Quiet Time with God: It's Simple, Really

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5 ESV) Having a quiet time is like many other activities you might do in life — in at least one respect. To be successful, it helps to have a plan. The Bible says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5 ESV). If you’ve never had a quiet time before, you may not have a good, simple plan for doing one. Simplicity is important with any plan you develop. If you make it complicated, you’re more likely to get off track. All you really need for an effective quiet time is a Bible, notebook, and maybe a hymn or songbook. So what does a daily quiet time look like? First, be quiet before the Lord.  The Bible calls it waiting on God. You start by simply sitting down and shutting up. As you do this, you’ll find yourself revving your engine down and calming yourself.  Second, pray briefly.  Start off with a short opening prayer. Ask God to open your mind and guide you. Ask him to cleanse your mind. Read a portion of Scripture slowly. This is where your conversation with God begins. He starts speaking to you through his Word, and then you speak back to him through prayer. Read the Bible slowly. Don’t try to read too quickly or too much. The more slowly you read Scripture, the more you’re forced to think about what you’re reading. Meditate on the Word. Spend some time chewing on what God is saying. Chew on the Word like cows chew on cud. Ponder and wrestle with it in your mind. There are lots of great methods for meditating on the Word. You can find specific ideas on how to meditate on the Bible in my book “Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods.” Write down what you discover. When God speaks to you through his Word, care enough about what he is saying to write it down. Writing enables us to remember what God has said to us and record our discoveries. Pray again. Be quiet. Ask God to show you his Word. Talk to God about what he has said to you. Tell him what you’re thinking about what he is saying. Talk to him about anything else that’s on your mind. There’s not just one way to have a quiet time, but following a plan similar to this can get you started on a rewarding devotional journey.

1 Corinthians 13 "A Sweet Memoir"

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

“…faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE…”

It always makes me smile whenever I remember and read this phrase, or I could say a bible verse. There were lot of memories; cries and smiles behind it. It was during my first year college days when I encountered this verse and maybe some of my classmates too. As a part of the curriculum we were obliged to participate in a speech choir competition in our university. There was nothing wrong with that, but we were just normal young college students then. We had our own priorities and different activities. It was the busiest semester for all, lot of people said. 

A month before the competition, we didn’t have speech choir piece yet-nothing at all.

Time ran so quick.

The feeling of “need to do it and need to rush” started. Our president held consecutive meetings, but then it was just a meeting. Talked about things, suggested what to do, did a time frame, assigned tasks for everyone. Still, nothing happened. Can you relate in that scenario?

Does it really need to clash, to shed tears, to argue, to blame, before the things get better and before every one make a move? It did happen to us. How did 1 Corinthian 13 appear in the picture? One of my classmates, a woman with a very close heart to God, suggested this bible verses to be our speech choir piece. Yes, bible verses!

With prayers and faith in God, we did practice, memorized the whole piece, applied choreographs, prepared the costumes, etc. Within two weeks we did all the preparations. We got united. It was no more about our grades but to glorify His name. To share His words to all the students and professors present in there.

I could still remember how we heartily uttered every verse and how God guided us that time. It was very memorable for me.

Let me share to you our piece.

1 Corinthians 13

(NIV)

Love…

Love…

Love…

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.

An unfathomable description of LOVE isn’t it?

With tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts, we slowly step out to the stage. Yes, we did it! We did it because of God, because of our faith in Him. And what really surprised us was we won the competition. Unbelievable, amazing indeed! We didn’t deserve that, other contestants put a lot of efforts God. Then realizations came to me, we won not because we were good but we put confidence in Him. It His words that touched the heart of every judge, made the students stood up and gave their big hand to us.

This event of my life left a mark in me that would never fade. We all have different paths of life to be tracked; we may travel different places, build our own families, reach our dreams but one thing for sure-when we look back we will always remember this.