Table of Contents

Practical Steps toward a Daily Quiet Time

Why Should I?

What Is It All About?

When Is My Appointment?

Does It Really Matter How Much Time?

Did He Really Say, “Close the Door”?

Hide-and-Seek?

The Disciplines of a Quiet Time

Reading God’s Word

Meditation

Worship

Confession

Listening

Prayer

Intercession

Spiritual Warfare

The Filling of the Spirit

Fasting

Journaling

Farewell, Farewell, Sweet Hour of Prayer

A Great Cloud of Witnesses

Notes

An Appointment with the King

Ideas for Jump-Starting Your Devotional Life

Joel Comiskey, Ph.D.

© 2002, 2011 by Joel Comiskey

Published by CCS Publishing

23890 Brittlebush Circle

Moreno Valley, CA 92557 USA

1-888-344-CELL

Printed in the United States of America

Originally published by Baker Book House

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked kjv is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked Message is taken from The Message. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

____________________________

To Kevin Strong,

a committed friend

in times of joy and adversity

____________________________

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1 Practical Steps Toward a Daily Quiet Time

1. Why Should I?

2. What Is It All About?

3. When Is My Appointment?

4. Does It Really Matter How Much Time?

5. Did He Really Say, “Close the Door”?

6. Hide-and-Seek?

Part 2 The Disciplines of a Quiet Time

7. Reading God’s Word

8. Meditation

9. Worship

10. Confession

11. Listening

12. Prayer

13. Intercession

14. Spiritual Warfare

15. The Filling of the Spirit

16. Fasting

17. Journaling

18. Farewell, Farewell, Sweet Hour of Prayer

Afterword: A Great Cloud of Witnesses

Notes

Acknowledgments

Although my name stands alone on the cover of the book, several people deserve special recognition. I want to thank:

• My wife, Celyce, for making time that she didn’t have to read, edit and offer suggestions to improve this book.

• My mother, Phyllis Comiskey, who helped me to see the need to lighten the book’s tone and to improve its flow.

• My close friend Kevin Strong, who volunteered to read, critique, and offer valuable advice.

• Author Susan Titus Osborne, who critiqued the manuscript and offered professional help.

• Rachel Boers, who skillfully edited and polished the book to its final form.

• Jane Campbell, who offered excellent leadership and persistence in guiding this book from the idea stage to print.

Introduction

One day a distraught man named John Salas nervously opened the door to my office. “I’ve tried everything,” he blurted out. “I’ve been addicted to alcohol and drugs. I’ve tried different religions. Now my wife wants to leave me. What can you do for me?”

Rarely had I witnessed such desperation in all my years of counseling. As one of the pastors at the El Batán Church in Quito, Ecuador, I had counseled many needy people, but John was different. He was clearly at the end of his rope. “I know that you’ve been sincerely seeking for answers,” I said, “but only Jesus Christ can fill the void in your heart.” As I led him in prayer to receive Jesus Christ, the urgency in John’s voice finally ended in relief.

God took control of John that day, and he became a new creation. A radiance and joy flooded his life. Before he left, I counseled John to spend time with God daily.

At the new believers’ class at our church the next evening, John told us how he had awakened early in the morning and spent time with his new friend, Jesus. John began a daily pattern of spending time alone with God that revolutionized his life and transformed him into a dynamic Christian. Over the years, as I watched John grow, I noticed the power of God in his ministry, in the renewal of his marriage and in the prosperity of his work.

John still had his share of difficulties. Past marriage problems plagued him and moving his restaurant to a new location required a heavy financial commitment. Yet God’s blessing followed him wherever he went. God was enlarging John’s territory, and others noticed it.

It seemed evident that the heavenly Father was rewarding John for spending time alone with Him. The words of Christ were coming true before my eyes: “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

Years later, I had the opportunity to prove that there is, indeed, a relationship between quiet time and God’s blessing. To earn my doctorate, I polled seven hundred small group lay leaders in eight countries around the world. I wanted to determine why some small group leaders were more successful than others in terms of group growth and multiplication. I was surprised to discover that a leader’s success had nothing to do with personality, social status, education or spiritual gifting; it had everything to do with the time he or she spent with God. Devotional or quiet time appeared consistently as the most important factor in my study.

