| Tips for Quiet Times
by Rhoda Pickens
These are not Biblical commands (though many are based on Biblical principles) but suggestions from experience!
• Do it in the morning - before bed = too sleepy or go to sleep, other times = too many things on mind & too many interruptions & too many other things to do, though some people may find it works fine for them last them at night or at another time which is OK if that is the case
• Make it into a daily habit - then you do it even if you don't feel like it - the Devil's against it
• Structure everything else in your life around it, not the other way around - that's because it's the most important thing you can do - & if you have a right relationship with God, He will help with all the other stuff eg. plan ahead to go to bed not too late and set alarm early if you are on holiday somewhere, or figure out other things like for example not eating past 9.30pm, going to bed more or less the same time each night even if it means missing out on some stuff .
• Set a length of time - you can start with 10 minutes, then you feel like you've accomplished something, then if you want to make it longer you can, and you won't be weighed down by the guilt of constantly thinking you should have done more
• Work out what your problems are and then pray about them and try and solve them - I used to be able to wake up with my alarm but I'd often switch it off and go back to sleep, so then I used two alarms, both of them I had to get up to switch off - it still didn't work. Then I laid all my clothes out the night before and put them at the other end of the room right next to the alarm so that I would put them on - it still didn't always work, so then I prayed really hard the night before that God would help me to get up the next morning, and usually if I did all those things I would manage to get up. Also make sure you are getting enough sleep - if you find it really hard to get up all the time, then you may need to go to bed earlier or set a later getting up time to allow yourself more time to sleep.
• Make sure you're concentrating - it is best to be alone, with no distractions or noise, and awake - I have sometimes found myself going to sleep during it, so I started having a cup of coffee every morning while I was doing it, or having a shower before it rather than afterwards.
• Apply the Bible to your life and learn from it - it's easy to read it as a duty and not get anything from it - think what does this mean, what is the author trying to get across, what can I learn from this eg. what could you apply to your life & learn about from these two verses (just picked at random!) 2 Thess 1:11-12
• we should be praying for other Christians as Paul did
• We should pray a lot for them (constantly)
• we should pray that God would count them worthy of His calling ie. They would be what he wants them to be & would please Him
• we should pray that God will fulfil every good purpose of theirs, eg. one good purpose that you have might be to work hard in school to get the job that you want - can pray that God would fulfil that
• Our aim should be to glorify Christ
• God is gracious
• Use the Bible to pray - that way you apply the Bible to your life, and also pray about God's will & if you ask anything according to God's will it will be done for you, also if you stuck on what to pray about then you use things in the Bible eg. what could you find to pray about in this passage 2 Thess 1:11-12.
• pray for help to pray more for others
• pray that we would pray the right things for others
• actually pray these things for Christians that we know
• thank God that He is gracious
• pray that we would glorify Christ in everything we do
• Make a prayer list - this requires effort, but it's worth it, because it means it's easier to keep your mind on what you're praying for, and also you can persevere in the same prayers - and sometimes God doesn't say yes to a prayer the first time - only the tenth time. Also be specific in what you pray for so that God can answer it. So rather than saying "Bless my day today", you could say "Give me an opportunity to witness to someone about you and help me to have the courage to use it!"
• Have a systematic way of reading the Bible - If you're stuck on what to read in the Bible, you could pick a book and go through it, keeping a bookmark in it, or you could use a reading calendar. The one I have used for years is Robert Murray MCheyne's 'Daily Bread' which takes you through the Old Testament once a year and the New testament and Psalms twice, in four chapters every day. I love using this method personally because I feel it gives me a 'balanced diet' - I see the justice of God and examples of life in the Old Testament, balanced with the depth of experience of the Psalms, and the practical commands and love of Christ in the New Testament (plus much more!). It also helps me to know my whole Bible well so that when questions come up I can know more easily where the answers lie. You can print the calendar from here if you want to try it. If you haven't read anything yet, start with John, and then familiarise yourself with the rest of the New Testament and Psalms before you start with the Old. If you just want to pick the Bible up at a different time in the day from your regular quiet time, the Psalms are always good just to flick through, and Proverbs is very useful for everyday life.
|
