Quiet Time

I've chosen mornings to have my alone, quiet time with God. Not because I'm naturally an early morning person, but because I've found time in God's word sets a can-do attitude to my day. It reminds me who I am, and Whose I am.

Just as I see the sun rising, early Scripture meditation shift my eyes to Sun of Righteousness. I often find healing at dawn and light for my journey as I quiet myself before Love. Truth steadily corrects faulty conclusions, give information and motivation to reorder my steps, all the while reminding me of God's amazing presence.

I remember years of waking to find my mother already in her chair reading her Bible. If I was available, she would recruit me to listen and then pray with her. If I happened to sleep late, I would find her infused with life as she braided worship and work while singing hymns and choruses in her kitchen and garden.

 

If you are just beginning to start a regular time with the Lord and God's Word, here are some suggestions.

1. Start short and regular. That is, unless you have lots of time and you are hungry to experience God.
You need to decide how much time is realistic. In your morning routine, can you find 5 minutes? Ten? Half an hour? You will probably have to reorder your priorities and routine? Perhaps your long cup of coffee with the morning paper might become a long cup of coffee with the Scriptures and a notebook.

2. Choose your focus. Are you going to read a book from the Old or New Testament? Or a passage from a devotional aid (like The Upper Room, My Utmost for His Highest, or many others)? You might check suggestions in a recent post, Pointers for Focus. 

3. Initial Invitation. Before you read that God-breathed and living book (See 2 Timothy 3:16. Also see previous post, Pointers for Focus), invite the Holy Spirit, Lord of the Scriptures, to 'open your eyes so you can see wonderful things in God's Word' (see Psalm 119: 18).

4. Attentiveness. After your prayer for illumination, as you read the passage, watch for the Spirit's spotlights on the text, jot a few insight or application notes in a notebook, then close in prayer. Five to seven minutes is a good start. (I will do a brief blog later on the lectio divina.)

5. Components are prayer, reading, meditation, and praying the scripture or insight back to God. There are many ways to approach each of those. Singing to God will often pull the Holy Spirit's joy to walk alongside into the day. If you are pressed for time, humming or belting out a praise song as you finish dressing or during your commute can put the day's plans into perspective.

4. Relationship. Remember, this is about relationship, so while I'm sharing suggestions that I've found helpful, it's most important that you find YOUR method or rhythm. Striving to achieve brownie points gets to be a pain in the neck. But reading and responding because Life is being stirred within brings peace not only in the neck, but the whole body!

5. Prayer. I've referenced the ACTS accrostic in previous posts. Consciously including elements of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication, might help you move away from natural preoccupation with yourself and your problems. Various types of prayer remind us how big God is, cleans our hearts to prepare for more of His presence, and reveals God's abundant gifts. All of these develop wisdom and confidence as we speak to our heavenly Father.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle-wonders (Psalm 119:18, Message).

What goals are realistic to nurture my morning time with my Creator?

Is there one suggestion I can use? Another I can share to help someone else?

Regular Challenge

We commonly battle being consistent with our "quiet times," "devotions,"  "time with the Lord," or whatever name we use for time alone with the God of the Scriptures. Developing this holy habit has its challenges.

We sit and the phone rings, or we think of the phone call we forgot to make. We excuse ourselves for just a minute while we quickly complete a task. Once out of our quiet place, unwashed dishes and unfinished jobs seemed to have signs "You could finish this quickly. Now."

Then if we have little ones at home, we hear "Mom... Mom... Mom." Chubby hands pull our jeans and innocent faces pull our eyes away from focused time where we learn God's ways.

As a single person then later a mother of young children, I was often frustrated by not having a regular quiet time, then when I finally sat to open my bible, distractions kept popping up, keeping my eyes darting and my heart hostage.

I found help from many others who walked ahead of me. I will share ideas I found in the next blog. Meantime, perhaps you can share what you've learned too.




For Your Consideration

Is there any thing that keeps you from meeting regularly with the Savior? What practical steps might you take to overcome it?

What have you found that helps you have a consistent devotional life? What works for you? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Desperation

Feeling desperate is awful. Lonely. Scary.

Yet, as I've experienced the fruit that desperation can bear, I'm more easily able to thank God for how He will use my situation to transform me. So, by the grace of God, desperation is a door to a wider place.

Currently, in my circle of acquaintances, there are several people who are feeling desperate.

Death, economic pressure, job loss, personal failure, anger, fear, feeling out of control... these are some of the pressures we face. These are hard situations, not easy to solve.

I remember when I was a young mother. My husband was gone many days and evenings with his new job, and I, hundreds of miles from my family, was trying to be a good mother. I was doing a good enough job, but in my eyes, I was failing miserably. No matter how much resolve I mustered, I could not seem to be the even keeled mother I wanted to be.

During that time I became depressed, which, in turn, made me aware of my need for someone wiser to help me sift through the important things, and let the unimportant blow away. I was sweating the small stuff as I juggled being a young wife and mom in a new community with a yet undeveloped support group. In addition, in my public life I was trying to be the pastor's wife I thought I should be -- no small demand.

I cried out to God from the depths of my being. And God heard me.

"My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge" Psalm 62:7-8, NIV.


This was a good time to trust Him. As I poured out my heart to God, Mercy led me to a book, Women Who Do Too Much,(Zondervan,1992) by Patricia Sprinkle. God used it to pry me out of a rut and see my situation with new eyes. Then Grace lead me to Hosea 12:10 which helped till and water my fallow ground. I knew I had to camp there for a while, so I memorized the verse. The repetition and focus helped me absorb its truth.

"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you" Hosea 12:10.

From ground freshly prepared by desperation's vulnerability, I reaped a more consistent time with the Lord. No longer was it a good thing. It had become necessary: like breath for life or rain for parched ground. That was the lesson. And that led me to a daily, transforming interaction with the Word of God.

It was an opportune time to seek the Lord, and as I did, God came to me with soothing showers.

For Your Consideration
Is it hard to admit you are desperate?

Can you identify good fruit that God has grown out of your desperation?

Because you know God's love and mercy will bring good out of it, would you pause and thank God for a difficult situation? (Romans 8:28)