Do you have a desire to but find it difficult to spend quiet time with God?
Growing spiritually and stewarding the blessing of communion with god well is critical to our overall well-being. When we are intentional about spending time with God we are setting our lives up for overflow and calm! Our quiet time in prayer allow us to communicate to the creator of the Universe! Like our human relationships, communication is key to growing intimacy with God. Learning how to have quiet time is an amazingly simple way to help us better this communication and tune our inner frequency to God’s voice.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
When life is good, my quiet time becomes lax and my prayers are short because I do not need anything in particular.
When life isn’t so good, my desire for personal quiet time with God is great but my prayers fall flat because I am out of practice.
My prayer life is one of the habits that I am constantly working to find balance in. I often feel guilty for not making hours long or morning time prayers a priority. Then, I feel guilty for making my prayer life about quantity of time spent, not about my relationship with God.
One routine that has significantly impacted my goal of improving spiritual health has been incorporating my personal quiet time with God into my self-care routine. Continue reading to learn more about how to have quiet time with God.
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What is quiet time with God?
Quiet time is the intentional time spent with God in meditative silence. It is a date with a lifelong friend. It is one on one time with the Creator of the universe. It is soul restorative moments of rejuvenation. Quiet time can be a set time or intermittent moments where you steal away in order to connect with your Abba father.
Why is quiet time with God important?
The importance of quiet time is best explained by understanding its connection to our prayer life. Personal time with God is often thought of as prayer, and in many ways, it is. Let’s consider prayer the way God created it. Prayer is a two-way conversation, but too often modern society sees prayer as a one-way list of requests. Often our prayers stop when we stop talking. But God’s intention for prayer was that it was a two-way communication. It “stops” when God answers us.
Alone time with God takes this difference between God’s intention for prayer and our actual realization of prayer into consideration. Quiet time makes allowance for the two-way nature of prayer. Other benefits of quiet time include:
- Restoration through intentional quietness
- Connection with God is increased
- Time to listen to God
- Grow in faith through understanding of God’s word
- Helps us slow down and remove ourselves from the busyness
Spending time with God is not only beneficial but also necessary. Time in the presence of God is time well spent. Its time where we get to steward the health of our souls well.
Bible verses about spending time with God
In the beginning of the bible we are told that God created everything, he created man and woman, and then he walked alongside those first humans. God’s initial design was communion with himself. He desired that we would walk with him, and grow in him. But we are flawed and we chose a different path. Since the beginning and the fall God’s been restoration.
The bible is full of examples of people finding ways to walk with God and get away to be restored by God’s presence. The following scriptures about quiet time give us a better indication of the benefits and importance of spending quiet time with God.
He says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10
One of the hallmarks of quiet time is the stillness that it requires. This isn’t so much a stillness of body, some people find that their quiet time is spent best while hiking or doing some other physical activity. The stillness that this verse reminds us of is a stillness of mind and heart. It is a quieting of the thoughts and emotions that try to compete with the significance of god’s voice in our lives.
Our quiet time with God gives us a chance to be still and know or remember that God is God.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
James 4:8
This verse about quiet time encourages us that God’s presence accompanies our call. When we are intentional about drawing near to Him, he honors that move and his presence is revealed. As we chose to find ways to grow spiritually and to better our relationship with God, he shows us that he has always been with us.
But when you pray, go into your room, close, the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6
This quiet time verse gives us some direction for how we should approach our quiet time. Instead of making our time spent with God a public display, we should instead find a quiet place where we can focus our undivided attention on God.
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
Psalm 62:1
Restoration is one of the truly great benefits of quiet time. Our souls can become weary from all of the stress of day to day life, and the problems of society. When all around you, there is uncertainty and crisis, the Lord is our Salvation and personal time with Him can heal!
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:35
This may perhaps be the most important scripture on this list of verses about quiet time. Our Savior had quiet time. In his time on Earth he modeled what life should look like for us. He modeled humility, serving, kindness, unconditional love, and how to live a connected life. He constantly took the time to go away and pray.
His connection to the Father while complete was enhanced for us by his constant willingness to make deliberate space to meet with God. We should look to him and follow his lead in understanding that NOTHING should stand between you and God’s Love. Nor should you let the busyness of your day interfere with the important matter of spending time with God.
How do you spend time with God?
1. Set the atmosphere
Whether you enjoy calming music, a hike in nature, sitting on the beach, or complete darkness. The first step in spending time with God is to set the atmosphere. Welcome his presence by removing distractions. This could be your cell phone or making sure that the room you will be using is organized and decluttered.
