How do you do a quiet time?

This is what I do

Find a quiet place where I won’t be distracted. I start by praying to God. First I tell him everything that is on my mind. Then I ask him to quieten my heart and prepare it to hear what he has to tell me from the reading. I spend a bit of time praising Him for who he is.

I think it is really important to go through books of the Bible systematically. You can do this by picking a book and reading through it, or by working through a devotional guide. I use one at the moment called ‘Closer to God’. It’s by Scripture Union, I have always found their stuff good and has a solid Biblical base.
I look at what the reading is today, but I don’t read any of the notes on it yet.

I read through the passage, going straight through, to get an overview of the passage. If it is one that follows on, I like to read the passage before it to remind myself of the context.
Then I read it again slowly with a note book and pen. I jot down words that I don’t understand, and words/phrases/ideas that are repeated. I write down any verses that I think have a key idea in them.

I look up the words I don’t understand and then I write down the meaning.

I think, how does this passage affect my life? What is it teaching me about my Christian walk? What is it teaching me about God? What stands out? Dose it remind me of anything else I've read in the Bible?

After I have done this I read the notes from the devotional. Sometimes they pick up the same ideas I did, and sometimes they are not. That’s okay because God may want me to take a different meaning away then someone else has found. I like when they give me a bit of historical or cultural context to help understand some things a bit better.

I then talk with God about what He has taught me and ask for his help in the day ahead. I pray a bit for different people (I have a weekly schedule for different people to pray for each day).

So that’s a brief over view of what I do, what about you? Any tips for spending time with God one-on-one?

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(Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/743507)

Why I don't write in my Bible

I use to, which is crazy because I hate it when people write in books. It is one thing that will always annoy me. So why did I start writing in my most precious book of all?

I was at a Christian youth camp and everyone else was doing it. I think there was a bit of 'superior spirituality' going on - the more verses you had underlined and the more notes you had in the margin the better Christian you were - or so we thought.

But later on I realised that if I started to read a passage that had a verse underlined or a note next to it I would always stop and read that. Often that verse would be the thing that stayed in my head. This is fine, but I would rather be hearing what God has to say in the passage to em right at this point in time, not what someone I heard preaching had to say a while ago.

Don't get me wrong, if you do underline and write in your Bible, that's fine. Just for me, I have decided to stop. I'm glad that I only ever wrote in my big Bible. My small-print,leather -bound, so-cute-and-small-you-can-pop-it-in-any-bag Bible is as clean and fresh as the day I was given it (besides the usual wear and tear from being used and popped in bags). I use that one the most because it's most convenient and also because I can read it and listen to what God is telling me in each passage without distraction.

Mobile Bible

Dear Sister

I admit I quite like my mobile phone. I'm not glued to it like many people I know, but it's cute and white and I have a pic of frangipani's as the background/wallpaper. Seeing as how I'm not a real social butterfly I don't even use it that much. It's my alarm clock, I talk to Mum most nights (yay, free minutes!) and i text a few friends. But that's about it.

Reading a mission newsletter I was struck by a small article. (I don't have it in front of me so I'll have to just write from memory)


"Imagine if we treated our Bibles like our mobile phones. What if we turned back after locking the front door when we realised we left it inside? What if we turned to it the second something goes wrong? What if we got upset if we dropped it? What if we pulled it out and just flicked through it when we have a few minutes to spare? What if we checked it a few times a day just to see if we got any new messages? What if it was the first thing we popped in our bag?"

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12