Quiet time is vitally important for all Christians. In order to grow in your personal relationship with Christ, you need to take time each day to have quiet time with the Lord. The necessity of quiet time has been expressed, but you might be wondering, “What is quiet time and why is it so important?”
Quiet time is a time you intentionally set apart each day to spend with God. During quiet time, you talk with God in prayer, and you listen to Him through His Word. For any human relationship, you have to spend time with one another in order to cultivate the relationship and make it grow.
In the same way, you have to spend time with God in prayer and reading of His Word in order to deepen and strengthen your relationship with Him. God desires to hear from you in prayer and for you to pour out your heart to Him. You can tell Him whatever is on your mind.
Whether you are anxious, stressed, happy, sad, lonely, or any other feeling, God wants to hear from you. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” God does care for you, and He wants you to give all your worries over to Him.
He knows we are not strong enough on our own, which is why He delights in carrying our burdens and giving us peace. Through quiet time, we can have peaceful communication with our Lord and Savior. Quiet time calls us to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him in His Word. Jesus tells us we must abide in Him in order to bear fruit for His Name (John 15:1-4).
When we consistently meet with God in prayer and reading His Word, we are abiding in Christ, and we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. Quiet time is not a ritual or a religious practice. It is spending time with God in prayer and reading His Word.
The purpose of quiet time is to build our relationship with Christ, learn more about Him, and grow in Christlikeness. If we neglect our quiet time with the Lord, we will find ourselves heading down a road of pain, loneliness, and despair. God created us with the need to be in relationship with Him.
If we consistently neglect to go to Him in prayer and reading the Bible, we will cause a gulf between us and God. The Lord did not place the gulf, but neglecting to have quiet time has been our own way of separating ourselves from the Lord and will result in a gulf in our relationship with the Lord. Quiet time with the Lord consists of praying to God, reading the Bible, and meditating on what you have learned.
It is a spiritual discipline to continually meet with the Lord in quiet time each day, but just like any discipline, there are great benefits of being consistent in your quiet time with the Lord. A few of the benefits of being consistent in quiet time is that it helps us build self-discipline, it keeps God as the focus of our day, and it helps us grow in Christlikeness (Ibid.).
There are a few things you need to do in order to properly prepare for quiet time with the Lord. First, you need to pick out the best time of day to have your quiet time. This could be in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Most people have quiet time with the Lord in the morning, but you can pick whatever time works best for you.
The Bible tells us that God hears us no matter what time we call out to Him as Psalm 55:17 says, “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” Maybe morning is the best time for you because everyone else is asleep. Maybe the afternoon is better during your lunch break. Or maybe right before you go to sleep is the best time for you.
No matter what you choose, make sure you intentionally take some time out each day to devote to quiet time with the Lord. Secondly, you have to choose what will be the best location for your quiet time (Ibid.). Some people choose to have quiet time at their kitchen table while some people prefer to cozy up in their favorite armchair.
You could even have quiet time outdoors in your garden if you focus better outdoors. Whether you pick an indoor or outdoor location, make sure it is a place where you can stay fully focused on the Lord. Do not pick a place that can steal your attention away, such as in front of your computer with incoming work emails, a busy coffee shop, or driving down the highway.
Choose a place where you can clearly focus on the Lord and give Him all of your attention. If you are creative, you could even create a “quiet time room” in which you dedicate a room to have your quiet time in. This way when you are in your quiet time room, people will know not to disturb you.
Wherever you pick to conduct your quiet time, make sure it is a place where you can stay focused on the Lord. Lastly, you need to decide how long your quiet time will last (Ibid.). You can spend anywhere from 15 minutes to longer in your quiet time with the Lord.
You can choose to spend five to ten minutes praying and then read a chapter out of a selected book of the Bible for five to ten minutes. Then, make sure you give yourself some time to meditate on what you just learned. Start off slow and work your way up to spending more time with the Lord. As you grow to know Him better, the longer you will want to spend time with Him.
For quiet time, you will need your willing heart, a Bible, and possibly a devotional book if you are interested in reading through a devotional book. When you begin reading the Bible, you can start off with Genesis and work your way through the Bible or you could use a Bible reading plan.
You could also work on different books of the Bible through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Ensure your heart is in the right place before you go to God in prayer. Do not mindlessly enter quiet time and recite prayers you may have learned from others. Go to the Lord and be raw, genuine, and open in your prayers.
After you have read the Bible and prayed to the Lord, meditate on what you have learned (Ibid.). Take a few extra minutes to digest what you have learned and how you can apply it in your daily life. The Bible is not meant to just be read over quickly and then you move on with the rest of your day.
The Bible is meant to be studied, understood, and applied in your daily life. Quiet time is extremely important and should not be neglected for any reason. Though at times, it is understandable that you may be in a hurry, make sure you still take time to talk with God in prayer and try to read at least a small segment of the Bible.
The Bible is the only way the Lord communicates to us today and in order to hear from Him, we have to read it, study it, and meditate on it. If you take time to participate in quiet time each day, you will learn more about God, deepen your relationship with Him, and grow to become more like Him.
As you grow in your Christian walk, you will hunger for your quiet time with the Lord each day. You might even decide to wake up early each day in order to have a longer quiet time with the Lord because time with the Lord is sweeter than a few extra minutes of sleep.
For further reading:
Why Are Different Methods of Bible Study Important?
How Is Jesus Our Sabbath Rest?
Do We Really Need to Pray if God Knows Our Heart?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Sinenkiy