I was not expecting this correlation. I had thought I would discover more natural, human reasons for success in ministry. Yet the correlation is a logical one. During quiet time alone with the living God, we hear God’s voice and receive His wisdom. It stands to reason, then, that Spirit-filled leaders who are moving under God’s guidance will have an untouchable sense of direction and leadership. God grants them success.

This success is, of course, not limited to small group leaders. This same personal guidance is available to anyone. God desires to reward us and make us more effective in our jobs, with our families, in our studies and in our interpersonal relationships. The Father, who sees us in our daily quiet times, will reward us openly.

Of course, the best reward of all is fellowship with the living God and getting to know Him better. This should be our most important target and chief goal. The more time we spend with God, the more we become like Him.

I’ve Tried, But . . .

For many, quiet time is not an exciting adventure of knowing the living God; rather, it is a lot like eating liver, attending a required board meeting or taking out the trash. “I’ll do it by the sheer force of my will—nothing more.” A friend of mine once said this:

What has been my problem in the past is dryness—no heartfelt time with the Lord, but instead just going through the motions. I fulfilled my quiet time out of duty because I thought it was the right thing to do. I wanted to get something from God. Now I want to be with Him, communicating with Him, “touching” my Father.

At one time or another we have all felt “dryness” about spending time with God. For those who feel that the struggle is consistent and success is rare, frustration often enters the picture. Perhaps, for instance, someone has told you that you are not really a Christian unless you have a quiet time. If so, rather than being a delight, spending time with God becomes a burden to alleviate guilt.

There are other reasons for not pursuing a quiet time. Maybe you are just not convinced that a daily quiet time is truly important—it is a nice thought, and perhaps a good thing, but not indispensable. When job, family and outside activities compete for attention, having a quiet time takes the backseat.

Maybe you view a daily quiet time as too routine. I hear this fairly often: “When I have an urge to seek the Lord I will, but making it a regular practice seems too ritualistic, not spontaneous enough.” Jim, a close friend of mine, said to me, “I know I should have a regular quiet time, but I’ve been waiting for it to feel right to get started.” Those who feel this way fail to see the value of Christian disciplines that form into habits.

Or maybe you are a brand-new Christian who has never heard of having a daily quiet time. When Chad received Jesus into his life several months ago, he wanted a deeper walk with God but did not know how to go about getting it. Even though he read God’s Word sporadically and prayed, he lacked the daily power to live a victorious Christian life. As Chad and many others have discovered, victory in Christ depends on spending time with God every day.

My Experience

I am not a passive writer on the topic of quiet times. I know that there is a direct relationship between my own success and failure and my quiet times with God. Whenever I say to God, “I’m too busy today; I have too much to accomplish; I’ll check in later,” then at the end of the day, after never having found the time, I realize what a frustrating, unfruitful and conflictual day I have experienced. Without my time with God, I flounder through my day without the Spirit’s guidance for life’s difficulties.

I went through one of those periods in 1996 while living in Pasadena, California, and attending Fuller Theological Seminary. During one particularly hectic time I felt justified to forgo my daily devotions. I said, “God, You know how pressed I am to turn in my course work. I just don’t have time for a daily quiet time.”

Under a pressing deadline I somehow managed to complete a major paper on church history and turn it in on time. When I received it back, however, it was covered with red ink from the professor. I had to redo it completely.

At this point, God spoke to me. Joel, He said, I’m the One who will give you wisdom. Even when you’re extremely busy, seek Me first and I’ll give you success.

“Okay, God,” I said. “I’ll obey You. I’ll spend regular time with You in the midst of my busyness. Just remember that I have even less time to complete this next paper.”

I was about to discover that tithing my time with God would help me make better use of the time I had. God was faithful. I found new, better ways of writing. My papers began to come back to me with encouraging comments, even though I had not spent as much time on them.

