Having your personal
devotions or your quiet time with God can be confusing to do,
especially if you're a new believer. And the reason why is because
there's not really a set way to do it. I mean, if you think
about it, our quiet time with God is just us taking the time
to build a relationship with Him. So that means that the way we all connect with God will
probably be a little different. However, just because we all have
different ways we can connect to God, there are specific steps that
should be applied for every believer. So if you're someone that
would like some guidance on how to spend your quiet time
with God, follow these seven steps. Step number one, create a
space for God. Matthew chapter 6 verse 6. "But you, when you pray, go into your
room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who
is in the secret place, and your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly." In this passage, Jesus
is teaching His disciples in the multitude how to
pray and how to connect to God. And then He tells them to shut their
door and to communicate with God privately. So the first thing
that I highly recommend for you to do is to set aside a
special place for you and God. For me and my best
friend, Johnny, one place we've built much of our
friendship was in his living room. And there we talk about
our relationships, watch anime, pray, confess our sins to
each other, and have communion. And in the same way that Johnny and
I have a thing, me and God have a thing. Most mornings, I'll wake
up and walk around the block of my neighborhood, and
thank God for yesterday's blessings. And I have a rug in my room where
I'll pray, and I'll have specific places in my room and in the
kitchen where I'll read my Bible. So for you, I highly
recommend you dedicating a special place with God where you can
build your relationship with Him. And maybe you can
pick a place in your backyard or a spot next to
your bed or the dining table. So remember, one of the
keys for having a devotional or quiet time is being
intentional about your time with God. And I find that having a specific
place that's solely given to God helps with building spiritual
strength and intimacy with our Father. Hey, real quick, did you know that
impact is actually in podcast form now? That's right. We're on
Apple Podcasts and Spotify. So you can listen to the audio
only versions of our content, including our whiteboard videos and our monthly
live streams that we do with the Q&A sessions. We hope you enjoy this stuff. We hope you visit it. Give it a five star rating. Give us a follow. All those fun things. And we hope you enjoy. God bless. Let's get back to the video. Step number two, choose a reading plan. Second Timothy, chapter three, verse 16. All scripture is inspired
by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us
realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are
wrong and teaches us to do what is right. In this passage, Paul is talking to
Timothy and is explaining that all scripture is inspired by God and
is able to teach us, correct us and give us
clarity on what's right and wrong. On top of that, Ephesians chapter
six, verse 17 tells us that God's word is the sort of the spirit that helps
us to fight our spiritual battles. So if in these two passages we learn
that God's word can teach us what's true and right, can correct us
if we're wrong and can give us the strength and power
to fight the battles of today, then mastering God's word must be
something all Christians should work towards. And while mastering God's word can
sound intimidating to some, take small steps. And those small steps
typically look like a reading plan that'll get you to read the
Bible in a certain amount of time. A common one I hear is reading four
chapters of the Bible a day, where you read three chapters in the Old
Testament and one chapter in the New Testament. And if you hold to the
schedule, you can finish the Bible in a year. I've also heard that some people
think that's too much reading for a day, so they do two chapters a day and
finish reading the Bible in two years. For others, they like reading the
Bible like a regular book and will read Genesis to Revelation and will read
at their own pace until they finish. For me, I try to read two chapters a
day, and for one chapter I'll read quickly, and in the other chapter I'll really take my time and take
notes on what I'm learning. So if you're someone who really has no
idea where to start, I'd recommend you start by reading one chapter a day
and begin by reading the Gospel of John. And once you're done
with that, read the other books in the New Testament
until you've read the entire thing. And for more details on how to read
the Bible in a deeper way, please check out our How to Study the
Bible series where we have a beginner,
intermediate, and advanced level. And for all you
people waiting for the advanced level, it'll be
releasing in the next few weeks. But all that to say, pick
a reading plan and stick to it. Because in the same way that a soldier
or police officer can't be ready to fight to their full potential without
their weapon, neither can Christians. So we must take steps to
cling to God through His Word. Step number three,
grow in your prayer life. Matthew chapter
six, verses nine to thirteen. In this passage, Jesus is
teaching His disciples how to pray. And the prayer we see here is
commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. It's important to note, though, that
this prayer is not meant to be mindlessly repeated because in the verses right
before this one, Jesus said, "Don't pray using vain repetitions where you
repeat things over and over again." And the reason why is because God values having an authentic
relationship with His kids. And us praying automatic
prayers isn't all that sincere. Prayers like, "Dear Jesus, thank you
for this food in your name we pray. Amen." I mean, imagine if you have a child
and you worked hard to prepare their meal for them, and each and
every time you did that, they responded automatically, "Thank
you for this meal. I really appreciate it." You'd probably start thinking
that they didn't actually mean it. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't
repeat prayers, but what I am saying is to really think about what you're
praying and to consider if you actually mean it. So going back to the
Lord's Prayer, I refer to it as a list of
things that I need to pray for. So to begin my prayer,
I'll say, "Our Father in heaven." And I'll own the
fact that God is my Father and that He is in
heaven and deserves my respect. So I'll use this time to thank
