Spending Time with the Lord
Executing a time of stillness and peace is hard, but it’s an important part of developing your relationship with the Lord. Having a quiet time means finding fifteen minutes to an hour every day to be quiet and still so you can focus on what God is doing in your life! It’s allowing yourself the time and space to hear directly from the Lord in a more intimate setting than the usual rush of the day. Spending time with the Lord also helps you discover more about who you are and where God is guiding you.
Planning and Doing a Quiet Time
It’s not an easy task to find fifteen minutes out of your day for reflection. In the midst of school, homework, dinner with the fam, practice and a social life, when is there time for you? Since your life revolves around scheduled events, plan some time to meet with yourself in your calendar. If you still have a hard time fitting your quiet time into your life, try adding it to your morning or evening routine. Quiet time with God can be a great energy boost in the morning or a perfect way to wind down from a hectic day. Your quiet time is your time to refuel and reconnect with God.
Naturally, the point of a quiet time is to sit in stillness so you can hear from the Lord. If you have a hard time sitting and waiting to listen to God, then start by praying – ask Him what He’d like you to know. Or, open up your quiet time by reading the Bible. Journaling is a great way to reflect on life’s adventures and uncertainties.
- Reflect on the lessons you’re learning from a book you’re reading or a movie you recently saw, or a song you just heard.
- Write about a situation at school that’s bringing you either difficulty or joy.
- Write poetry, song lyrics, favorite quotations or bible verses.
- If you’re not into writing, decorate a journal with collages, paintings and drawings, or spend some time on your computer designing some outstanding graphics.
- If you’re active, then go on a walk, shoot some hoops, dance; or do the opposite and find rest by lying on your bed, staring at the ceiling.
- Write about how your life portrays the words that are being sung in some of your favorite inspirational songs.
It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you ponder who you are and who God is.
Quiet Time is an Opportunity for Growth
Write five to ten aspects of your life that YOU don’t like, want to change or hope to improve. Sometimes these aspects are a relationship, a characteristic, a fear or even a word or action that you said or did toward someone. Throughout the following week, ask God to give you the strength and ability to change these negative issues in your life. Write down the opportunities that you had to make change and how you responded to those opportunities.
Seek God’s guidance and write down your prayers to Him. When you’re open to hearing from God, you might realize that Satan is using the areas that you don’t like about yourself to hurt or negatively influence another person. Psalm 37:7-9 says, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret–it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.” The areas of your life that you see as negative are burdens that are holding you back from becoming the woman God desires for you to be. Give these unhelpful characteristics to God and ask Him to help mold you into the woman He wants you to become.
Quiet Time Reveals Your Natural Beauty
Don’t just focus on the negative; write down five to ten aspects that you love about yourself. Sometimes these characteristics are the same from week to week, but sometimes they’ll grow into a greater aspect of your life. God loves you entirely and delights in seeing you love yourself. Listen to other people’s comments and appreciations of your life and include those in your list. You might discover an asset that other people admire that you never really thought of before. Ask God to reveal what He loves about you. Be prepared to write a lot down though, because He’ll show you a ton! As you learn more about your incredible qualities, you’ll discover that there’s more to celebrate than be discouraged by.
Be Consistent and Don’t Give Up with Your Quiet Time
The most important part of having a quiet time every day is not to give up. It’s OK if you forget one week, don’t have enough time for a whole month or step away from the activity altogether for awhile. If you do step away from your quiet time, make an effort to establish it as an important part of your life again. The easiest way to keep your quiet time in your life is to maintain consistency in when you do it as well as what you do.
This short time that you spend with the Lord every day has a pretty big impact on you and the people around you. Take a moment to observe that influence. Seeing this change can motivate you to keep going! As your quiet time becomes more of a natural habit in your life, you will grow in your trust in the Lord and rely on Him to guide you through life’s struggles and rewards.
