  He often goes to spend time with the Father, even before his execution he went off to pray.  We all need to follow his example, we need quiet time with God. 

      Meaningful quiet time needs at least three components, a regular time, a fixed place, and a plan.   Let me give you an example of what I mean.  Before I outline my quiet time, I want to be perfectly clear, my example is not the only way, it might not work for you, but it allows me to illustrate each of the three components.

    I am a night person so my quiet time is in the evening, if you are a morning person, use the morning.  I have a comfortable chair in my bedroom, so that is my place.  I like to read so my plan starts with reading a faith book.  I have a lot of authors that I like, for instance: Timothy Keller, David Platt, Charles Swindoll, Roger Olson, Phillip Yancey, John MacArthur, and of course C. S. Lewis, any book by one of them will be good.  These are not the only authors I like, if you are curious, let me know and I will be happy to supply some others and some specific book titles.  After I read for a while I spend time in prayer for the church and its members.  Then I read from the Bible.  Daily Bible reading is a must for any Christian.  If we are to grow in our faith we must immerse ourselves in God’s word.  I have read through the Bible many times, each time I find new revelations from God’s word.  I finish by praising God for my day and continue to pray as the Spirit leads me.

     We all need our own quiet time and we need to do it daily.  We worship as a group once a week and we meet in small group every other week.   We need to meet with God, connect with God, and grow in our relationship with God daily, hence quiet time.   Quiet time requires a regular time, a regular place, and a plan.  Do not be afraid to start with just a few minutes a day, you will grow in your faith and I will bet your quiet time will grow with it.