Give Me Jesus
Quiet Time – essential to Discipleship, yet those 2 words are enough to make us all cringe. In a world full of demands and urgency for immediate answers, reasons, actions…, quiet time is a bit of a joke, an inconvenient joke.
But like I’ve said before, quiet time is crucial to your daily maturity in Christ. Quiet time allows you to swim against the current; stop and you will be swept downstream. I could dedicate an entire new blog on the essential purpose of quiet time, in addition to an entire blog on my personal failures in quiet time. But today isn’t about those two things, it is about my personal quiet time now.
My personal quiet time has changed. When I think I find a way, my life changes and I have to struggle to find a new way. And now in adulthood, I think I’ve mastered my current needs (wait until marriage, then kids…you’ll be entertained by a new blog).
I don’t think this is any sort of new information, if I say, “I hate reading.” Kind of ironic the Word of God is in written form. I have also endured 16 hours in my grandparents’ car listening to audio books with my eyes closed and headphones in, so listening to the Bible is also not an option. Also, most of you know, I have close to zero reading comprehension skills. Let’s just say my quiet time is strategic and tailored for me. I want to share this with you, not because this is the “right” way, but to inspire you to find something that works for you and give you resources (lots of resources).
I live with a special education teacher that enjoys reading. In her evaluation of my reading issues, stated above, she concluded, “You need to find high interest reading material, B.” This is the first step in my quiet time. I don’t understand what I’m reading in the Bible (shout-out to the Old Testament), and the constant distraction of looking up every other thing keeps my comprehension at a minimum. I need a devotional or Bible Study book that walks me through it. I need a “high interest” guide – whether it is a theme of life (love, busy-ness, the mind, etc.) or specified set of verses (Sermon on the Mount, Esther, etc.) – to get me through my quiet time. If it is a book in Chapter form, instead of a devotional laid out by days, I read a chapter a day, generally.
To combat my comprehension issues, I read with a pen and a highlighter. I highlight verses to look up, sentences or quotes that stick out to me, or explanations of verses/words. I look up words I do not know and write their definitions in the margins (my poor mom, who has high vocabulary skills, get these books passed down to her). And then step two begins. I write everything I highlighted down in my journal. Like in school, writing things down helps your memory.
Any verses that I highlighted or were discussed in the devotional, I read (or re-read). And now the fun begins…
For every verse I read I answer three questions (in my journal):
1.) Facts: What does it say? I tend to write bullet points because that’s how I process things, but I almost write word-for-word.
2.) Lessons: What does it mean? To keep focused, I look back at my bullet points for part 1 and write what each one means (or combination of a few bullets).
3.) Listen: What does it mean for me? I usually answer this question with other questions like, “What would be different in your life if you_________?” or “Who are you do doubt God when______________?”
And then, I journal (step 3). My journal entries are usually prayers. I use the notes and verses to help form my prayers. I quote some of the lines or answer some of my questions in number 3. Most of my personal prayers (like sick relatives, co-workers, friends, etc.) happen off record afterwards.
“Because if I’m not careful the Better Part can get shoved so far to the side of the plate that it ends up on the floor rather than feeding my soul.”
--Joanna Weaver
I hope my quiet time routine inspires you to grow in the Better Part in your life. Follow the link at the bottom to the “Resources” page to find a list of references to help you better your quiet time (or get started) with reviews/thoughts on each of them.