God my Father for what He's given me. After this, I'll pray I'll
live be your name, and then I'll start thinking about the
names of God and who He is to me, how He's my shepherd, my
King, the Lord of Lords, and my friend. And depending on the book of the Bible
I'm reading, I'll remind myself that my God is the God of Joseph or of Moses or Paul. After I'll pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven." So once I get here, I
think about everything I need to do for the day, and
then I'll dedicate them to God. I'll think about my meetings, my work
responsibilities, and my feelings, and I'll ask God for direction on what His will is regarding all these
things that I'm about to do. Once I'm done with that, I'll
pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." And before I pray for my needs,
I'll pray for my girlfriend's needs. And I'll ask for her
protection, her direction, and any support that
she may need for the day. And then I'll go through
my schedule again and ask God for wisdom, strength,
and help for the tasks at hand. And it's here that I'll also pray
for my unsaved friends and family, and for my Japan mission team, and
I'll pray for my family and friends. Once I'm done asking
God for my needs, I'll pray, "Forgive me my sins, as I
forgive those who sinned against me." And here I'll ask God to bring to
my attention anything that I've done wrong. And most of the time
it's very apparent where I've messed up, and I'll ask God
for forgiveness for my mess-ups. And then I'll take
the time to think of all the people who wronged me
and I feel bitter towards, and I'll ask God to help me forgive
them if there's anyone I'm struggling to love. Once that's done,
I pray, "Lead me not into temptation, but
deliver me from the evil one." And I'll ask God to help
me where I feel weak in my life. So I'll ask God to
help me not to do things in my strength, and to help me in
my lust, and to help me in my pride. And finally I'll pray for yours is the
kingdom, the power, the glory forever. Amen. And once I get here, I'll
remember that my life is all about God. My life is all about serving God's
kingdom, by God's power, and for God's glory. It's not my kingdom, my power, my glory. So I'll finish my
prayer by surrendering myself to God, and to remember
that I am his servant and his son. So that's part of my prayer routine, and sometimes it can take
as little as five minutes, and other times it
can take over half an hour. And sometimes I'll be
on my rug praying, or I'll be walking while I pray, or
I'll be journaling these prayers. So all that to say, I would
encourage you to really focus on your prayer life, and think about how
you can grow deeper in it. And the reason why I focus on the Lord's Prayer when praying is
because in Luke 11, verse 1, Jesus' disciples asked Jesus how to pray, and Jesus responds
to them with this prayer. So if this is what
Jesus' answer was to prayer, it's something I want to always
use as I try to connect with God. And since it helped
guide me, I hope it guides you too. Step number four, know
what you're applying for the day. Matthew chapter 7, verse 24. "Therefore, whoever hears these
sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who
built his house on the rock." In this passage, Jesus is
still teaching his Sermon on the Mount, and as he finishes, he closes with the lesson of the man who
built his house on the rock. And Jesus taught that a
man who hears God's Word and does it is just like a
man who built his house on a rock. And then he says if a
man just hears God's Word, but doesn't take any steps to
actually do anything that God commands, is just like a man who
built his house on the sand. And it's important to note that
the man who built his house on the sand, while he was able
to build his house quicker than the man who
built his house on the rock, his house could not
stand against the storms that came, and it led to the
destruction of all that he built. So for you, you must remember that in
the same way that it's hard to keep digging to find the rock
or foundation for a house, it's hard to apply God's
Word, especially if the commands are to love God first above
all else or to love your enemies. So note, if you want
your house or life to have enough strength for the
storms and trials in the future, you need to apply
God's Word. Remember the reading plan that we talked about before? Do not just read to read and
leave once you're done reading for the day. You see, before you
finish your quiet time, you need to identify what
you can apply for the day. Because if you don't know
how God's Word will affect your day, you run the risk of living a life
like the man who built his house on the sand. So if you really struggle to find an
application for God's Word after you read it, I highly recommend
that you learn the acronym "Spectrum," and I
developed it in order to help students find scripture
applications, and I cover this acronym in our video "How to
Study the Bible, Beginner Level." But all that to say, when following your reading plan, keep
reading or rereading your chapter until you know how
it can affect your life. My suggestion is to not
finish your devotion until you have your
marching orders for the day. Step number five, respond to God in love, Romans chapter 5 verse 8. In this passage, Paul tells the
Roman church that God showed his love for us by sending his son Jesus to die
for us despite the fact that we're sinners. So this is
important. When you have your quiet time, don't do it
just because you want to be a good Christian that
reads the Bible and prays every day. Instead,
do it because you want to connect to the God who
loves you. Honestly, praying can be very difficult
for me, especially if I feel unmotivated. So to
help with that, I just start thanking God for what
he's given me, and I start thanking God for
his blessings, and I start realizing how much God
loves me, and that reminds me that I love God, and that
I do want to talk to him. And that needs to be
our motive as we read and pray. God is our friend
and our king who died for us and loves us, and
by focusing on those truths empowers us to
overcome feelings of obligation that says we need to
pray and read. And the reason why this is so
important is because those things that we do to try to
connect to God can actually turn into something
that can cause distance between us and God. For
example, a husband can work a job, pay for rent, help
with the groceries, and even cook for his
wife. But without love for her, this man is nothing
more than a roommate who shares the same living space.