Your experience might have nothing to do with writing papers, yet the principle remains the same: As you commit yourself to spend time with God, He will bless your life and help you make better use of your time.

I have come to believe that the most important spiritual discipline in the Christian life is maintaining a regular quiet time—a time to talk to God and allow God to speak to you; a time to read the Word and receive food for your soul.

My quiet time provides me with a chance for a daily checkup, a time to express my cares and concerns. It is where I receive plans for the future and joy that strengthens my soul. It is my opportunity to talk directly with the One who loves me, who chose me before the creation of the universe and who is as close as the air I breathe.

What You Can Expect from This Book

This book will teach you how to spend quality time with God, refreshing your soul and preparing you for the day ahead.

This book is not a classical devotional book (a day-by-day guide for having devotions); rather, it is a guide to help you develop and maintain your own dynamic quiet time. Each chapter will provide practical suggestions on how to experience God more fully. My goal is to help you understand the why and how of spending time with God.

My hope is that you will be encouraged and excited to spend daily quiet time with the living God. It might take time for you to make it a habit, but you will soon notice God’s blessing in your life. Be faithful and God Himself will remove the shackles of dryness and rain down a fresh anointing over your soul. Your quiet time will soon become a delight, the best moment of your day.

__________Part 1__________

Practical Steps toward a Daily

Quiet Time

__________One__________

Why Should I?

In the mid–1980s I planted a church in downtown Long Beach, California. I envied the Pentecostal church down the street, which seemed to be full every night of the week. Our church was meeting in my home.

A rescue mission worker named Jane spent the summer helping to plant this inner-city church. “Jane,” I commented one day, “we need to provide more services. I think that’s the key to a successful church like the one down the street.”

Jane shook her head as she replied, “Joel, these people don’t need more meetings. What they really need is to learn how to feed themselves from God’s Word. Would it be better to hand out food to these needy people throughout their lives or to teach them how to work so they could feed themselves?”

I tried to argue, but my words fell flat. I knew she was right. I had forgotten that busy church activities could never replace the personal, spiritual needs of church members. My primary calling as a church planter was not to make people dependent on me through multiple worship services. I needed to teach them how to feed themselves in order to sustain a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ.

Daily Bread

There is no question that the combination of worship, powerful preaching and intimate fellowship found in attending church services deepens our relationship with Christ. But the impact is temporary; we need additional spiritual food to help us face the daily challenges of our lives.

When God provided bread from heaven (manna) for His people, the Israelites, He commanded them to gather it daily or it would spoil. A day’s worth of manna was good for only one day. We, too, need daily spiritual food to face the unique challenges that each day brings. Jesus said, “Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). Yesterday’s blessing and anointing will not prepare you to face today’s cares, trials and heartaches. You need fresh nourishment from Jesus today.

I confess that I did not always believe in the importance of making my quiet time a daily activity. At times I would say, “I’m too busy today, God. I’ll do extra devotions tomorrow.” I did not realize how much I would need fresh nourishment today—as well as tomorrow.

While God will use Sunday morning preaching to feed, transform and encourage you, do not stop there. Spend time with Him every day. As you feed on God’s written Word, listen to His voice and receive the filling of the Spirit, you will be renewed and encouraged to serve Him more effectively.

We Love Him Because He First Loved Us

I am constantly amazed by the sincere love my three girls offer me. “Daddy, we just want to be with you,” is their constant refrain. Their desire is not to fulfill a ritual or achieve a good work; they are acting on a natural desire that God has placed within them to love and be loved.

Similarly, spending time with God every day is not a meritorious act to make us worthy in His sight. We do not do it to prove ourselves before God, to offer Him another good work. Rather, our quiet times are a response to His love. Because Jesus loves us and has made us righteous by His blood, we desire to spend time with Him and know Him more intimately. We long to be with Him—not because we have to, but because we want to.

A. W. Tozer, a spiritual leader of the twentieth century, said, “We pursue God because and only because He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to pursuit” (note 1). God’s grace births a desire in us to spend time with Him. We simply respond to His love and desire to enter His presence.

