Having a consistent and life-giving quiet time is extremely beneficial not only for your walk with God, but also for your business and blog. Do you struggle having a consistent and life-giving quiet time? If so, then this post is for you. Here’s why.
I’m going to address how having a quiet time is good for your walk with God, your blog, and your business. Then, I share how you can upgrade your quiet time to make it consistent and life-giving by sharing the 5 things I do in every quiet time.
Why have a quiet time?
When we have a quiet time we get to experience intimate union and communion with God. Think about it, God calls you His son! We are God’s children, which means He loves us and wants to spend time with us. I’m always astounded when I think about how God not only loves me…but He actually likes me.
In fact, He calls me His friend. You know what? The same is true for you. You’re a friend of God. You’re invited to experience intimacy reserved for the closest of friends.
However, most people never experience that intimacy with God simply because they never spend time with Him.
God, the creator of the universe, wants to spend time with you. He wants to walk with you and talk with you. He wants to develop History with you. My closest friends and I have history. We’ve been friends for decades.
They’ve been with me through my darkest times and in my best times. They’ve cried with me, encouraged me, and celebrated with me throughout all of these years. God wants to have the same type of relationship with you. Unfortunately, this is something I can teach, but not give.
I can teach you what I know about the Bible or how I study the Bible. I can tell you all the stories I have with God. Maybe, I can even pray with you, be in community with you, and guide you…BUT what I CAN NOT do is give you my History with God.
You have to build your own history with God. That is done through spending time with Him. History with God is built by having a consistent and life-giving, quiet time.
How does having a quiet time benefit your blog or business?
Having a consistent and life-giving quiet time not only benefits your walk with God…but also your blog or business. There is something about taking time each day to just spend time with the creator of all creators that helps us not only creator more and better content, but also to preserver through trying times.
Here are three ways that having a consistent and life-giving quiet time will help you as a blogger or entrepreneur.
Rest Helps You Focus
Habit Number 7 in Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is “Sharpen the Saw.” Sharpening the saw concerns refreshing your physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental life.
Doing this creates a huge boost in not only your state of happiness, but also your productivity. Having a consistent and life-giving quiet time causes you to rest and “sharpen the saw.” Spending time with God promotes rest and relaxation.
Maybe thats why Jesus said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
New Ideas for Your Blog and Business
When you spend time with God in prayer you receive new ideas. Are you having a hard time coming up with new content? Trying to decide which way to take your business? Need some inspiration for a new launch?
Start having a quiet time. God is the ultimate creator and He delights in giving us new ideas and inspiration.
God still speaks to people, though many might not realize it was Him. Spending time with God each day will open up an avenue for new ideas. These new ideas might come to you during the quiet time itself or maybe even in a dream.
Did you know GOOGLE can be traced back to a dream? Or that Einstein’s theory of relativity came to him in a dream when he was just a teenager? Spend time with God and be prepared for new ideas concerning your blog and business.
You Partner with God
I believe God has given us two amazing gifts. First, the gift of salvation. Second, the gift of His companionship. He truly wants to work with us. God wants to partner with you. Maybe…just maybe…what matters to you also matters to God.
Think about it. He created you. He loves you. If you’re passionate about your blog or business, I believe God is also passionate about your blog or business. However, for too many people, God is a silent partner when He should be an active partner.
He wants to partner with you in creating the life and business you dream of having. I believe we’re creative because the Creator placed in us a capacity to create.
Now, the Creator wants to help and teach you how to create. Spending time with God and learning from Him is a way we can partner with Him. If you don’t believe me…test me on this. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
The 5 Things I do in Every Quiet Time
Now that I’ve addressed how a quiet time will transform your life, blog, and business, I’m going to share how to upgrade your quiet time. The hardest part of having a quiet time is making it consistent and life-giving.
The majority of people think having a quiet time is merely sitting down and trying to prayer for 30 minutes to an hour. That is not what I do.
I do five separate things during my quiet time. By shifting my activity throughout my quiet time, all while maintaining focus on God, I’m able to not only receive more from God…because I remain focused…but I also am able to be more consistent because the quiet time becomes a life-giving part of my day and not a chore I feel obligated to perform.
Here are the 5 things I do in every quiet time, I’d recommend starting by just spending 5 minutes on each part. If you do each of these for 5 minutes, you’ll have a 25 minute quiet time!
1. Worship:
First, put on some worship music and make the choice to worship God…even if you’re tired. Worship is powerful and sets the focus for the entire session.
