How To Start A Quiet Time

What is a quiet time?

When a friend of mine first became a Christian, his mentor asked him to start having a quiet time. He had no idea what it meant to have a quiet time. Wanting to be faithful, he went to his closet, closed the door, and sat in silence. Afterwards, he wondered, “what was the point of that?” A quiet time is ‘christianese’ for spending time reading God’s Word and listening to God. I wanted to offer some tips to those who may have never tried doing a quiet time.

Start small

Many people begin with grandiose ideas of being incredibly faithful. The problem with starting a quiet time, especially if you’ve never done so, is that it requires consistency. Consistency is always easy in theory. Until an established habit takes root, consistency is difficult. Therefore, it is much easier to be consistent when you start small. If you’ve never done a consistent quiet time,  my recommendation is to get a good devotion book.

My favorite devotion book is My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Avoid devotion books which focus more on the author’s emotions than on Scripture. Devotion books which read like self-inspirational or motivational talks aren’t worth their time. The goal of a quiet time isn’t to build your self-esteem, but instead to listen to God.

While using a devotion book, get out your own Bible and read a slightly larger portion of Scripture than the devotion book lists. The goal of starting with a devotion book is to go deeper in the study of the scriptures.

Be consistent

As life changes, consistency is going to change. Some people like to do their quiet time pre-breakfast. Others, like myself, need to go through a morning routine before doing a quiet time. The people who mentored me were generally up around 4:00-5:00am and did their prayer and quiet time then. I tried that. I failed. When I was reading at 5:00am, I found I was trailing off; if I closed my eyes to pray, my prayers sounded like, “Dear God, I’d like to pray for . . . um . . . And . . . um . . . Amen.”

5am was not a great time for me to listen to God. Find a time and place which works best for you. You don’t have to be legalistic about certain times, but you do want to be consistent.

Nothing helps consistency like an accountability partner. Get someone you trust and ask each other what the Lord is teaching daily. On those days when one of you misses, don’t berate each other. The synonym for Christian accountability is encouragement not inquisition. Generally some sort of crisis has come up (lack of time, unforeseen event, etc.) or sin has crept in (laziness, disregard for God, unethical behavior); in both cases, encouragement and prayer for each other are necessary.

Don’t get stale

I’ve had many different quiet time plans. I’ve never found one to be THE ONE. Some years I have a plan to read through the whole Bible. Other times I spend much more time looking into one book. Sometimes I use a devotion book. I change my devotion time whenever it gets stale. The quiet time is your time with God. Reading God’s Word and praying ought not be like cramming two saltine crackers in your mouth to start the day. A quiet time ought to be refreshing and help keep your mind focused on God. Change the plan up, try something new, don’t let consistency become drudgery.

Bookend your quiet time with prayer

Start your quiet time with prayer. I like to read a written prayer to open up my quiet time. The Valley of Vision and Prayers for Meditation are my favorite pieces from which to draw. These written prayers help my quiet time focus on who God is and not on what I want him to do. After reading through the Bible, take some time to pray again. Start and close your quiet time with prayer. I try to keep my quiet time prayers from becoming laundry lists of requests. I do pray for other people, but for my quiet time I try to ask God to reveal sin in me and help me to keep his Word in my heart. My prayer time for others is generally later in the day. When I am praying for others, I try to remember to pray for my church, pastor/staff, and my spouse. Many other requests come and go, but those three are consistent.

Once you’ve established a consistent quiet time, you’ll begin to experience the benefits of it. I find that quiet times help me to keep the Word of God in my heart daily. I tend to think more about what God says and less about what I want. When I’m consistent in my time with God, arguments in the home, frustrations at work, and general anxieties lessen. Quiet times help cultivate the peace of the Lord in my life. More important than all these personal benefits, a consistent quiet time allows me to listen to the Lord and allow him to guide my life.

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