In Part 1 of “Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness,” I shared how I reconnect with the Lord by spending quiet time alone with Him on a daily basis. I shared with you what quiet time is and what it can look like. I am hopeful that the readers of Country Wife Chronicles also shared their own examples of what quiet time can look like in their comments on Part 1 and will do so again here.
Because quiet time is incredibly personal and it can look very different from one person to the next. It is something you really need to design for yourself.
I trust that you were able to glean some tips for how you could structure your quiet time from “Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness {Part 1},” but today I’m going to take a it a step further and give you some practical pointers for creating your own quiet time.
Quiet Time by Design
So now that you know what quiet time is and what it can look like, how do you make it happen in your life? Let me break it down for you into a few concise steps.
- Make Time—The first thing you have to do is find the time in your day to give to God. If you are really struggling to find any time in your day at all, start with your first 5. Then increase that time to 15 minutes, then 30, and maybe even to an hour if you can manage it. But be realistic. And be flexible. This time will be dependent upon the season of life you are in. Give yourself some grace, knowing that some days may be a prayer in the carpool lane, while other days can be an hour of focused devotion while the house still sleeps.
- Create a Special Place—Choose a place that will calm your heart and ease your mind for your quiet time. Set up a comfortable atmosphere where you can relax and let your guard down. Maybe it’s a reading chair in your bedroom, or a quiet kitchen table before anyone awakes, a designated war room, or a lounger on the patio. Wherever it is, be sure that is feels warm and comforting to you, as it will now be your special place for your special God time.
- Prepare your Heart & Mind—It is important to take a moment to get prepared for worship. You don’t want to just rush through the motions, you want to feel that connection. This means quieting your mind beforehand. Focus on things above, take a few deep breaths, and visualize having a conversation with your best friend, who just happens to be Jesus. There is no need to fret or feel inferior, He will meet you where you are at and He wants to have a relationship with you. No matter your past, no matter your regrets; we are all sinners and fall short of perfection. God isn’t looking for perfect, He’s looking for present. He loves His children with an amazing and unconditional love and just wants our full, undivided presence in this time we are committing to Him.
- Study Material—It is helpful to have something to guide you in your quiet time. If you don’t own one already, go shopping for a personal Bible—one that is easy to read and understand, one that you can connect with. A blank journal or notebook is handy to write out your thoughts and prayers and makes for a great reminder of God’s answered prayers in your life. You can definitely get by with just a Bible and journal, digging into the Word and learning directly from it. But sometimes it’s nice to utilize other curriculum too; maybe a good Christian reference book or even a Christian fiction based on Biblical principles can be really enlightening. It may be a published Bible study, Scripture reading plan, or devotional series. I’ve even used worship music and podcasts in a pinch, you can really glean a lot from the familiar when you take the time to dissect its message.
So now you can you design your own quiet time with four easy steps: Make Time, Create a Special Place, Prepare your Heart & Mind, and pick out some Study Material. But I’d like to offer you two more tips, things I’ve found necessary to get the most out of my quiet time.
- Discipline—You will only get out what you put in, so there’s no misleading here, you will need discipline to be a student of the Word. Heck the word disciple, meaning “student,” is the root of the word discipline. So, yes, it does take time and effort and commitment. But really, as a Christian, can you think of anything else more deserving of your time? If you discipline yourself to workout every day or plan healthy meals for the week, then you can plan for and commit to the time it takes to grow your faith. I promise it will positively impact all other areas of your life in the process. And the beautiful thing is, the more often you discipline yourself to put in the time and effort, the more hungry you will become for your quiet time. You will grow to protect it and ensure that your get your daily dose of God time even when life is hectic.
- Obedience—Once you commit your morning to God and go through the process of learning and applying the Word to your own life, the next step is to take action in obedience to the Lord. Let the lessons you learn guide your day and actions. Share the message you hear with others around you, lead by example in your own home, and actively pray for others on your heart while seeking ways in which you could be an answer to those prayers. Learning these life lessons from the Word and then keeping them within you is not what God wants from us. He wants us to seek Him to be used by Him, to share His message to those He places in our lives. So in the process of growing and maturing in our walk with God, it is His will that we also learn to trust and obey.
Today I’m calling you to action. I’m calling you to pencil in some quiet time into your day. I’m calling you to commit and be obedient. I’m calling you as a fellow Christian who has grown leaps and bounds through this one disciplined act of starting my day with God, learning from and leaning on Him over the years.
Yes, it may mean adding one more thing to your already jam-packed day. But this one thing will pay dividends you can’t even foresee at the moment. It will impact your already full schedule more than you can fathom. It can be the one thing that is a complete game changer for you.
It is my hope that you have been encouraged by this series, “Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness,” and will hunger for a deeper relationship with God as a result of reading these words.
This story is absolutely for His glory, not my own.
For more on slowing down and savoring the stillness, check out the following posts on Country Wife Chronicles:
- “Choosing Stillness”
- “Learning to Live Simply”
- “Taking Back the Sabbath”
- “5 More Tips for Taking Back the Sabbath”
Join the conversation below:
- Are you a morning, day, or evening quiet time person? Why does that time of the day work best for you?
- If you’ve been practicing quiet time for awhile now, how have you grown in your faith in the process?
- In what ways can you make a stronger commitment to getting in your God time?
Be Still & Know…