I start off my quiet time by worshiping. You see the phrase “praise and worship” written on almost every church bulletin, but many of us never separate the two words.
We praise God for what He has done. What He has done in our lives, for our families, for our friends, for our community, etc. We worship God for who He is. When I ask google to define worship I get, “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.”
I think I like that definition. When I worship God, I am both feeling and expressing. I not only express my reverence and adoration towards my loving Father, but I also feel it.
2. Word:
Next, just start reading the Bible. You can use a reading plan or just pick somewhere you feel led to go. I also like to read Proverbs each day. There are 31 days in the book of proverbs also I read the chapter that corresponds with that day.
After I worship for awhile I move on to reading the Word of God, the Bible. I start off by reading a chapter of Proverbs. I read the chapter that corresponds with the day of the month.
There are 31 chapters in Proverbs so it works well. For example, if today is September 7, read Proverbs chapter 7. I enjoy Proverbs and believe there is much wisdom to mined out of the book.
By starting off my day with Proverbs, I read the whole book each month, every month.
3. Prayer:
Then, spend some time praying the Bible. Pray with God not just to Him. Don’t go into prayer with a list of demands like you’re holding your love hostage, telling God He must fulfill this list if He wants your love.
Choose to love. You could be doing a 100 things instead of having a quiet time, but instead you are saying God, I choose you.
Prayer is one of the greatest privileges we have as sons and daughters of the King. We get to converse with the God of the universe. Not only that…we get to work with Him.
As I go into prayer I try to be as vulnerable as I can. I can trust God. When I pray I want to it to be intimate. Therefore, I speak as if I was speaking to someone I love, because I am…and He loves me back.
So when you enter this portion of your quiet time, please don’t attempt to use long and lofty prayers. Be intimate. Intimacy is the key. If you want to go somewhere in faith, first you must go there in intimacy.
4. Journal:
After prayer, spend time with God by journaling with Him. Write down a question like “God, how do you feel about me today?” Then write down His answer. Here are the Keys from Mark Virkler’s Book, “4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice.”
- Quiet Yourself
- Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
- Tune into Spontaneity
- Write it down
A good way to know if it’s God’s voice is to remember God is going to say nicer things about you than you would say to yourself.
God says nicer things about you than you do therefore don’t throw it away if it’s all edifying. He longs to tell you how much He loves you and how much you mean to Him.
If you find the journaling exercise difficult I’d suggest starting by writing a love letter to Jesus and then on a separate piece of paper write down the thoughts that flood your mind as you’re writing the letter.
If you still feel like what you’re receiving is not from God do not fret. We are about to put up some good safe guards.
Guard 1: Stay Humble & Teachable
First, stay humble and teachable. All revelation is to be tested. It is fine to make mistakes as you work on this new skill. Staying humble and teachable are two of the most important attributes you can cultivate.
When journaling don’t be like “well God told me this so that’s that, the end.” Keeping a humble and teachable spirit is not saying, “Well, I can hear the voice of God and He said you’re wrong.”
Staying humble and teachable is giving yourself room for mistake as you seek advise from a good spiritual advisor.
Guard 2: Know the Bible
Next, know the Bible. You need to have a good understanding of the Bible as it is the standard set against everything.
Testing what we receive against the Word of God is easier when you know the Word of God. God is not going to ask you to kill somebody or tell you that He hates you. That’s Satan.
Know the difference by knowing the Bible. However, keep in mind that though God will never contradict His Word, He does not mind contradicting our understanding of His Word.
5. Soak:
Finally, soak in God’s presence. Use soaking music and just rest in God’s love. Soaking music is instrumental worship music. During this time increase your awareness of His presence. Don’t do anything else. Just rest.
What I call soaking is simply lying down and soaking in the presence of our loving God. Soaking music is typically soft music that can be played in the background.
Soaking is not a time for you to be going through your prayer list or reading the Bible. It is a time of rest. You are simply resting in your Father’s presence.
This may seem counterintuitive, as is most things of God, however—I assure you—soaking is way to intimacy most Christians only dream of or don’t even know exist.
Quiet Time Challenge
If you struggle having a consistent and enjoyable quiet time, join me for a free 5-Day Quiet Time Challenge.
In addition to receiving my free quiet time guide, detailing the five things I do when having a quiet time, you’ll also receive one email a day during the challenge to help kick start your quiet time. Join the challenge and get my free guide.
Take the Quiet Time Challenge
