Foundations
Intentional, alone time spent with God — through His word, worship, prayer, and listening.
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.
Getting Started
Take turns reading each of these verses out loud:
A "quiet time" is simply intentional, alone time spent with God. In the midst of His busy life and ministry, Jesus often withdrew to spend time alone with the Father. Since Jesus is our model, our desire should be to do the same.
In fact, Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that God Himself takes great delight in His people and rejoices over us with singing! So spending time with God is also a response to His desire to be with us.
Reflect
What's your current experience with spending time alone with God? Is it something you do regularly, or is this idea new to you?
Why do you think God desires regular time with us? Why should we want to spend time with Him?
Four Disciplines
As the verses above show, we spend time with God through His word, worship, prayer, and listening. Here's just one example of how to spend an hour alone with God:
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name."
Start with worship to position your heart rightly before God. Put on some worship music and sing out loud, read the Psalms, or praise God in your own words. Recall the goodness of God in your life, declare His character, and respond in praise!
👉 If you need some help finding worship songs, check out this playlist here!
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
Spend time reading the Bible. If you don't know where to begin, start with a reading plan so you know what to read each day! We need to renew our minds daily in God's Word. Just as Hebrews 4:12 says, when we read the Bible, it examines our hearts, shapes us, and ultimately transforms us. God's Word is the daily bread we need to sustain us throughout the day.
👉 Check out the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan if you don't already have a plan!
"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
Prayer is talking with God, as you would with a friend. This is a time to confess your sin to God, pray His Word over yourself and others, or give thanks for what He is doing in your life. Writing out your prayers is a great way to stay focused, and it allows you to look back and see how God has answered your prayers.
👉 Need help praying? Try using the A.C.T.S model.
"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
Just like any other relationship, our relationship with God goes both ways. God desires to speak to us — counsel, guidance, encouragement, and even exhortation or rebuke. Spend time in prayer waiting on God to respond, and write down what you feel like He's saying. If you have questions about what this looks like, ask your lifegroup leader!
Reflect
What are some of the biggest obstacles that keep you from consistently spending time with Jesus? What needs to change?
Out of Word, worship, prayer, and listening — which come most naturally to you? Which do you tend to skip? What would it look like to grow in those areas this week?
What questions or fears do you have about developing a daily quiet time?
The Aim
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.
Reflect
These passages warn against hearing God's Word without obeying it. How does that challenge the way you approach reading the Bible? What's one way you can obey what God is teaching you this week?
This Week
Choose a consistent time and place to meet with God this week.
Closing
Pray together.
