Our view of Quiet Time

So in the past couple of weeks I have come to realize two things:
1. My view of the purpose of quiet times was wrong.
2. How I did my quiet times was also wrong.

So first off let's handle the view, I viewed my quiet time in the morning as my time to hear from God. I didn't actively think in my brain "Ok now is my one time to hear from God for the day" but that is how I acted.  When after my quiet time I struggled with something later that day I would think "but I had a quiet time earlier why am I struggling?"

This idea was that I basically only read the Bible at one point in my day and that that was somehow sufficient. That I only NEEDED to read God's word once a day.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)

 ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

If we understand who God is and what the bible is we will spend as much of our free time as possible hearing from God's word. When we have a moment and we don't really need to do anything else we will use that moment to hear from God. We will be listening to God 10-20 times a day meditating on his word and relaxing in his presence. We will be reading as we stop for lunch, go to the bathroom, step back from our work for a second, or walk out the door. We will be making excuses to read God's word or to meditate on what he has said.

So second of all the how, I viewed quiet time to = read the Bible and pray some. Is this really what it means to have a quiet time?

Luke 21:1-4

21 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ² He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ³ “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”


God wants what we cannot spare not what we can. When we go to spend time with God he wants us in totality not partially. I had found myself reading and praying while thinking about other things not giving God restricted (restricted only to him) time of devotion. God wants our all when I say "well I didn't have time this morning" I am reminded of this Martin Luther quote "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." WOW he had a correct view of God and this world. Do we?

Spend some time each day completely focused on God without any distractions and really seek to be in the presence of God. This is my challenge to you and myself.