2. Prepare your heart
The second step is to prepare your heart. This is an early prayer for me. This is asking God’s presence into your space. You can do this through worship and prayer. Pray that God would not only show up, but also show you were there may be separation between you and him. Repent for any sins you can remember committing and ask for forgiveness for those which you may have done unintentionally.
You can also turn over any significant issues on your mind to him. This could be family issues, work issues, health issues. All of the things that could start to seem overwhelming when you dive into intentional quiet time.
3. Read his word
The next step is to dive into God’s word. You could do a topical bible study, or verse mapping. Maybe you have a reading plan that walks you through the entire bible. Whatever the plan for reading the word of God, do it. Reading his word is a way to better know his voice. When you know what he has said in the past, you can more easily distinguish his voice from others in the presnce.
4. Meditate on the word
After reading you will want to meditate on the word of God. This will likely be where the quiet time begins. As you read his word, go slowly, stop when a word or a phrase sticks out to you. You can underline these words and phrases to review now or later.
This meditation time can also be less active. You can also simply begin dwelling on the words. After reading through the passage a few times. Think on the words or phrases that stick out in your memory. Contemplate these quietly.
5. Listen for his voice
This is the step where things can be difficult for the person who is new to quiet time with God. This step you are simple still and quiet. At this stage of your quiet time you want to be conscious about minimizing distractions. You will want to make sure to focus on the quiet voice.
When you find a thought that does not seem of God come up, you can acknowledge it and then return your mind to those words or phrases from your meditation of God’s word. When you are just starting out, you can set a timer. Start small, perhaps 5 minutes of calm silence is enough to begin. Gradually you can increase that time.
6. Write down His answer
The last step in learning how to have quiet time with God is to write down what he says to you. It could be those words or phrases that stood out to you during your meditation on his word. It could also be a revelation about his character or about your own. It could be a sin you had forgotten or a dream he has for you. Whatever it is, use your prayer journal and write these things down.
This allows you to be constantly reminded of God’s faithfulness in your life and thus allows you to continue to walk in faith in the plans he has for you.
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Having trouble finding time to pray? The Art of Quiet time with the Lord was designed to guide you from a prayer life that is rushed and inconsistent to one that is intentional and intimate.
How can I improve my quiet time with God?
Improving your quiet time with God really only takes a willing heart and consistency. If the desire of you heart is for God and knowing more about his character and his heart for you, then you are halfway to a more intimate time spent with the Father. Some additional tips that you can try to help improve the quality of the time you spend with God include the following.
Make your quiet time space sacred
This could be a prayer closet or an office space, or a spot on the couch that you lounge on. Whatever this space is you want to make sure that it is outfitted with everything you will need for your quiet time. This could be that you keep a basket handy with your bible, and devotional materials. I recommend having pens and other prayer journal materials located here as well!
Schedule quiet time in and make it a habit
Another habit that can help you increase the quality of your quiet time with God is to plan your quiet time out with God. You can schedule it in using your planner or to do list. This is especially good for beginners to deliberate quiet time with God. If you want to make it a habit you should consistently make time for it. Having it planned out preferably at the same time every day will dramatically increase the likelihood of you sticking with it.
Get creative with how you have your quiet time
Improving your quiet time with God is most effective when you let go of any preconceived expectations of what it should look like and evaluate your relationship with God and your personal quiet time with him as unique to you.
This means that unless you have received a particular prompting from the holy spirit, you can dictate the look of your quiet time. If you know you are not a morning person, and mornings are rushed, but you have a beautifully calm evening routine, add your quiet time with God at night. If you do not focus well while sitting, but when you run your mind is clear, consider spending your quiet time with God during a long run.
Whatever the case is, allow the holy spirit to guide you to what your relationship with God should look like.
Alone time with God is spiritual self-care
In the arena of self-care, the most important and often most neglected by Christians is spiritual self-care. Of course we pray, and we read devotionals, but our relationship with God is less on the things we do for God. These would be the rules, regulations, and checks we mark off on our Christian Checklist and more about the things we do WITH God. This includes taking care of our spirit and building intimacy with God. This is the only way we can truly grow to become more like Jesus.
What is your idea of Quiet time with God? Share in the comments below!
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Today 11-9-23 is day 2 of my striving to be more consistent with my quiet time with God. I have struggled with this for many years. I have made a goal, shared it with my accountability partner, my wife and whoever I meet. In 2021, I unintentionally had consistent quiet time with God and it changed the direction of our lives. I clearly heard from Him and it was confirmed in several ways. Since then, I have been trying to get that back so I can know exactly what He wants me to do, how He wants me to do it and when. His plan is always greater than mine and I want to do His will the rest of my life and encourage others to do the same.