Oh how I love spending time with the Lord. I thought I’d post a picture of my quiet place in our family room where I spend time with the Lord EARLY in the morning. I say EARLY in capital letters because I do get up quite early for my quiet time. I get my coffee brewing, pull my selected books, Bible, and notebook out of my basket and sit on the couch and spend time with my Lord. Currently, my quiet time looks like this: First, I read from Springs In The Valley by Mrs. Charles Cowman - I just love how she writes and all the different devotional reading she includes. Then I read from Daily Light. Then, the Psalm of the day from my Bible. During this time I usually write in my journal in the Prepare Your Heart section of my Quiet Time Notebook. My writing includes my response and favorite quotes and Scripture from what I’ve read. Then I read in my One Year Bible - New Living Translation - my current reading plan. It’s probably my favorite reading plan because there is a reading from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a Psalm, and a Proverb. Today I read from Daniel, 2 Peter, Psalm 119 and a couple of verses from Proverbs. As I read in my One Year Bible, I underline significant verses.
Today the most significant was from 2 Peter 1:5-8, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I loved these verses because in them Peter makes clear how we should grow. I want to be “productive and useful” and these verses show me how. The Bible is my handbook for life, my map for the journey, and my love letter from my Lord. Oh, how I love His Word!! It is, as I read today, “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
After I read in my One Year Bible, I talk with the Lord in earnest about those things that are burdening my heart. I lay out all my requests and then I “HOPE” - holding on with patient expectation. And then, these days, I’ve been closing my quiet time by reading from a little devotional I found that I just love, Moments Of Peace For The Morning. That’s just a brief summary of my quiet time. I keep track of important requests in my Quiet Time Notebook. May the Lord continue to grow us in our time alone with Him.