Every Morning Quiet Time
Happy Canada Day!
Today, I want to share something invaluable to me, something I learned that really helped my spirituality. From today, everyday I will be uploading videos related to a spiritual discipline, called 'Every Morning Quiet Time.' Some call it a daily devotion. You wake up early in the morning and before you do anything else you spend some time in reading the Scripture and praying. This time doesn't need to be long. More importantly, you need to develop a habit of doing it every day. For me, I wake up, brew a coffee and put my Bible and phone (to write) on a table and start a day.
This is not a Bible study time. This is not an intercessory prayer time. This is a time I have with God for intimacy and also for his guidance in the day ahead. I usually spend 15-20 minutes, sometimes longer depending on readings and prayers. I try not to rush it, but at the same time I understand I'm not going to try to exegesis this passage or pray for everything.
This spiritual discipline is simple and yet so incredible. First, I love the intimate fellowship I can enjoy every morning with God. We can easily have life's busyness take away our time with God. But, when you carve out some time to have intimacy with God in the morning, you know your mind and heart are starting from the right place.
Second, I find my readings and prayers often speak to the problems and questions I face in the day ahead. There have been so many instances, where I was struggling with certain questions or directions, and in the morning as I do my morning devotion, I get a crystal clear answer. Sometimes they speak directly to my situations, or at other times I found key principles in the passages I read and I was able to apply them in my decision making.
Lastly, this early morning quiet time helps me be proactive in the day ahead. There are many times we simply react to many things in our lives. But, when I look at the Scripture and pray about what's going to happen in the day ahead, I begin to think about how I will plan and act and respond to the day's events. When I read the Scripture and pray in the morning, I often think about what I know I am going to do, like meetings, places I will be going or the people I will meet, and I think about what attitude, plan and/or heart I need to carry to these events. Or sometimes, the Scripture or prayer makes me engage in the things I would never do if I didn't read or pray. The Scripture or prayer reminds of someone I have forgotten and/or the work I would not naturally do myself.
When I mentor other people, this "Every Morning Quiet Time" is a key spiritual discipline I try to share. There are many ways to do this. There is no right way or wrong way. You just need to find a way that works for you. But, I find it this way very helpful:
1. I read one Scripture passage three times. It can be any reading from the Bible. I just follow Daily Bible from Scripture Union, as it goes from the cover to cover through many years.
2. I don't necessarily follow commentaries. I read them. But, I first try to pray and discern what the Scripture means to myself, before reading the commentaries. Relying heavily on commentaries can take away your discernment process and the importance of making the Scripture personal.
3. I always write down my thoughts and the things I learned and discovered. I also write down my prayers as well. This helps me look back at my devotions and prayers later and be reminded of what God has said.
4. When I read the first time through, I try to understand what the Scripture means. In the second time reading, I focus on learning who God is. I try to discover the character or quality of God in the reading. In my last time reading, I focus on what I should do. What does God call me to do from this reading? Or is there any model or example I can follow?
5. I try to come up with very specific action plan. For instance, if I learn from the reading that I should love my neighbour, then I try to think of something I can do today to live out this message. Is there someone I can reach out and do an act of kindness. This action plan needs to happen on the same day and hence achievable and time-bound.
6. Prayer is important. I always start with prayer and end with prayer. At the end, I try to spend some good time in praying. I try to empty out all the unnecessary thoughts and try to still my mind and listen to God. On top of what I read, God often reminds me of other related Scripture verses and passages that can help me plan my day ahead.
I know many people are busy in today's age. So, I decided to upload my quiet time devotion every morning. You can just watch the video and in the video I will pray and read the Scripture and talk about what it means to me. Towards the end, there will be some time for you to think and pray about it. Just by watching the video, you are engaged in daily devotion and I hope you will eventually learn to do it yourself.
I will upload this video every morning on my youtube channel.
I pray that you will be blessed by these videos. You can go and subscribe to my channel to be notified for all the future videos.
Lastly, I also want to bless you with one video we created from one of the songs we sang at the Pentecost Sunday Prayer Gathering.
In Christ,
John