Sometimes I sit down for a quiet time and feel unsure what to do. I waste time trying to know if I should read this or that, I don’t have pen or pencil handy, or procrastinate because I don’t have a plan. I see my devotional time like a vine. Without a structure, it sprawls in all directions, exploring every little idea that comes to mind. But with a trellis, or a plan, a vine and my quiet time gains new heights and finds enough sunshine to bloom and bear fruit.

I like variety in my devotional time. Variety that is all rooted on the Bible, of course. Sometimes I will go for several weeks like this morning- just see where the Bible opens and go from there. But devotional times with structure seem to feed my soul a little more. It’s time, in this Sabbath month of the new year, to choose a structure for my meditations.

I’ve identified several ways this plays out for me. Sometimes I make a decision that lasts all year. Other years I decide monthly or seasonally as the year progresses. Then there are a few concrete practices that help me to focus, remember and apply what I read.

Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.

Charles Spurgeon

Decide Once For All Year

Sometimes one decision lasts a year—a word of the year focus, or reading the Bible in a year, or even choosing monthly topics that connect throughout the year.

There have been a few years where I do my best to read the Bible in a year. That takes care of the devotional decision for 12 months. Some Bibles have a page in the front or back with a schedule to read the Bible in a year. I have also used the Daily Walk Bible, and one year I listened to the chronological Bible on a Bible app. I love this and come back to it in some form every few years.

Years ago, I checked out a book from the North Loup Public Library – How to Study the Bible for Yourself by Tim LaHaye. It is a slim, quick read, yet I am still working on the steps it outlined. I noted the main points before returning the book to the library. The author suggests an order (start with 1st John) and how many times to read it over. There are no questions or comments on the reading, just you and your Bible, reading and rereading. The first year is spent in the New Testament, the next part is wisdom literature from the Old Testament, then the author suggests you read the entire Bible in a year. He estimates this will take three years but that paper has been in my Bible for nearly 30 years and not quite everything is checked off. That’s ok. I come back to it from time to time.

More people are troubled about what is plain in the Scripture than by what is obscure.

Roy L. Smith

Commit to Something Smaller

Decide monthly or seasonally. I’ve tried various ways to do this.

Choose a topic. Look up verses on the subject. A quick way is to use a concordance or google ‘verses on _____’. If you click images it might give you a month’s worth in a little graphic. Then you can read them and/or write them in a devotional journal, memorize and/or meditate on them.

Check if Gospel Publishers has a book on the spiritual topic you feel drawn to. Read this book, chapter by chapter and see where it takes you. Look up references as you come to them and explore what you learn in a journal.

Choose a book of the Bible to focus on. Read one book of the Bible everyday for a month. This works good for the shorter books in the New Testament. You can also do a little research about the current events, the author, who he was writing to. You can use a study guide along with this. (Ezra710living may have a free study guide on your chosen book)

Choose a devotional book. There are several scattered in the reviews here on So She Reads. It doesn’t matter if you have read the book before because we change and new things in the daily reading will impress us. The Daily Readings in our Sunday School books can also be like a devotional.

The Bible does not thrill, the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Some Possible Additions

Alongside the reading there are other things to do. All of us can benefit by writing scripture, a key verse from the days selection or the whole chapter. The other morning while writing some verses, I thought of a student writing fifty times “I will not whisper in class.” It is meant for a punishment, but also could be a resolve or means of learning if the student is writing in a repentant frame of mind. I wondered what would be the benefits of writing “I will trust and not be afraid” fifty times or filling a page with “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.” This could be a good way to meditate on a verse.

Another way to meditate on a verse is to repeat it over and over in your mind, emphasizing a different word with each repetition. THE Lord is my shepherd. The LORD is my shepherd. The Lord IS my shepherd. The first time I did this I was delighted and amazed at all the different nuances in one short sentence of scripture.

There is also the tasks of memorizing a passage, writing a prayer for the day, journal what the reading means to you. Read the verses aloud and pray aloud sometimes. Sing the song it brings to mind. I find I get the most benefit from choosing one of these ideas and doing it consistently for a set time, at least a month, or maybe forty days if you want a Biblical number.

A Bible dictionary and commentary are useful for understanding the meanings of words. Sometimes I refer to the Bible Doctrine and Practice book. A chain reference might lead you deeper into the topic. A topical Bible might be useful in finding verses on a theme or idea. A Bible story book may enlarge your understanding of the context or setting.

I remind myself of the goal: to spend time with God and have a relationship with him. There is no need to become a Bible wizard, or to build a complicated system with many steps. One thing at a time followed with obedience is best.

The primary purpose of reading the Bible is not to know the Bible but to know God.

James Merritt

A Means of Grace

Quiet time with God includes several Christian disciplines. There is prayer and meditation and it usually happens in silence and solitude. Even study fits into this time we spend with God. All these combine to put us in a place where God’s grace can change us.

I don’t think there is any command in the Bible to have devotions. But if you look at Jesus life, who is the one we want to be more like, we see that he regularly took time alone to pray, he quoted Old Testament scriptures so he must have spent time reading the Bible of his day. He began his ministry with 40 days of solitude. If what he says is true and what he offers is life, maybe the way to let him in is by following his lifestyle. How would Jesus do if he lived today in my country?

We must remember that daily devotion time is not works or a law. This is not a self-improvement practice or an item on our to do list, but a means of grace, and there is a big difference between them. Christians through the ages have simply behaved in this way – they spend time with God’s word, they think on it, and study it, they do so in silence and solitude to better hear God’s voice. Of course, the various stages of our lives offer more or less time and attention to these things. But if you are in a stage where time is available, why not use it to build your relationship with God?

Throughout our journey in this new year, we have a Divine Guide, the Holy Spirit that will counsel and direct our steps. May our inner relationship with God grow richer as the days come and go.

An honest man with an open Bible and a pad and pencil is sure to find out what is wrong with himself very quickly.

A. W. Tozer

What practical advice do you have for quiet time with God?

–Liz