Henry Ward Beecher, a U.S. clergyman and popular orator of the nineteenth century, related an incident about a laborer on his father’s farm in Litchfield, Connecticut:

He had a little room, in one corner of which I had a small cot, and as a boy I used to lie there and wonder at the enthusiasm with which he engaged in his devotions. It was a regular thing. First he would read the New Testament, hardly aware that I was in the room. Then he would alternately pray and sing and laugh. I never saw the Bible enjoyed like that! But I want to bear record that his praying made a profound impression upon me. It never entered my mind whether or not his actions were appropriate. I only thought, “How that man does enjoy it!” I gained from him more of an idea of the desirableness of rejoicing prayer than I ever did from my mother or father. He led me to see that there should be real overflowing gladness and thanksgiving in it all (note 2).

Ask God to make your quiet time a delight. He wants to remove the heavy burden of “checking the time clock.” Although you might find it difficult at first, God desires to make your quiet time the most enjoyable part of your day.

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Grace Only

• The message of the Protestant reformation is that we are made righteous by Jesus Christ and not by good works.

• We don’t have our quiet time in order to be acceptable before God, but because we already are acceptable before God and naturally want to know Him better.

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God Desires to Spend Time with His Children

Did you know that God wants to spend time with you far more than you want to spend time with Him? So often we imagine that spending time with God is a job to perform. To many, unfortunately, it is like lifting a heavy load to the throne of grace to please an angry God.

Know that the Bible paints a different picture. We see a God who loves His children and longs to be with them. David said, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you” (Psalm 139:17–18).

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What the Bible Says about You

View your quiet time as a love relationship with the living God—don’t allow it to become a chore. See it as a natural response to His love. Remember what the Bible says about you:

• The hairs of your head are numbered (Luke 12:7).

• You were chosen before the world began (Ephesians 1:4).

• God’s thoughts toward you are more than the sand by the seashore (Psalm 139:17-18).

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God is thinking about you all the time. Henry Blackaby, a Baptist preacher who wrote the best-selling book Experiencing God, says, “God Himself pursues a love relationship with you. He is the One who takes the initiative to bring you into this kind of relationship. He created you for a love relationship with Himself. That is the very purpose of your lives” (note 3). God longs to spend time with you more than you can imagine. In fact, God desires to spend time with you so much that even now He is preparing your eternity, in which you will spend unbroken time with Him (see John 14:2).

And do not think that God wants to enjoy you only when you are strong and capable. No, God understands exactly where you are at any moment. He enjoys you in your precise stage of development. I have enjoyed spending time with my daughters at each stage of their lives. Chelsea, our youngest, says the cutest things and can cuddle up in a way that only a five-year-old can. I enjoy Sarah, our oldest, in a different way. We converse on subjects way over Chelsea’s head. I can best reach our middle child, Nicole, through game-playing and sports.

Let God enjoy you. He chose you before the creation of the world and then called you in order to enter a love relationship with you. God desires to develop that love relationship. He desires to meet you in your daily quiet time.

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Warning Signs of Burnout

• Joylessness combined with low-level or chronic depression while being extremely busy.

• Lukewarm feelings towards God that are constantly suffocated.

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Take Time to Be Holy

People often say, “Maybe next year I can spend regular time with God. Right now I’m overloaded at work.” Recent studies indicate that Americans work the longest hours in the industrialized world—nearly 2000 hours per year! Between 1977 and 1997, the average workweek among salaried Americans was lengthened from 43 to 47 hours. Over the same years, the number of workers putting in 50 or more hours a week jumped from 24 to 37 percent.

Scarcely a decade ago, Americans were horrified with the work habits of the Japanese. Now, according to a recent report of the International Labor Organization, the United States has slipped past Japan to become the longest-working nation in the world (note 4). The average American works eight weeks more per year than the average western European, and the same report says that Americans run a risk of burning out (note 5).

Working hard is not wrong; burning out while working hard is the problem. When we work hard without God’s joy and peace controlling our lives, we build up stress and worry that result in burnout and dysfunctional behavior.

