Having a Quiet Time with God

A quiet time, or devotion time, is an important part of a Christian’s daily walk with God. It’s an opportunity to spend time with God one-on-one through prayer, Bible reading, and worship. Daily quiet times can strengthen our faith, help us stand strong against sin, and learn to hear God’s voice. If you want to learn more about how you can have a quiet time, keep reading! I’ll share how you can have a quiet time and some tips for getting started below.

What is a Quiet Time?

A quiet time is a time of personal devotion to God. During a quiet time, you may choose to worship God, pray, read the Bible, or a combination of these things. Personal quiet times are important because it is vital for Christians to set aside time to spend with God daily. Being a Christian means being in relationship with God which means getting to know Him. A quiet time provides a time to study the Bible and truly learn the deep truths of our faith. It’s also a time to talk with God in prayer and learn how to follow the Holy Spirit. 

What to Do When You Meet with God

During a quiet time, you may choose to devote some time to pray and read the Bible. Personally, I choose to worship, pray, and read the Bible during my quiet times. I usually set aside 45 minutes to an hour. I divide the time up by spending about 20 minutes in worship, 10 minutes in prayer, and 15 minutes reading the Bible. Some Christians may choose to only read the Bible during their quiet time or may just seek God in prayer. It isn’t a requirement that you have to do your quiet time exactly the way I do. I simply wanted to provide an example.  

You may also decide to spend more or less time in a quiet time. On the weekend, I usually spend an hour to an hour and a half in a quiet time. When life gets hectic or when I’m visiting family, I may only have 20-30 minutes. It’s okay if you only have a little bit of time. Care giving or going through a stressful life event may mean that you don’t have as much time to spend with God. This is normal and even expected. What’s important is that you try your best to set aside time for God and develop the discipline to spend time with God when you have it. 

Tips on How to Spend Time with God

Tip #1: Set Aside Regular Time for God

Setting aside time for God will make it easier for a quiet time to become a daily part of your life. I’ve stated this in other blogposts, but I personally believe in having time with God in the morning. It sets the tone for the day, helps you to focus on God throughout the day, and allows you an opportunity to meet with God when you are mentally at your best. I do understand, however, that there are many people who cannot meet with God in the morning. The most important thing is to set aside regular time in your day to meet with God.

Tip #2: Prepare Ahead of Time

I really wish that I lived in a home where I could have a dedicated prayer closet. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment and space is scarce. I often do my quiet times in my living room. What does help me to set the tone for a quiet time is having the proper tools at my disposal. I regularly use my trusty Fire Bible, a playlist of worship songs, and a journal to record important prayers. These are the tools I use most often, but I also have prayer cards, a Bible history guide, a book that provides common scriptures for God’s promises, and access to multiple commentaries and translations of the Bible.

If I’m studying a particular topic or passage of scripture, I may use one or more of these tools or other tools. I keep these items within reach on my desk and bookshelf so that I can easily get to them. There are many kinds of tools that you can use for prayer and reading the Bible. It’s important to find ones that work for you and keep them where you can quickly find them when spending time with God.

Tip #3: Free Yourself of Distractions

Choose a time or place free of distraction for your quiet time. You’ll need to be able to focus on God to get the most out of your time. Occasionally, when I’m stressed or worried, I’ll start my quiet time in prayer to bring those things to God so that I’m distraction free for the rest of my quiet time. I also keep a list of chores and write down anything that comes to mind so that I can refocus on God. Lastly, I’ll sometimes ask the Holy Spirit to help me focus. 

Tip #4: Develop Discipline

It’s important to make your quiet time a daily routine and stick with it. There will be times of distraction and times when you simply don’t feel like doing it, but you’ll have to learn to push through those things to spend time with God. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a desire to spend time with God and commit to spending time with Him daily even if it requires a sacrifice. 

You will also need discipline for those days when your quiet time isn’t perfect. Being tired, facing interruptions, or not feeling well may make it difficult to have a quiet time. It’s important to develop the discipline to bounce back and keep pursuing God even when your routine is disrupted.

Tip #5: Don’t Rely on Your Emotions

The biggest mistake you can make with a daily quiet time is to think that every quiet time will end with an emotional high. While there are times when we will definitely feel close to God, there are also times when we won’t. This means that we can’t just rely on our emotions to decide on whether a quiet time is beneficial or not. I will say this—over my Christian life I’ve noticed that having a quiet time is similar to switching from drinking lots of sugary drinks to water. You don’t realize just how thirsty you were until you are properly hydrated. I can often feel when I haven’t spent time with God. There’s a sort of thirstiness in my soul. That doesn’t mean that I feel like having a quiet time every single day. 

In fact, there have been times in my life where I didn’t feel close to God because I was actually out of sync with God’s plan for life. Our hearts, according to the Bible, are deceitful and can’t always be trusted (Jeremiah 17:9). It’s important to be disciplined, as stated above, and to learn to trust God—not ourselves. You may not always feel like something significant happened during your quiet time, but you can trust that God is at work. His word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11), and He is always listening to our prayers and speaking to those who would hear Him. 

Do you have a daily quiet time routine? Please share below!