Practical Quiet Time

By: Bhagirath Kumar Lader

Be still, and know that I am God

-A snippet from Psalm 46:10
In this session, we will meditate from Gods Word regarding one of the most important and fundamental
disciples that a child of God is expected to follow. In Bible, a child of God is addressed as a disciple. Lord
Jesus Himself called his disciples to follow Him. The essence of a true disciple of Lord Jesus lies in following
Him. If you follow Him i.e. obey Him, then you are His disciple. There is no other way to be a disciple of Lord
Christ.
In UESI fellowship, one of the core values that a child of God must follow is practice of Quiet Time. I have
added the word practical so that we learn from Biblical characters how the children of God actually adhered to
this practice. To simplify the term, we can call it spending regular Time with God, preferably daily. We see in
examples that follow in our meditation today that time spent should actually be many times within a day. We
also traverse through various other teachings given in the scripture on this matter.
Let us refer to some passages in the Scripture to learn about practical Quiet Time:

Adam and Eve:

Genesis 3:8-9
8

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the
day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man,
Where are you?
We note from above that God would visit Adam and Eve. Any meeting where God is present is called
fellowship and we infer from the life of Adam and Eve that they practiced spending time with God, perhaps
daily. As the practice is associated with Gods first children, we believe this was and is Gods intent for
mankind.

Moses:
Exodus 33: 7
7

Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting.
And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside
the camp. 8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at
his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
We read from Bible that Moses spent time with God. When we read entire chapter in conjunction with Exodus
chapter 28 to 34, we find the process involved in the time that Moses spent with God.

EGF Noida

Friday, July 8, 2016

Practical Quiet Time

By: Bhagirath Kumar Lader

Joshua
Exodus 33:11
11

So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but
his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
The verse above talks much as to why God chose Joshua to be a successor of Moses. Joshua loved spending
time with God. We further read of Gods specific instructions to Joshua regarding spending time with Him.

David
Psalm 5
3

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;

In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.
The verse from a psalm of David tells about Davids habit of spending time with God in the morning. There are
other numerous accounts from Davids life mentioning how he spent time with God in every situation.

Isaiah
Isaiah 62:1,6,7 (New Living Translation)
Because I love Zion,
I will not keep still.
Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem,
I cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her
until her righteousness shines like the dawn,
and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
6

O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls;

they will pray day and night, continually.
Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD.
7
Give the LORD no rest until he completes his work,
until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.
The verses are indication of regular quiet time that Isaiah spent before God in prayer for His people. The Book
of Isaiah is collection of visions that Isaiah received from God. These visions must have been given to Isaiah
during the prophets quiet time with God.

EGF Noida

Friday, July 8, 2016

Practical Quiet Time

By: Bhagirath Kumar Lader

Daniel
Daniel 6:10 and 9:2
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the
windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his
God, just as he had done before.
The verse talks about Daniels quiet time. He spent quiet time at Gods feet at least three times a day even
though he was appointed as the governor of Babylon province requiring great responsibility (Daniel 3:48) and
later Belshazzar gave a command for Daniel to be made the third most powerful man in his kingdom (Daniel
5:29).

Mary
Luke 10:39
39

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

We read that Mary chose to spend time at the feet of Lord Jesus and learned from Him. The Bible later says
that the choice that Mary made to spent time with God will not be taken away from her.

Jesus
Luke 5:15-16
15

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their
sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Mark 1:35
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where
he prayed.
Lord Jesus is our best example to follow. We read about our Lords habit to withdraw from the crowd and
spend personal time with God in prayer.
The Bible is full of other examples of people who regularly spent time with God. The examples include Peter,
John, Paul and other disciples. We therefore establish the fact that Quiet Time with God is an essential disciple
that every child of God must follow every day and preferably more than once (i.e. morning, afternoon and
evening) within a day.

EGF Noida

Friday, July 8, 2016

Practical Quiet Time

By: Bhagirath Kumar Lader

What constitutes an ideal quiet time?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Opening Prayer
Follow up of previous quiet time
Reading Bible and Meditating on the Word of God
Take note of what God is speaking to you
Praise and Worship as God leads you
Closing Prayer

What should be the duration of quiet time?

Ideally, we must give

1
10

th of our daily time to God. If we leave 8 hours to sleeping, we have 16 active hours

and therefore about 1 hours per day should be set apart for God. Therefore, the quiet time of about hour
each in morning, mid of the day and evening should be an ideal practice. You can use your discernment
regarding your duration for quiet time with God. Psalm 84:10 says, Better is one day in Your courts than a
thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the
wicked.

When should quiet time be practiced?

Ideally it should be the first thing that you should do after getting ready and before having breakfast. However,
if you follow different schedule, any time convenient to you should be set apart for quiet time with God. In each
quiet time, one should have a follow up with matters spoken by God or placed before God in your previous
quiet time. Therefore, beginning of the day, mid of the day and end of the day constitute preferred timings. It
may not be necessary or practical for some people that all activities [1 6 as mentioned above] should be part
of each quiet time session during a day. Therefore, individual discernment may be exercised.

What I am I missing if I do not practice Quiet Time?

Think yourself.

Additional Notes:

Quiet Time should be a personal time spent with God alone. The family worship time should be in addition to the Quiet Time.

God is not interested in our superficial pursuit of God even if it is daily. Read Isaiah 58:1-3

The Quiet Time that Moses followed involved preparation, separating himself from the camp (world), taking effort in meeting Gods
requirements, being observant of what God was saying, abstaining from routine things like food and water, and complete dedication
towards spending time (40 days) with God.

Isaiah 65:24 says It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

EGF Noida

Friday, July 8, 2016