So although I was having a private, personal, daily time alone of Bible Study, prayer, worship, and scripture memorization, Bill helped me with this. He also expected me to be involved with a local church. He would say, "Fellowship on campus is essential, but one day soon you’ll be done with college, and you’ll be out in the world, and the local church is where it’s happening." Plus it's a good way to meet girls -- I met my wife there.
The Daily Quiet Time, involvement in a local church, maintaining vital fellowship and strategic ministry in my life, these are my raindrops on roses, my whiskers on kittens, my brown paper packages tied up with string. This is the stuff I learned in college when I wasn’t learning psychology.
1. Start slowly
The important thing, like with exercise, is to be consistent. It’s more important to do it regularly than to do a lot at once. Naturally, if you decide to take extra time because you get swept up in visions of rapture bursting on your sight you’ll want to run with it. But keep it manageable. When I started having daily time with God, I found the devotional Our Daily Bread at a church I visited, and started with just ten minutes in the morning.
2. KISS – Keep it Simple, Stupid (Did I really just say that?)
Like 1 above, avoid being overly ambitious and growing discouraged before you even get out of the gate. A little Bible reading and prayer go a long way. We’ll talk more about this later. But for now, just a chapter a day is huge. Starting in the New Testament with one of the gospels gets you right to Jesus in a hurry. I am partial to Luke, but they’re all the Word of God of course.
I caution against starting in Genesis thinking you’ll read through the Bible. Leviticus has claimed the lives of many neophyte Bible readers. Save it for later. The book of Hebrews made no sense to me for years and now it’s one of my favourite books.
3. Pray
When I first started I felt self-conscious and as if I was talking to the walls. You’ll get over that. Be specific and really say the words. You receive not because you ask not. If you ask for airy fairy things you will get airy fairy answers. If you ask God to help your friend overcome his pornography addiction, you know what to look for, answer-wise. If you say the words out loud (or even mouth them) it will help you stay focussed and to be specific. I take advantage of my wandering mind by praying for the things my mind wanders to – it is those things about which I am most anxious.
4. ACTS
The Lord’s Prayer is a great model for prayer and a great prayer to pray (there’s a reason it’s in the Bible after all). It was Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Another way to keep your priorities straight is to pray the ACTS acronym: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (requests).
ü Adore God by singing one or two of your favourite worship songs/hymns.
ü Confess your sins (again, be specific). Tell him anything that weighs down on your conscience.
ü Thank him, starting by thanking him for the forgiveness of those sins you just admitted to. That’s why Jesus died on the cross after all, to forgive the sins of everyone who trusts in Him.
ü Supplication – that’s a fancy word for making requests (see above).
5. Add to your tool box
As you grow, so will your appetite. The baby food you started with won’t satisfy. Your Quiet Times may grow restless, stale. God may be allowing your unsettledness to prompt you to grow more. Scripture memory, journaling (including keeping a prayer journal), using devotional tools like Our Daily Bread, My Utmost for His Highest, etc. can supplement your spiritual diet.
6. Be flexible.
Don’t worry if you miss a day. If you fall off your horse get back on. If you fall into sin, run back to God. He’s awesome for that. He came to save the sinners. It’s not the healthy who need the doctor but the sick. Don't beat yourself up if you miss a day or two.
Rock on, young Christian. Lord willing and the Fraser doesn’t rise, we’ll look at more stuff I learned in college from time to time.
[1] The Daily Quiet Time is Christian-ese. It’s jargon, an in-group code word that Christians sometimes use to describe the spiritual discipline of taking a few minutes each day to meet God alone. It usually involves prayer and Bible reading, and may include journaling, worship (like song singing and adoration), scripture memory, reading devotional materials, and work in the original languages, depending on your bent. I submitted this definition to the Urban Dictionary – let’s see if they use it!
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