How to Seek God Daily — Part 3
Persevere in the Spiritual Practice and Habit of Meeting with God Daily
After 30 days of spiritual practice in meeting with the Lord daily, do you think you have grown closer to the Lord?
Psalm 42: 1-2 says,
"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"
Does this resonate with how you feel about God?
Be forewarned that you may face attacks from Satan by way of obstacles or hindrances to your Quiet Time with God. This is because Quiet Time is closely related to your spiritual growth. You must not be derailed.
Persevere and develop the habit of seeking Him daily. He will help you. Try to follow the recommended reading list of Scriptures below to continue your daily time of solitude with the Lord.
- Ephesians 4 – 6
- The book of Philippians
- 1 John, 2 John, 3 John
- The book of Romans
- The Gospel of Mark
- The book of James
- 1 Peter, 2 Peter
- The book of Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians
- The Gospel of John etc.
Try to stick to a fixed portion of scripture passage for meditation per day. Do not randomly select scripture passages. Remember to give careful thought to the scriptures you read; ponder over them and pray on them as a reciprocal response to God.
Worshipping God
We don’t just worship God on Sundays. We should worship Him daily. Meet with Him daily for Quiet Time. Ponder over His Word and pray. Spend time to humbly and reverently praise Him as well as to thank Him. Then go on to intercede for others. Bring your personal supplications before Him last.
To sum up, there will be 4 segments of your Quiet Time with the Lord:
- Listening to God — reading the Scriptures and pondering over them
- Talking to God — praying the Scriptures to Him as a reciprocal response
- Worshipping God
- Intercession and Supplication
Remember to write down what you have learned from your Quiet Time.
For prayer, use a prayer list to remind yourself of what and who to pray for.
Q & A
1. I find it very hard to wake up early in the morning for Quiet Time.
You can only wake up early if you sleep early. You probably have the habit of turning in late. Our bodies love to snooze. Some believers don’t seem to be able to wake up early for Quiet Time but yet not seem to have the same problem when it comes to waking up early to make it to work on time. It is apparent that they are more afraid of their human boss(es) than they are of God, and are more concerned about seeking man’s approval than God’s.
It is crucial for you to recognise the importance of Quiet Time and be clear about the reason for setting aside time for it—it should be enough to convict you to change your habit of turning in late. Use an alarm clock and leave it far from you; this compels you to get out of bed to switch it off! Think about it. Surely you have always been able to make time for whatever you wanted to do, regardless of how tight your schedule was.
And if you are not able to spare 20 minutes, why not try 10? Don’t ever lose this chance to have an appointment with God!
2. It is difficult to focus during Quiet Time ; I get sleepy and nod off during Quiet Time.
Finding a quiet place is important. This prevents you from getting distracted. Read the Scriptures out loud—this helps you to maintain your concentration.
After getting out of bed, use cold water to wash your face, or do some warm-up exercises or take some deep breaths to oxygenate your brain; these activities can help you feel more alert and awake.
Additionally, avoid sitting in a place that is too comfortable as it may cause you to doze off. Sing some songs of praise to energise yourself from the inside out!
3. There is no conducive place at home for me to have proper Quiet Time.
If you are a student, you may like to use a self-study room.
If you can report to work earlier, you may like to have your Quiet Time at your workplace.
If the weather is fine, you may like to have your Quiet Time in a garden or a park.
4. Can I have my Quiet Time at night?
Unless you work the night shift and need to sleep in the day, it’s recommended that you have your Quiet Time in the morning.
It is not a good idea to have your Quiet Time at night as you probably would have been through a whole day of study/work and you might not be in the best of moods. Your body might be feeling fatigued and there may be too much din around you.
Contrast this with beginning a new day with the Lord in quietness, listening to Him, preparing for the day through prayer before starting the day’s work.
5. I don’t understand the Scriptures that I am reading during Quiet Time, so how am I supposed to be touched and inspired by God’s word?
You must remember that the aim of Quiet Time is to draw near to God and to know Him more. While spending time with Him, try not to analyse the Scriptures as this should be done during Bible Study.
When you come across verses you do not understand during Quiet Time, it is natural that you tend not to feel touched or inspired by it. This is when you should frankly tell God you do not understand what you are reading and pray for understanding. Then, continue to read on.
You can mark out the verse(s) you don’t understand and ask your spiritual leaders about it when you have the opportunity.
6. I don’t know how to pray.
Praying is basically talking to God, just like how you would talk to a friend. There is no need for any special jargon, eloquence or ritualised posturing. We can learn how to pray by referring to Psalms. Just tell God what is on your heart. In fact, God already knows what is on your heart!