I mentioned in the introduction how God showed me that offering a tithe of my time to Him helped me make better use of the rest of my time. Spending time with God will give you a supernatural peace and joy that will accompany you throughout the day. This peace and joy will allow you to work hard and increase your productivity while avoiding the accompanying burnout. As Nehemiah said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

When you realize how desperately you need God’s fullness, you will want to take time to meet with Him each day. Realize, however, that finding that time will not be easy. The hymn Take Time to Be Holy expresses the hardest thing about spending time with God. We will most likely never find time; we will have to take it from the other demands that crowd and press on us. Paul Cedar, a well-known pastor and Christian leader, confessed this:

I had been establishing appointments for every person and every event that was important in my life. . . . I realized that I rarely if ever scheduled an appointment with God. That recognition transformed my schedule and my prayer life. I began to schedule time alone with God every day. In fact, whenever I buy a new date book now, I always set my regular appointment with God first. . . .(note 6).

Be assured that urgent needs will crowd your schedule and spoil your initiative to spend time with God unless you plan ahead—unless you make your meeting with Him the most vital appointment of your day. The words of Christ assure us: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

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Inverse Equation of Spending Time with God

Prioritizing spending time with God helps you get more accomplished during the day.

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Chapter Summary

• We need to spend daily time with God in order to receive regular spiritual nourishment.

• Having a quiet time is not a way to earn our salvation or merit; it is the result of responding to the God who loves us.

• Quiet times please God’s heart by giving Him a chance to spend time with us.

• No one has “extra” time. We must make time to be in God’s presence.

Practical Steps

• Block off time for an appointment with God each day for the next week.

• Meditate on Psalm 139 and Romans 8:28–39. Think about how much God enjoys you and wants to spend time with you.

For Group Study

• This chapter covered various reasons to spend daily time with God. After reviewing those reasons, which do you find is most important to you? Why?

• Share with the group any difficulties/obstacles you face in spending time with God.

____________ Two __________

What Is It All About?

One night in 1989, my newlywed wife and I were on our way home from a church service in Escondido, California. Just as darkness descended upon a deserted stretch of Freeway 15 our old Toyota sputtered to a stop. Out of gas. I had been busy that week and had forgotten to fill the tank. There we were, no telephones, no houses, nothing nearby. I opened the car door in a state of numbness, shocked by our bleak circumstances. “I guess I’ll just have to put out my thumb,” I mumbled to myself.

Within three minutes, a smiling person stopped, introduced himself as a Christian evangelist, drove us to the nearest gas station (many miles away) and back again to the car. Unforgettable. A miracle straight from the throne of God—yet I dare not tempt God again by purposely running out of gas on a dark highway just to see if another evangelist, or perhaps this time an apostle, would stop!

Just as cars need gasoline, Christians will stop functioning spiritually unless we receive fuel from above. Even those who show up on Sunday, glory in God’s grace and consider themselves card-carrying evangelicals will have little impact on society if they are running on empty. Time with God provides the spiritual sustenance necessary to fill up our souls.

Later on in this book I will detail just how to do this through God’s Word, worship, confession, prayer and other spiritual disciplines. First, however, I would like to discuss a common objection to having a quiet time. Many people assert that they do not need a daily quiet time because they “pray all day.” Is this enough to fill our spiritual tanks?

Is It Enough to Pray “On the Hoof”?

Consider the relationship between spouses. A quick kiss on the cheek is a lovely sentiment and an important thing to do intermittently throughout the day. To keep the fire burning, however, means finding time for more than that—like a passionate embrace or a special romantic time.

In the same way, while the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to live in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:25), it also invites us to spend specific time with God (see Matthew 6:5–6). Pastor and author Cecil Murphey shares this testimony:

At one time I even abandoned a set devotional time. After all, as I trained myself constantly to turn to the Lord, to be always in a spirit of prayer, why have a special time set aside for spiritual contact? . . . [F]or all the frequency of my prayer, something wasn’t quite right. I covered the territory, but had no sense of any in-depth praying. My prayers consisted mainly of “help,” “guide,” “encourage,” “convert”—my concentration was often diverted. I would watch the red light while I was asking God to reconcile Paul and Susan. Surely God hears my intercessory prayers while I stand in the check-out line at K-Mart, or as I carry the plastic garbage bag outside. But there is also the need for times of full concentration. Some needs can’t be handled lightly. . . . I missed closeness with Christ. There’s something significant about being alone, in a quiet spot, with no one but Jesus Christ. My hands doing nothing, my body fairly well relaxed—I talk to him, but he also talks to me. Or sometimes it’s not even a conscious talking—just togetherness (note 7).

