How to Have a Quiet Time

You’ve tried before. In fact, probably quite a few times. But after a couple of days it always falls by the wayside. How can you get a daily quiet time established and then stick to it?

There’s a great lesson in the Christmas story that helps. Mary and Joseph showed up at Bethlehem and tried to get a room, but they couldn’t. The only motel in town was full.

How'd that happen?

Well of course this was the first century and they didn’t have modern communication available. It’s not like they could call ahead and make a reservation. But that was the problem. Had the manager known they were coming, he could’ve set aside a place for them. But there was no reservation.

I’ve done that. When our kids were small, I remember driving from town to town in the rural west, hoping and praying we could get a room. Finally, we found a place in the middle of the night. It was my fault. I should’ve made a reservation.

That’s why most Christians fail at trying to establish a daily quiet time with God. We all want to. We all know the importance of reading the Word and praying. But if there is no reservation, God gets squeezed out.

1. So that’s my first point. Start by making a reservation for God, a time, an appointment in your day, and be absolutely religious about keeping it. For me, first thing in the morning works best. Actually, I like to have time with God early in the morning and then again just before bed. (It also helps me sleep.)
    
2. Secondly, have a plan. Keep your plan simple, but have some kind of a plan. A plan guides you through Scripture in an organized way. You’ll get a lot more out of it.

   If you are part of The Bridge Church family, I encourage you to follow our church plan. We hand out booklets with reading and prayer guides at the end of every month for the following month, and I tweet that Bible reading schedule early every morning. It’s easy to follow and its nice to know you are reading the same passages as hundreds of others. (I and most of our staff use the same plan.) If you follow this blog but live outside of our church area, you can still use our plan just by following me on twitter or liking our church Facebook page.
    

3. Third, keep some kind of a reading/prayer journal. That’s also where our church reading plan is helpful. The booklets we provide have space for that. But by keeping notes, it adds value to your reading and also pushes you to stay on schedule.
    
4. It also helps to include someone in your life to share what you are reading as an accountability partner. Not only will they help keep you on track, but also talking about it with another person accentuates what you learned and encourages you to read on those days when it is easy to forgo.
    
5. The advice I’d like to leave you with is to not get discouraged when you miss a couple of days. Just get back to it. You are never a failure because you fail. You become a failure only when you quit. So don’t quit.

Make the reservation. Adopt a plan. Keep a simple journal. Talk to someone about what you read. And don’t quit!