How to Know if You’re Growing Your Faith the “Right Way”

Inside: How to know if you are doing your quiet time the “right” way.

Quiet time with God is something that needs to happen if we are going to grow spiritually. But often we aren’t sure what we need to include.

Our hearts desperately want to grow closer to God but our heads aren’t sure what that needs to look like. We have questions like:

• Do I need to always pray on my knees?
• Is there only one Bible translation that’s okay to read?
• What’s the right length of time for my daily devotions?

What is the right way to do this quiet time thing!

 

What Does “Quiet Time” Even Mean?

Before we go any further, let’s take a moment to talk about what “quiet time” is. 

when I say quiet time, I’m talking about daily devotions, or a time every day that you’re going to spend with God for spiritual growth. That usually includes some form of Bible reading or study and prayer. It can include other things too, but those are the two that I tend to focus on.

Is there just one way to get it right?

Nope!

Do whatever works for you. There is no one way to do your Bible study. There is no one way to read your Bible. There is no one way to pray.

I understand the frustration. When I was growing up I only saw people pray in a certain way. When I went to church, the people were on their knees, they were speaking in tongues, they were singing and groaning and moaning. At home, my own mom prayed in a very similar way.

I didn’t know anything else. For the longest time, I thought that was the only way to pray.

When you want to do something else …

As I got older, I had some problems with what I thought was the norm.

If I tried to be on my knees to pray, I would fall asleep. To be 100% honest with you, I still fall asleep if I try to pray that way. But I had in my mind that it was the only way because it was what I saw.

We all tend to copy what we see other people around us doing, and that’s great. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that.

But sometimes it just doesn’t work for us, and there’s no need to feel guilty or feel bad about it. That doesn’t mean that you’re doing it wrong.

Which Bible translation should you read?

When I was growing up, my church and my mom used the King James Bible. My mom still uses it. As a kid, she bought me a King James Precious Moments Bible. 

I cannot read the King James Bible. It doesn’t make sense to me. I get hung up on all the “thee’s, thou’s, ‘eths” etc. For the longest time, I hated reading my Bible. So I didn’t read it.

Until I was in middle school and someone gifted me an NIV student Bible. I thought, “Oh my goodness! I can understand this! I can read this. I’m not stumbling over the words.” 

That really opened up a way for me to enjoy reading my Bible. I was able to start studying it.

It’s okay to think outside of the box

If you are driving to work in the morning, you obviously can’t be on your knees with your face on the ground and pray, because you would crash.

You can pray however it works for you.

• Walk around and pray
• Journal and pray
• Sing songs as prayer
• Pray a prayer that somebody else has written

It doesn’t really matter as long as you pray!

God is not hung up on the mechanics and things about how you are approaching Him and how you are seeking Him and trying to get to know Him. He just wants you to spend time with Him. That’s it.