Personal time with God refreshes and empowers us to walk in the Spirit for the rest of the day. After spending time with God we will notice a new attentiveness to His presence in our daily activities.

Granted, “filling up” during quiet time does not negate the need to pray without ceasing throughout the day. Frank Laubach, author of many books on prayer, literacy and justice, says, “A devotional hour is no substitute for ‘constantly abiding,’ but it is an indispensable help; it starts the day right. But the day must keep right. We should cultivate the habit of turning to God whenever we stop any piece of work and look around to ask what to do next” (note 8).

So, in reality, both are important. The one feeds on the other. Praying without ceasing is the afterglow of receiving God’s fullness in our quiet times. We must not make the mistake of substituting one for the other.

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Quiet Time Versus Continually Abiding

Quiet Time

• Receiving God fullness

• Studying God’s Word

• Waiting on God

• Praying about particular matters

Continually Abiding

• Maintaining God’s fullness

• Remembering God’s Word

• Walking with God

• Praying moment by moment

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What Do You Actually Do During a Quiet Time?

The purpose of your quiet time is to develop an intimate relationship with God. It is about friendship rather than rules. When you get together with a friend, do you list beforehand precisely what you are going to do and say? Of course not. You let the conversation ebb and flow—you just enjoy each other’s company. That is how a quiet time with God should be, too. Yet many Christians treat it as a ritual instead of a relationship.

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What Quiet Time Is Not

• Religious ritual. Rather, it’s a relationship with the Almighty.

• Reading the Bible only. The Bible provides the spiritual sustenance of quiet time, but spending time with God is more than Bible reading.

• Just prayer. Like Bible reading, prayer is one part of a quiet time. It should also include reading worship, confession and listening.

• Reading a devotional guide. It is great to have a plan, but it is important to go beyond the plan and enter into the presence of God Himself.

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The apostle Paul’s yearning captures the heart of quiet time: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10). Jeremiah covers similar ground:

“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 9:23–24

During my own quiet time, I like to read the Bible, meditate on verses that stand out, worship, pray and write in my journal. Some days I spend more time in prayer, other days I linger in God’s Word and some days I journal more. My goal is to know God, not to follow a routine.

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Knowing God Is a Relationship

Knowing God does not come through a program, a study, or a method. Knowing God comes through a relationship with a Person. This is an intimate love relationship with God. Through this relationship, God reveals Himself, His purposes, and His ways; and He invites you to join Him where He is already at work (note 9).

(Henry T. Blackaby)

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Do not allow your quiet time to become an evangelical rosary—the same mechanical prayers offered up day by day and week by week. The most important function of a quiet time is to allow you to break through into God’s presence and come to know Him more intimately. As soon as this goal of relationship with God becomes clouded with rules and rituals, its purpose is defeated.

One woman describes her experience this way:

I’m not just reading my Bible or making requests anymore. I listen for Him, meditate on His Word. I write down what I hear Him saying to me. I try to make this time as honest, deep, and intimate as possible. When I started out doing quiet time, it was like I was getting my time card stamped by heaven—“Yep, she was here. A whole ten minutes!” Lately, I’ve had to drag myself away (note 10).

This is the gist of what I am saying. Quiet time is more than opening a Bible and saying prayers. It is experiencing the living God. It is communion with the King. It is finding Him and then enjoying His blessed presence throughout the day.

Do not become too focused on what you do in your quiet time; instead, focus on who God is. The best method for you will be the one that opens the door to experiencing the living God and draws you closer to Him.