And let's say this wife feels disconnected to her
husband and asks him, "Do you love me?" To which the
man responds, "Well, I'm doing all these things for
you, aren't I?" The point I'm trying to make is
that our prayer and reading, while they are good
things, they must be done out of love in order
for them to actually help your relationship with God. Step number six, make it a
habit to connect to God every day. Luke chapter five verse 16. So he himself often
withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. In this passage, we have a small peek into the private life of Jesus. And we see here that Jesus
often disconnected from everyone in order to pray to his father in heaven. And this is where I
wanna highlight the word often. You see, Jesus being God the son, full of power and strength, still relied upon God the
father for help and direction. And if that's the case with Jesus, how much more should we rely upon God for help with the problems of the day? So as an encouragement to you, I highly suggest you make it a point to do your quiet time with God daily. And I understand that we can be busy and feel like we lack time. But I'm sure a lot of
us can look at the screen time on our phones and see
that we may actually have more time than we realize. The reality is that
we all have time for God. But many times we just
choose not to make him a priority. Because if something
is absolutely important to us, I know we'd make the time to do it. I remember long ago,
I was having the worst day and I felt defeated, exhausted, and I remember that I did
not read my Bible that morning. And at the end of the day, I finally found time and read my chapter. And once I was done, I remember feeling frustrated and upset because if I knew what I just read at the beginning of my day, my day would have been a lot better and I would have
saved myself a lot of stress. And I felt God lean into me that day. And I felt him
say, "I wanted to help you. "This is why you
need to stay close to me." Going back to Ephesians 6, verse 13, Paul tells believers to
put on the whole armor of God so that they can stand in the evil day. So an observation I'd like to make is, not all days are equal. Some days are evil
and are filled with trial, tears, hardship, and
opportunities to fail in sin. And should we skip
our quiet time with God, we may end up doing so at our own peril. And step number seven,
learn how others follow God. Ephesians chapter four, verses 11 to 12. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, and pastors and teachers for the equipping of the
saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. In this passage, Paul
is telling the Ephesian church how Jesus gave
some people to be apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip the
church so that they can serve and so that they can be built up. For me, I'm a teacher, and
I know God put me in this position so I can help
encourage Christians to follow God. Some people in the
past have called me pastor, but the reality is that I'm not a pastor and I'm not ordained by a church. So my advice to you
is don't just listen to me when it comes to having your quiet time. I'm just one of many people that you can potentially learn from. There's pastors, other teachers, evangelists, and prophets and apostles that God has blessed us with. Actually, much of
the advice I'm giving you is just knowledge
that was passed down to me from my mentors that helped raise me. So if you find a
strong Christian that you respect, I'd encourage you
to ask them how they pray and how they read so you
can potentially learn from them. And the reason why this is important is because throughout my life, my personal devotions
have changed countless times and mostly because
I like changing things up. But learning new ways and methods to follow God from other people may act as fresh
perspective that can bring new life to you. Okay, so if you're
wondering what you should incorporate in your personal quiet time with God, remember these seven steps. Create a space for
God, choose a reading plan, grow in your prayer life, know what you're applying for the day, respond to God in love, make it a habit to
connect to God every day, and learn how others follow God. So I hope this helps you. And as you draw near to God in the quiet, I hope you do so
knowing that Jesus loves you.