How to Make Quiet Time with God a Priority
Inside: Daily quiet time with God doesn’t have to be hard or stressful. Here are the best steps for how to make quiet time with God a priority so you can have a healthy prayer life and grow stronger in Bible study.
I hesitated for just one second before I walked into the living room. I wasn’t sure what kind of disaster waited for me around the corner.
My boys had been up for hours already and when they came in to ask for TV time I quickly said “Yes, just make sure you eat breakfast!” and hurried them out the door. That morning I woke up desperate for a few minutes with God and I knew that a cartoon would occupy them and give me some quiet to focus.
I closed my door and settled in for some uninterrupted time in prayer and God’s word. It was just what I needed. By the time I heard the closing theme song through the walls I was ready to face the day.
I had peace about my mile-long to-do list and I had spent a few minutes praying for some of my closet friends that were walking through a hard time.
As I entered the living room, I realized that I probably should have prayed for God to help me manage the mess that was waiting for me.
My boys did their best to contain the mess of milk and cereal for breakfast. I saw the placemats on the floor and a paper towel attempting to soak up the mess. I simply smiled, sent them to wash up and got to work cleaning up the spill.
I was so thankful for the time that I spent with God that the mess didn’t send me over the edge. I simply took the 5 minutes I was cleaning to pray a little longer.
I’ve learned over the years that I need to make quiet time with God a priority or it just won’t happen. Even if it means my boys veg out in front of the TV so I can make it happen.
What about you?
Do you know that you need to be more consistent with prayer and time spent reading your Bible? Do you long for a deeper and stronger faith but just don’t have the time to do one more thing?
All you need to focus on is doing the most important things first!
How to Make Quiet Time with God a Priority
1. Evaluate your time
Have you ever had to track your money before creating a budget? It’s a great way to actually see where your money is going so that you can figure out how to best steward your resources. You need to treat your time the same way. Take a week and jot down what you doing with your waking hours. You may be surprised by what you find.
It’s hard for us to see where we might be wasting time or not making the best use of our time. Having it on paper makes it easy to see that you spend way too much time on social media.
Have you ever fallen down the Pinterest rabbit hole (or binged on Netflix) for hours and then claimed you have no time for God?
You can also see if you are too busy. If you look at your time evaluation and there is no margin whatsoever, it’s time to start seeing what can you take off your plate.
Simply replace your time on Facebook or extra volunteer meeting with time spent with God.
2. Just Make Quiet Time with God a Priority
I have a friend that gets up at 4 and gets a bunch of stuff done. She prays, reads her Bible, works out and even works for a while before the rest of her family wakes up. I don’t believe in 4am. My house would have to be on fire for me to get up that early, LOL.
That kind of schedule just wouldn’t work for me. But she has committed to keeping God a priority and does what she needs to do. If 4am works for you, great!
If you’re like me and it doesn’t hope is not lost. Simply find a time that does work for you.
How? Through trial and error.
But remember to be reasonable. If you have a brand new baby, aren’t sleeping and can’t remember the last time you had a shower give yourself some grace. If you are in a crisis same thing. Give yourself permission to scale back to 15 minutes a day instead of an hour.
It’s still possible to have a close relationship with God in 15 minutes a day (or less) God is not watching the clock penalizing you for not spending enough time. He looks at your heart.
If all you have is 2 minutes while you hide from the kids in the bathroom God will honor that and bless you for it.
3. Get creative
Once you’ve done #1 and #2 sometimes you just have to get a little creative.
A few years ago I was spending the night at a friends house. When I woke up one morning I heard voices coming from her kitchen. At first, I thought that she was chatting with her hubby or kids but when I got in the kitchen I realized that she was listening to an audio Bible.
She was still serving her family and taking care of me and my boys (we still rave about those pancakes) but she was also getting her time in the Word.
I remember thinking what a wise woman she was for having a great idea (and what a wise person I was to choose her as a friend).
Think about a time during your day when you are folding laundry, washing dishes, preparing meals or even nursing a baby when you could be listening to the scripture. Where ever you are, God is there with you and you can have that time with him
- Praying in the car on your commute to work
- Listening to a sermon or worship music as you go for your morning run
- Watching a sermon or bible study on TV while your kids sit around you eating popcorn
God is creative! There is no one way to spend time with him. When you purpose in your heart to grow closer to God just pray and ask Him to show you how to make it happen.
Your time with God doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. God made you unique and special. So just make up your mind to do it, even if you have put your kids in front of the TV to make it happen.
