Quiet Times are Not Just for the Super Spiritual
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The year was 1992 and I was super young in the faith. I was still processing through all of the church words…justification, sanctification, glorification, transformation, propitiation, etc. (And I am so sad to say that I find myself now using these words around non-believers. It was a foreign language to me back then.)
I was still trying to identify what was right and what was wrong. Drinking? Cursing? R-rated movies? Music selection?
And above all else I was trying to figure out what in the world does the Sunday school teacher mean when she says we need to have a quiet time. I heard her say you need to read your Bible, pray and maybe journal (is that like a diary?) but couldn’t see it. That is until I went to a women’s gathering in someone’s home and I saw for the first time someone model a quiet time….literally. The light bulb went off and I understood how to have a quiet time.
On Friday the 15th, I am going to do a short webinar on how to have a quiet time. But before that, here are three reasons why you need to start a quiet time habit:
1. It takes your Christianity from an experience to a relationship
2. It empowers you to walk in the power of the Spirit
3. It allows you to cast all your cares on the One Who cares for you
If the statistics are current, the majority of church attenders do not pray, read their Bibles or worship God from one Sunday worship service to the next. If that is the case you do not really have a relationship with Jesus you have a weekly experience in a building with others. And that experience is not all that it can be because you do not encounter God Monday through Sunday. Like any relationship, you have to spend time with one another to truly have a meaningful connection. A quiet time will allow you to develop that relationship.
As you spend time reading the Word of God in your quiet time, the Holy Spirit of God – the very power that raised Jesus from the dead – is stirred up. I am sure there is a more theological word for that but all I know is that when I read His Word or listen to His Word, my soul is stirred and I am empowered to do what He has called me to do. It is not really a feeling because many times I have not felt like being obedient yet I did it because I was almost compelled to do it. God’s grace is manifested through the reading of His Word and this grace is not a fuzzy, blue blanket you throw over sin but a tangible presence. A quiet time allows you to access that power.
As you pray to God (and for me I have to do this via journaling because I can be so distracted), you are able to lay all your cares before Him. No mask is necessary. No filter is required. Just raw emotions and worries to the only One who can truly do something about the care. And what I have found is that the very act of casting my cares provides peace to my soul. The care still exists but by handing it off to God, I no longer need to carry it. A quiet time allows you to release that burden.
So, why not start having a quiet time now? Like today? Like in the next 15 minutes? Just start reading your Bible and John 1 is a great place to start. Also, you can join me on Friday the 15th at 11 am EDT as I walk through my quiet time. Sign up here to be a part.