Chapter Summary

• Quiet times empower us to walk in the Spirit and “pray without ceasing” throughout the rest of the day.

• There is no one set way of having a quiet time. The important thing is to draw close to God, thus avoiding ritual and routine.

Practical Steps

• Write down the difference between a regular quiet time and praying without ceasing.

• Write down how you would have defined “daily devotions” prior to reading this chapter. Would you define it differently now? If so, write a new definition.

For Group Study

• What obstacles in your quiet time keep you from getting closer to God?

___________ Three ___________

When Is My

Appointment?

Moreno Valley is a desert community—dry, brown and barren. When we first saw pictures of our new home, the grass was green; however, when we arrived it was practically dead beyond repair. This puzzled us, because behind our home is a park. While our grass was dead, the grass in the park was alive and well.

The first night in our new home we found the answer. Automatic sprinklers leaped up in the evening and wee hours of the morning to water the park property. Watering in the cool hours of the evening and early morning refreshed the grass so that it could withstand the cruel daytime heat. Taking cue, we began to do the same.

Watering lawns is a lot like spending time with God—meeting with Him regularly refreshes our spiritual life so that we are better able to face the dry, cracked world around us. When we spend consistent, daily time with God, we remain spiritually healthy and useful tools in God’s hands.

Jesus says this in Matthew 6:5–6: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” These verses suggest a specific time set apart to seek the Father—to meditate on His Word, listen to the Spirit’s voice, worship Him, make known your requests and intercede for others.

Jesus made it a priority when He was on earth to spend time alone with His Father. Luke 5:15 explains that as Christ’s fame spread, the success of His ministry compelled Him to spend more time with God. Verse 16 says, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” In the midst of an increasingly busy ministry, He separated from the multitude for a quiet time. If Christ, our model, prioritized His time with the Father, shouldn’t we?

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Picture This

You are in the White House waiting to meet the President of the United States. In five minutes it will be your turn to shake his hand and see the Oval Office, the dream of a lifetime. You are nervous, yet hoping to appear relaxed. Then you see the door swing open and hear the words, “Please come in . . .”

Now picture this. The King of Kings, far more important than any worldly dignitary, has requested your presence. He’ has invited you to appear personally before His majestic throne. And He is not interested in a “photo op” or a one-time handshake—He wants to meet with you everyday.

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Choosing the Best Time

When is the perfect hour to spend time with God? None of us can answer the question of what time of day is best for another individual. It depends on who you are. The best time will depend on when you are the most awake and ready to meet God. God deserves our best time, not the stale leftovers.

The Morning

Jesus preferred the morning hour. Mark 1:35 says, “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.”

Jesus spent time with the Father before the busyness of His day began. David tells us in the Psalms about prayer time in the morning: “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (Psalm 5:3).

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Morning Hymn

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!

God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

(Reginald Heber, 1783)

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One positive aspect of morning quiet time is that your mind is fresh. But be sure that you are awake before entering the Almighty’s presence. In other words, get out of bed! Some people begin praying in bed as soon as they open their eyes. Unfortunately, drowsiness is the number-one enemy of effective devotions; deep prayer can quickly turn into deep sleep.

Yes, it is hard to shake ingrained habits. Perhaps you need to move the alarm clock to a table where you have to get up to turn it off (this action alone may wake you up!). After you get out of bed, get your blood flowing. Wash your face, make yourself a cup of coffee or go for a jog—whatever will prepare you to meet the King of kings.

David said, “Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.” The key to David’s praise is not found in his harp and lyre; rather, the key is found in his call to wake himself to pursue the living God. If you are going to please God, make certain that you have awakened yourself before trying to praise Him.

The Afternoon and Evening

If you have struggled to spend time with God in the morning, maybe you are not a morning person. Many people prefer to meet God in the afternoon or evening. Woodrow Michael Kroll, president and senior Bible teacher for the radio ministry Back to the Bible, says:

Are you a morning person? Do you know others who claim to be night people? If so, whether morning person or night person, each of us must ask ourselves if our heart is fixed upon God. . . . Whether a morning person or a night person, the one who knows and loves the Lord God can have an unperturbed heart when he sees the world reeling around him (note 11).

