It is important to spend a regular time in God’s Word and in prayer each day. I shared some of my struggles in maintaining a daily ‘Quiet Time’ throughout my life. However, as I have developed a consistent morning devotion for several years now, I can attest that this one activity is the best habit for a Christian to cultivate.
Perhaps part of the problem of maintaining a consistent devotional life is because we think this time with God has to be a monumental, mystical experience. But what I have discovered is you can begin developing this spiritual discipline in as little as seven minutes a day.
Bob Foster developed a simple outline, called Seven Minutes with God, to help deepen a Christian’s daily relationship with God. I remember reading this little pamphlet several years ago.
Want a deeper walk with God? Give Him just seven minutes and see what happens! Here’s an abbreviated outline you can use…
½ Minute: Preparing Your Heart
Invest the first 30 seconds preparing your heart. You might pray, “Lord, cleanse my heart so You can speak to me through the Scriptures. Make my mind alert, my soul active, and my heart responsive. Surround me with Your presence during this time.”
4 Minutes: Listening to God (Scripture Reading)
Take the next four minutes to read the Bible. Your greatest need is to hear a word from God. Allow the Word to strike fire in your heart. Meet the Author!
2½ Minutes: Talking to God (Prayer)
After God has spoken through His Book, then speak to Him in prayer. One method is to incorporate four areas of prayer that you can remember with the word ACTS.
- Adoration. This is the purest kind of prayer because it’s all for God. Tell the Lord that you love Him. Reflect on His greatness.
- Confession. Having seen Him, you now want to be sure every sin is cleansed and forsaken. “Confession” comes from a root word meaning “to agree together with.” When we apply this to prayer, it means we agree with God’s estimation of what we’ve done.
- Thanksgiving. Think of several specific things to thank Him for: your family, your business, your church—even thank Him for hardships.
- Supplication. This means to “ask for, earnestly and humbly.” Ask for others, then ask for yourself. Include people around the world, missionaries, friends, and those who have yet to hear about Jesus.
There you go. It only takes 7 minutes a day.
“This is simply a guide,” Bob emphasized. “Very soon you will discover that it is impossible to spend only seven minutes with the Lord. An amazing thing happens—seven minutes become 20, and it’s not long before you’re spending 30 precious minutes with Him.”
Bob also offered additional words of wisdom: “Do not become devoted to the habit, but to the Savior. Do it not because other [people] are doing it—not as a spiritless duty every morning, not merely as an end in itself, but because God has granted the priceless privilege of fellowship with Himself.”
You can download a FREE pdf of the pamphlet at: 7 Minutes with God
What has helped you maintain a consistent ‘Quiet Time’?
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