How to Plan your Quiet Time

Setting Up your appointment with Jesus

Have you ever tried to spend time in God’s word? Only to end up reading the same sentence over and over because your mind starts wondering and you don’t understand anything you read. Or have you tried to sit in his presence, only to start daydreaming or fall asleep? I’ve heard these instructions given numerous times, but I don’t remember anyone ever discussing what their quiet time looks like. Here, I’ll discuss how I structure my quiet time and things you may want to consider adding to yours. I don’t consider myself an expert, just someone being transparent and hoping to help someone in their walk with Jesus.

Walking with Jesus is a relationship, and in order for any relationship to grow, you must spend time together. I treat my time with Jesus just like any other meeting. I come with an agenda, my objective, to have an encounter with God.

The candle

 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 

Exodus 13:21

First, I light a candle. The type of candle doesn’t matter. I use any candle that I can find. Why light a candle? In the Bible, God frequently shows up as fire. So, when I light a candle, I am inviting him to show up and inhabit our time.

The prayer

I pray a carefully crafted prayer, written out of frustration. After, I had spent one too many quiet times feeling unfulfilled, distracted, and lost, not understanding what I was reading. I’d find myself daydreaming and further away from Jesus than when I started. So in my prayer, I ask God to limit the distractions during my quiet time, give me context for what I read and reveal to me what I need for the day. After all, he knows what today will bring. You can find the prayer here.

The verse

Sometimes it’s one verse, sometimes it’s more than one, sometimes it’s a chapter, it just depends. In my current season of life, I am almost always pressed for time, so it’s frequently less rather than more. I also vary whether I read it, or I listen to it. Then sometimes it’s part of a devotional and other times I just open my bible and go where I feel led. I have tried reading through the Bible in a year and I run out of steam in Exodus almost every time. This also doesn’t help my walk with Jesus as I feel super guilty if I miss a day. Then I am trying to catch up and make up for the day before instead of just showing up to hear from God.

The notebook

Again, nothing special. Just somewhere to write down what I feel God is downloading into me. Also, to write a prayer for God to help in certain areas based on the Bible verses I just read. I don’t always feel led to write something, so I might read and pray something I previously wrote.

The song

Any worship song that orients me to who the day belongs to. I have several playlist for this. This is the time to just let my mind wander and get lost in thinking about how great God is.

The place

I know you all are probably imaging that I am doing all of this while sitting in a comfy chair drinking my morning coffee. Guess again!! I try to exercise before coming to Jesus, because my body wakes up long before my mind. So, if I’m probably a sweaty mess. Also, I want my kids to see me meeting with Jesus, so we might switch up the order and I might listen to my bible verse and worship song while getting my kiddos ready in the morning.

Sometimes I get half way through and I hear the pitter patter of little feet, which means we have to get creative. Frequently, when this happens I find the prayer I wrote about God filling my house with tiny footsteps and I thank him for answering that prayer. I may not have gotten though all of Luke, I may have only gotten 5 minutes, but I invited Jesus into my day.

What does your quiet time look like? My sister’s involves 3 different books and a journal. My aunt’s normally takes place in the Home Depot parking lot on the way to work.

It doesn’t need to be pretty. You just need to be consistent. Set aside time to meet with him daily. Schedule it and make it a priority. Not out of routine, but out of necessity.

Of course this isn’t something that you should just copy and put in to practice as is. I mean you could, and it would be a great place to start. However, you likely need things that I don’t and other things wouldn’t mean as much to you, so it would be pointless for you to do. Just start somewhere and as your faith grows and your life changes, so will your quiet time.

Other things that you might want to add. Time for mediation to clear your mind. Or maybe you want to use the S.O.A.P. method. Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer. Here is a link to a site that will explain that method. The best place to start when beginning the walk is probably a devotional. Now, go set your alarm, plan your meeting, and enjoy your quiet time with Jesus. What you are doing doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you are showing up to meet with our savior daily. .