Spending Time with God

A Simple Discipleship Resource

(Free Quiet Time PDF booklet at end of blog)

Becky Hallman

One of my greatest joys is showing people how to have a meaningful daily Quiet Time with the Lord. By Quiet Time, I mean listening to God through His Word and responding to Him in prayer. Perhaps the reason I enjoy this so much is because, years ago, a fellow college student took the time to show me how to read and meditate on God's Word. Although I grew up in a Christian home and read the Bible occasionally, no one had shown me how to combine my reading with meditating on His Word and responding in prayer.

At first, I had a Quiet Time every other day. Before long, I realized I experienced much more peace on the days I spent time with the Lord. Over the years, it has become the anchor of my life even though I still have days when I procrastinate before settling down at His feet.

Perhaps you've had your own challenges with consistently spending time with God. Why do we struggle to be consistent with such a life-giving habit?

Common Problems

If you're a new believer, your dilemma is that you don’t know how to get to know the Lord through the Word or where to read. Well meaning Christians may have told you, “Read the book of John”. But there’s a difference between telling and showing!

If you've walked with Christ for awhile, your struggle is probably consistency.

No Time Syndrome

In my conversations with Christians, I've found that many sincerely want to spend time with the Lord but struggle to do it consistently; research found that only 31% of Protestant churchgoers read the Bible daily.¹

Here are some of the reasons I've heard:

"I have to get to work."
"I'm caring for little kids all day and I'm exhausted."
"I fell behind in my Bible reading plan and got discouraged."
"I don’t have time."

Most of these reasons come down to one reality: life is busy, and the urgent crowds out the important.

Scattered Approach

The other issue is that we often don’t have a plan. Sometimes we open the Bible at random, reading a Psalm one day, Proverbs the next, then a favorite New Testament passage after that. Eventually we spend more time deciding where to read than actually reading, and before long we stop altogether.

These two issues lead to inconsistency and discouragement which results in stunted growth.

Whether you fall in the new or busy Christian category, the wonderful news is that there is a simple, practical way to spend time with God that is both meaningful and lifechanging!

My goal isn't simply to help you have a meaningful Quiet Time. It's to give you a simple method you can continue using for years, and one you can easily pass along to someone else. That's how discipleship multiplies: someone shows us, we learn to do it, and then we help someone else do the same.

Keys to a Growing Friendship

Priority

It begins with approaching our time with the Lord like the most important relationship we have, which necessitates that we make our time with Him our top priority. We all have busy lives and may not have half an hour or an hour in the morning, but we can set aside ten minutes before heading off to work or use our break time or children's nap times to be with the Lord. Determine to make your relationship with your Heavenly Father your Number One priority, above all else! Initially, aim for short 10 minute Quiet Times daily to establish a lifelong habit.

Plan

Pick a book in the Bible and read it in short sections from beginning to end. A great place to start is Philippians; it’s short, practical and encouraging! I always start people off by doing a sample Quiet Time together in Philippians; but any New Testament book can be broken down into short sections of about 7 verses each. As a side note, Christians sometimes mention that they read devotional books which they consider their Quiet Time. Devotionals written by people can be inspiring supplements, but nothing can compare to God's Word which is living and active, supernaturally inspired to transform our hearts and minds (Hebrews 4:12; Romans 12:2).

Pen

Many people are content to simply read God's Word and then pray. If that's all we can manage, that's great. The truth is that we remember far less of what we read than we think we do. Writing down one truth and one application helps move God's Word from simply being read to being thoughtfully meditated, remembered and applied. It might seem like extra work, but writing one truth and its application is where our devotionals become extremely meaningful and impactful!

When it comes to journaling one truth from God's Word that impressed us, we can use two simple questions:

1) What's one interesting truth I see in the passage?

2) How can I apply that truth to my life today?

Meditating on God's Word means to think or muse. When we take time to write down one truth from a passage and how we can practically apply it, our mind is actively musing and processing His Word!

Journaling has many benefits. Writing....

clarifies our thoughts. The Holy Spirit uses our writing to help us process what His Word says.
helps us identify practical applications.
provides a springboard for prayer and sharing.
helps us remember what the Holy Spirit taught us.

Writing down one truth and application naturally slows us down. Instead of rushing through a passage, we linger over it, meditate on it, and give the Holy Spirit room to minister to our hearts. Before long, you'll likely find that spending time with the Lord becomes one of the most life-giving parts of your day.

Prayer

One of the easiest ways to pray is to take what we've written and turn it into a prayer for ourselves, our family and friends! (See the Prayer Diagram in the booklet)

Learn It - Live It - show it!

If you need a fresh start in your times with the Lord, use this simple method and booklet to grow your friendship with Him! This is simple enough to begin today!

This is also simple enough to show someone else! You can bless a younger Christian by doing a Quiet Time together with them, showing them how to feed themselves spiritually. It is the most important and foundational step in discipling a new believer yet it's generally overlooked. There's a difference between telling and showing.

Click on our free Quiet Time booklet below and may God richly bless your daily communication with Him!

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