7. I feel spiritually dry and cannot feel God’s Word speaking to me.
Why not learn to meditate on His Word? But not the Eastern mystical kind of meditation. Meditation here refers to pondering over something thoughtfully and deeply. When you meditate on God’s word, it is to receive something meaningful from it.
Try to read the Scriptures with a fresh perspective.
For example, you can try to read John 1: 3-4 ("Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men." ) this way — "I have been made through him, nothing has been made without him. In Him is life and this life is my light!"
This adds some flavour, doesn’t it?
8. Can I refer to other devotional books written by others?
Quiet Time thoughts or devotional sharings from other people are what they have gleaned in their personal times with God. Such sharings can be a helpful reference to a new believer.
However, you cannot always rely on them to nourish your spiritual life. Just like a baby who initially relies on others for food, as you grow spiritually, you will need to learn to feed yourself and take ownership of your spiritual growth.
A sign of spiritual maturity is being able to feed on God’s Word directly during Quiet Time and use what you’ve learnt from it to encourage others.
9. How can I avoid misinterpreting the Bible or taking Scriptures out of context?
It has been mentioned in the answer to Question 5 that Quiet Time should not be treated as a Bible Study. For Quiet Time, God is using the Scriptures to speak to you, so whatever you glean from His Word is for your personal learning and application. Thus, it is possible that two different individuals reading the same scripture passage may learn entirely different, personalised lessons. This is because God uses the Scriptures to speak to each individual’s circumstances and needs.
However, there should be no discrepancies in understanding the truths of the Scriptures for Bible Study. The immutable and absolute truth of God’s Word, while having the power to speak personally to diverse individual needs, is nonetheless not open to multiple interpretations.
There is only one truth, and therefore only one correct understanding of all the truths expressed in the Bible, unless the Scripture itself did not offer a clear meaning for something expressed (in this case, different parties with contesting notions may choose to respect one another’s standpoints instead of stirring up controversies).
Also, Quiet Time cannot be taken to be the only means to discern God’s Will.
Although God can speak to you during Quiet Time to guide you towards certain decisions, it is important to confirm His Will through other means as well. You should not rely solely on the perspective gained from Quiet Time or emotional reasoning when discerning God's guidance.
Developing Desire and Discipline
When you first begin practising Quiet Time, the whole process might last about 20 minutes. However, as you continue to grow in your spiritual life, your Quiet Time with the Lord may gradually extend. This deepening intimacy with the Lord will fill your heart with joy and peace.
What do you think was the first question God had asked man?
Genesis 3:9 tells us,
"But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?'"
This question is so telling of God’s desire to fellowship with man.
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
— Psalm 1: 2, 3
Blessed is the man who meets with the Lord for Quiet Time daily. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, evergreen, and endlessly fruitful. Good trees bear good fruit.
Do you desire to be someone who reflects a similarity to the preceding descriptions?
Conversely, if you’re feeling spiritually stagnant, restless, lacking in peace, and falling into sin frequently, or if you’re struggling to sense the presence of the Lord or feel yourself drifting further away from Him, these are warning signs that you need to be vigilant and watchful of your spiritual life.
Without timely remediation, you may become further estranged from God and end up as a “Sunday Christian”. This is particularly important for small group leaders. If you don’t establish a daily habit of Quiet Time with the Lord, you won’t have the spiritual support you need to help others grow spiritually. Instead of being a joy, your service may become a heavy burden.
Moses, the man of God, met with the Lord for 40 days up in Mount Sinai. When he descended the mountain, his face was aglow with the glory of the Lord (Exodus 34: 29).
Do you desire for your life to be filled with the radiance of God’s glory? This is possible when you meet with the Lord daily.
Remember, God is waiting for you every morning at the appointed place and time you’ve agreed upon. Don’t miss the appointment!
Conclusion
What is the most important thing for Christians?
It is to grow in the knowledge of God. Many of the Old Testament Scriptures are in fact, records of personal devotionals. From the lives of the writers of Psalms, we can see three effects of spending personal time with God:
- Developing an intimate relationship with God, leading to a rich inner life in Him
- Gaining a right and accurate understanding of God, rather than relying on self-made or imagined assumptions
- Experiencing a life change and becoming a person after God’s heart
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight’, declares the Lord.”
— Jeremiah 9: 23, 34
May the Lord bless you as you seek Him daily and come to know Him more deeply. May you be rooted and established in God, standing firm in your faith.
Download PDF of How to Seek God Daily here