Do you have a regular “quiet time?” You won’t find this term in the Bible, but Christians use it to refer to purposeful time spent alone with God. A time to hear from God and share your heart with Him. Jesus Himself set the example for us (Luke 5:16).
I’ve heard – and made – many excuses for not setting aside time in the day to spend with God. Busyness is probably the biggest culprit. Yes, life can be overwhelmingly busy. But we have control over many of the items on our calendar. How we spend much of our time is our choice. We can choose God.
Some of you are in a season of life where you truly have very little time to yourself. Maybe you are a caregiver or the mother of young children. Many life circumstances make carving out space for a regular quiet time more difficult, but with a bit of creativity you can claim some time, even if it’s just a few moments here and there. (See this post for some examples.)
And some of us who were once devoted to our daily quiet time may have realized we slowly fell away from this spiritual discipline until it’s no longer our regular habit. An abbreviated day here and a missed day there, and the next thing we know…
Quiet Time Reboot Challenge
I’m going to be honest with you. For decades I’ve been very committed to regular time with God, but the last few months have been extremely challenging for me. I’ve been traveling a lot and my parents have been ill. And I’ve allowed those things to impact the quality of my quiet time.
Many Christians make establishing a regular quiet time a New Year’s resolution. January 1st is always a good time to get back on track. But often, by this time of year, many of us have let that resolution slowly fall by the wayside. But we don’t have to wait for the New Year. We can reboot our quiet time now!
Not sure you’re ready to get back on track? Maybe we need some incentive to make regular quiet time a priority. Let’s remind ourselves of a few of the benefits of spending time with God.
5 Reasons to Reboot Your Quiet Time
- Spending regular time with God helps us know Him better, which fosters a deeper intimacy in our relationship.
- Listening to God through His Word and prayer helps us better understand His will in general and discover His specific direction for our lives.
- Time spent submitted and vulnerable before God gives Him an opportunity to accomplish His refining work in us.
- Sitting in God’s presence enables us to more fully experience the comfort, encouragement, peace, and joy He longs to give us.
- Purposeful time each day focused solely on God helps us keep our mind and heart on Him all day long.
November 1st Reboot
No time like NOW to start fresh on a commitment to spend time with God. Will you join me for a November 1st resolution? Let’s make a fresh commitment to regularly spend time with God and end 2016 with a spiritual bang instead of a whimper. Here are a couple of things you may find helpful in establishing or re-establishing a regular quiet time:
- 11 Tips for Spending Quality Time with God
- 5 Bible Reading Plans
- 5 Probing Questions to Meditate on Scripture
- Paul’s Life and Writings (A 10-week Bible study plan)
So… will you reboot with me? I’d love to hear from you about how your quiet time is going right now… if you need a reboot and why… and if you’ll reboot with me!
Titus Bible Study
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