I know in my head that a true disciple of the Lord will develop and keep a quiet time with Him each day. However, in the craziness of life, so often I fail to include this in my day. Obviously the root of it is plain old selfishness, but it drives me crazy that I can't seem to get it down! I know I use my kids as an excuse, but even they are not a good enough excuse for this one.
I'm open to and looking for suggestions.
What do you do to keep yourself in the Word each day?
How do you prepare your heart for that time?
Do you keep a journal/notebook to record prayer requests and things that you're learning?
What time of day works the best for you?
Etc....
5 comments:
you might think i am wacky (ok i admit i am) but the thing that helped me was to sit down with a Bible and a notebook and just start writing to God and listening for an answer. Now usually i dont hear physically anything but 9/10 times something will be bought to mind or a verse will that i can look and it helps w/the answer and makes me feel much more like we are talking. Sadly i have been keeping way too busy and neglecting "our" time but i always make time to read at least a devotional online (thru proverbs31 ministries) and they at least include a small lesson, some scriptures and some thought provoking questions so even if i dont get a whole lot of time i do not totally neglect my time with Him.
I have a devotional Bible that I use for one of my blogs. I try to do it everyday, but usually I combine 2 days because I can't always get to it daily. This post made me feel better in knowing that I'm not the only one. I think I will try to find the proverbs31 ministries as sanne's place mentioned and try it.
Hello! I came across your blog on Cafe Mom. We have much in common! I am also a Christian striving to become debt free.
I read a verse every morning on my Google homepage. It's not great, but it starts my day out right!
Found you through moneysavingmom.com :)
Hope you don't mind if I share some thoughts. Please know that they come from someone who is not perfect at all in this area. I struggle with pride & selfishness.
I pray for faithfulness, and the desire to do it, not that I will just check it off my list. God grants the desires of your heart (Ps. 37:4), if they are according to His will. Certainly I know He will grant a desire to be in His Word daily.
I start with confession and asking Him to reveal sin during my reading. I pray over verses such as Ps. 119:18. I may read a devotional or do a chapter out of a Bible study before reading wherever I am in the Bible.
In my journal, I like to note how my heart and mind has changed by what I've read and what I've learned about the Lord. I have a separate prayer notebook for praises/requests.
Morning is best for me. It's a personal decision, but I consider several verses to help: Psalm 74:16, Mark 1:35. The whole day is the Lord's so pray about when you can be consistent, and give the morning a chance :) The important thing is to set a time and plan your day around it -- don't try to fit the Lord in around your plans.
I've found the books Alone With God by Jason Janz, A Place of Quiet Rest (Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and the Wilderness Within (Beneth Jones) to be helpful, although I don't agree with every single point. Also, What Do I Know About My God by Mardi Collier ... Studying the life of Moses, who walked closely with God, has been a huge help.
We have the bible on CD and I listen to it during the day while doing tasks like cooking and at night while going to sleep. We also cut back on TV (secular) watching and replaced it with sacred DVD's. I don't know if you also have a family worship. For us it is mainly family prayer and reading a few verses of the bible (we have a 3yo).
Jesus rose earling in the morning to pray, so there is that example.
For myself, I find that at night works best for general devotion time.
Then for certain bible studies I schedule a time and my wife takes over watching our son, and then we switch and she studies.
Also notecards or post-its with memory verses work great for memorization. And then there is always the memory verse for our son and we repeat that 3-10 times a day.
We have a goal of tithing our time. (OK, we're not there yet) We try to devote 2.25 hours day to learning more about God.
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