Brothers and Sisters,

A quiet time is elementary.  A quiet time is so elementary, so basic to the Christian life that perhaps some of us are embarrassed by the idea that we don’t have one.  Or we’re embarrassed by the idea that we don’t even know where to begin when contemplating our own quiet time with the Lord.  Maybe there are even some who don’t know what I mean by a “quiet time.”  Let me be as pushy and polite as I can be about the subject of a quiet time – you need to know what it is and you should have one regularly, perhaps even daily.

In his book, Improving Your Quiet Time, Simon J. Robinson defines a quiet time as “a part of the day we set aside for the worship of God, for the reading of the Word of God and for fellowship with God” (17).  That is a good definition, but if I may, I’d like to shorten it to a phrase I heard years ago.  A quiet time is simply taking time to “meet with God.” 

What does meeting with God involve?  It involves all of the things that involve meeting with a friend over a cup of coffee.  It involves speaking, listening, speaking some more, and listening some more.  It would be good if in the time you met with God you prayed, read God’s Word, prayed some more, and listen to some other believers instruct you in God’s Word.  Those, I think, are the basic elements of meeting with God.  It can be more complex, but I am a simple man. 

I think that believers need to meet with God through Bible reading and prayer because these are some of the principle means that God has told us he uses to shape and fashion us into the likeness of Christ.  I’m willing to use the word “need” because we need to grow in Christlikeness.

What might this meeting with God look like?  Let me encourage you to begin with prayer.  Pray and ask God to help you understand his Word, illuminate its meaning, and transform you by his grace and Spirit through your reading. 

Having prayed for understanding, read God’s Word.  But what should you read?  There is so much you could read, I know.  You could read through the Bible.  You could read through a particular book.  You could read the Psalms of the day.  Or you could simply read the passage of Scripture that will be preached on Sunday.  One of the benefits about doing the latter is that it keeps you tied to the church body, and thinking about what we as a church will be thinking about on the Lord’s Day. 

What should you be thinking about as you read?  At one level, I would simply encourage you to take in what you’re reading.  Try to enjoy your reading, remembering that the Bible is God’s Word of saving promise in Jesus Christ.   If it helps, the one question that I’m trying to keep in the back of my mind as I read is this, “What is God saying through his Word?”

Having talked to God in prayer, and heard him talk in his Word, it is time to talk back to him again.  Only now, having heard God speak about the things that are most important to him, we ought to speak to him about the things that are important to us in light of what he has said.  As we do, we should pray the Bible back to God.  We should pray for our own soul and our discipleship, we should pray for family – both physical and spiritual family. 

You should pray for a list of family members that you love and are concerned about.  Personally, after I pray for my soul, I pray for my wife and my children.  As they come to mind, I pray for my extended family (physical).  After I have prayed for my physical family, I pray for my spiritual family.  An easy way to do this is to pray through the church directory.  You don’t need to do this all in one sitting, you can simply pray for the members of the church on a single page.  If it is the 22^nd, then pray for page 22.  If it is the 10^th, then pray for page 10.  If time allows, feel free to pray for those things that the Lord lays on your heart, things you’re concerned about, excited about, or desire to accomplish for the Lord’s glory.

If there is time, and I hope there is, then I’d encourage you to try and hear another faithful Christian reflect on God’s Word.  It is useful to remember that godly brothers and sisters have gone before us, and we can learn much from them.  Maybe you only have time to read a page, like we find in Table Talk Magazine, or maybe you have time to read a chapter of a Christian book.  Either way, learning from other believers can be a huge help to our discipleship. 

The truth is that some days meeting with God like this will feel like a duty and other days it will be filled with delight.  In order to help lean into delight, remember the goal – meeting with God, the God who loves us and gave his Son for us. 

Warmly in Christ,

Mike