Throughout my life, I have done quiet times with the Lord. I recently decided to dig more into what the Bible says about quiet times. After researching and reading scripture on Christian quiet times I feel more equipped to spend my quiet time in a valuable way.
What is a Christian quiet time? Quiet time is a time dedicated to one-on-one time with God and his word. It is meant to help us as Christians grow in our relationship with God. This can be through prayer or meditating on scripture.
Quiet time is an important component of any Christians’ walk with Christ. It matters that we have quiet time with the Lord and use it intentionally. Time set apart with the Lord with strengthen our relationship with him.
The Importance/Benefits of Quiet Time
Why is quiet time so important? Quiet time is an opportunity for us as believers to connect with God on a personal level.
The purpose and intent of quiet time are to create a stronger relationship. If you look at any relationship in your life, either with family or friends, they usually started off by getting to know one another, either asking questions of doing something together. It takes time to form relationships.
The same is true with God, spending time with him creates a stronger relationship with him. Quiet time has been called a number of different things, one-on-one time, heart-to-heart time, or personal devotions, but no matter the name, you are spending time with God.
Both quiet time and a stronger relationship with God have side effects. Items like decision making can become easier. Peace is more prevalent when spending more time with God and in his word. Often times God will speak to believers in quiet times when we are listening and focusing on God’s word.
When To Have Quiet Time
Practically carrying out quiet time can be a lot harder than it sounds like. In the busy world today quiet time is usually put on the back burner since it takes exactly what we seem to run out of, time.
Finding time to connect with God is important. Some people find that morning is a good time to dig into God’s word. Others find before bed works for them, or on lunch break.
It may be helpful when you first begin having a quiet time to schedule it into your week. Our lives are busy and often times we don’t dedicate ourselves to spending time alone with God.
What really matters with finding time for just you and God are components like a quieter setting, with few distractions. It is important to intentionally spend more than a couple of minutes of reading scripture.
Set aside time to spend with the Lord. Don’t rush it. Be present with Him.
What Should I Do During Quiet Time?
God can speak to his people in many ways, but one of the main ways in through his Word, the Bible. It is important to have scripture with you as you go into quiet time, and maybe even a specific book of the Bible to read through.
You could start with the gospels or Genesis. Since the Bible is one of the primary ways that God communicates with us, it should be a priority to invest in God’s word.
Meditating on the scripture is another powerful and useful way to spend quiet time. As believers, we can often read God’s word and forget to take time to grasp all that his word has to say. Meditating can help us to more completely understand what God is saying to us.
Worship music is another means to connect with God, it can help put your heart in the right place. Many worship songs highlight God’s promises, mighty works, and/or characteristics that help us connect with God.
Prayer is an important part of quiet time, prayer in the avenue in which to talk to God. Prayer includes praising God for all that he is. Praise also gives us the correct posture to have while we talk with the creator of all things.
Repenting is another aspect of pray and also extremely important, we can come to God with our sin and shame and he will forgive us. We can also bring our prayer request to God through prayer.
We can talk to him about our worries and problems day to day, and petition for others as well.
Journaling is another popular tool used during quiet time. Quiet time is a time to talk to God, many people write down what they observe from the scripture and hear from God.
Journaling helps some people process better and is also a great tool to help you remember in the future what God is doing in your life.
I would encourage you to try out these different things in your quiet time and find what works best for you.
What The Bible Says About Quiet Time
Quiet time is more than just a good suggestion for Christians, looking through scripture we can see the emphasis put on time spent with God and the fruits that come of this discipline.
James 4:8 says,
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
When we spend intentional time with God we will be able to see the benefits because God will be drawing nearer to us in the process.
The psalms are full of scripture that displays the importance and outcome of spending time with God, Psalms 91:1 says “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Additionally, Psalms 119:9 says “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”
Jesus’ Quiet Time
One of the best examples we have in life is Jesus. He lived on earth and suffered what we suffer through. Looking at Jesus’ life sets a pattern for our life.
While going around preaching during his three years of ministry there were many times when Jesus would go on his own and spend time in prayer. While Jesus spent time with others and ministering to others, he still set a time to be alone with God.
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.
Matthew 14:23
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Mark 1:35
These are two of the many mentions throughout the gospel of Jesus’ prayer time. The repetition of his prayer time alone indicates the importance of quiet time both in his life and in ours today.
We can also observe from these two passages that he was alone both times and at specific times of the day. In Matthew 14:23, he went in the evening after be ministering to a crowd, and in Mark 1:35, he rose before there was even light outside to talk to his Father.
Even when Jesus was ministering to others he had intentional time set aside to be with his father.
There are a lot of disciplines needed for prayer time alone. Remember the purpose is to deepen your relationship with God, not to check quiet time off your to do list for the day.
Having time alone with God will strengthen our relationship with Him. We should be willing to spend time alone with God no matter what the hour.
Looking at the priority quiet time had in Jesus’ life should inspire us to also follow in his path and dedicate time individually to the Father.