How To Have a Daily Quiet Time
Pastor Errol Hale
The great men of God in the Bible shared something in common. Each of them spent a good deal of time regularly with God...getting to know Him.
MOSES Another busy man who had time for God. Exodus 34:2 says, "So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on top of the mountain." It was from meetings like this that Moses gained the wisdom and strength to lead over two million Jews on a forty year hike through the Sinai Desert.
DAVID He knew God well because he spent much time in His presence. The book of Psalms is largely a diary of David's quiet times with God. In Psalm 5:3 this warrior-king reveals his daily pattern. "Morning by morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests beforeYou and wait in expectation."
DANIEL Prime minister of an empire. Undoubtedly much busier than you or me. If anyone could have said, "I don't have time to meet with God," it was Daniel. Yet he met with God three times daily. "...he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days." says Daniel 6:10.
Daily fellowship with God. Vital to the Christian life, it is called many things: quiet time, devotions, morning watch. But to live an effective Christian life, all Christians need to draw on the strength, wisdom and guidance of Jesus Christ. This we do as we take time to get to know Him personally.
But what is the quiet time, when should we have one, and how do we have one?. A quiet time isn't something we do to equalize our sins. Nor is it those half-mumbled words we pray toward the ceiling to pacify God just before we pass out for the night. And it isn't an audience with a jolly Santa Claus God who we hope will empty a sack of presents down our chimney.
Quiet time is an opportunity to come to God as we are to get to know Him as He is.
FOUR THINGS A QUIET TIME CAN DO FOR YOU
First, it allows you to get your bearings each day. Where are you in relationship with God, with man and in your own heart? Are you on target in your Christian life? That is what David meant in Psalm 139:23,24 when he said,
"Search me, 0 God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Second, you can fix your course for the day, determine what you are going to do today and how the hours ahead can contribute to God's plan for your life.
Third, the quiet time is the chance it gives us to gain spiritual strength for the tasks and decisions of the day. Isaiah says,
"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31
Fourth and possibly most important, the morning time with God enables you to know more and more of Jesus Christ, His love for you and all that He wants to do in you, and through you.
WHEN SHOULD YOU HAVE A QUIET TIME?
Although the best time to meet with God has to be settled individually, the Scriptures offer considerable help in this matter. Many of God's men practiced meeting Him in the day's first hours, before that inevitable host of responsibilities hemmed them in.