My wife, Celyce, comes alive in the evening. If she needs to balance the budget or prepare a Bible study lesson, she will do it in the evening. So when Celyce first committed herself to a daily quiet time, it was natural for her to choose the evening hours.

A lot depends on how you are constructed. Are you more like a lark or an owl? If you choose the evening, it gives you a chance to reflect on your day in light of Scripture and to prepare yourself for the following day’s battle. In addition, people who spend daily time with God in the evening say they sleep more peacefully because they have placed the burdens of the day at the Father’s feet.

Again, make sure that you are wide-awake. It is probably not wise to have your quiet time while lying in bed right before drifting off to sleep. Under such conditions, you are more likely to fall asleep than to hear from the Almighty.

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Practical Tips for Waking Up

I find it difficult to rush into my morning time of prayer. I need some time and space for preparation after I get up in the morning. Since I am not a coffee drinker, I usually drink a glass of water or juice and then go into the bathroom to freshen up a bit. Sometimes I will take a shower before my quiet time, but usually I simply wash my face with cool water to help wake up.

Some people prefer to go for a jog, take a shower, . . . I personally need the discipline of beginning the day with God. I want to give Him my very first attention before I become distracted or involved with anything else (note 12).

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Set Your Schedule Beforehand

The actual time you choose does not matter as much as the fact that you actually choose a time. Establishing a daily appointment with God is where most people fall short. A common line is: “When I find time, I’ll meet privately with God.” We all know that “extra time” never comes.

We plan for those things that matter, and those who want to spend daily time with God plan ahead. If you are going to talk to your boss about a salary raise, you will plan the meeting in advance. The Father in heaven also prefers a specific time. Write your appointment with God in your calendar and say to the next person or activity that tries to occupy that hour, “Sorry, I have a scheduled appointment.”

Once you have made your appointment, you need to prepare for it properly. For example, you might say, “I will meet God at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow before my children wake up.” Proper preparation for this appointment might include getting to bed at a reasonable hour, setting your alarm clock, asking God to help you get up at that particular hour and praying that He will give you special grace to be alert and receive from Him. God will delight in answering your prayer as you sincerely do your part.

Be Consistent

Lack of consistency is one of the greatest hindrances to a regular, daily quiet time. Poor planning—or no planning—leaves too many people deciding to have a quiet time “when I feel like it.” It may sound spiritual that these individuals plan on spending time with God when they feel “burdened” or when the urge comes upon them. While it is exemplary to feel the burden and passion of God, however, that will not always be the case. As we have noted, we are more likely to feel tired, busy and preoccupied with other things.

Those who make appointments with God and stick with them will soon find that consistency—meeting with God at the same time each day—pays off. The main reason is a pragmatic one: The likelihood that you will actually have a quiet time will increase because you will grow accustomed to setting aside that particular period of time. You will find yourself planning your daily activity around your quiet time rather than trying to fit it into a crowded schedule.

To help you be consistent, tell another person (roommate, spouse, parent, friend) about the time you have chosen and ask that person to pray for you. Having someone to encourage you and keep you accountable can be a great help in keeping your commitment to a daily quiet time.

Time with God must first be a discipline before it can be a continual joy. Speaking of quiet time, Everett Lewis Cattell, a Mennonite pastor in the ’60s, said, “There must be regularity of time . . . in order merely to guarantee that we get at it and get it done. Fortunately, this leads to better things as the discipline gives way to joy” (note 13).

Make your daily quiet time a habit. Allow it to become part of your routine so when you do not have it, you will miss it. Don’t wait for the urge to come upon you. Make it a discipline, and the urge will come.

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Tips for a Successful Quiet Time

• Schedule it regularly. Write in on your calendar or in your date book. Keep the appointment with God just as you would an appointment with anyone else.

• Have a consistent location. Spending time in the same place helps you make it a habit.

• Keep the format practical. The Bible does not teach a single approach. Find out what works for you.

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Accept Failures

When you blow it and cannot spend time with God, do not let the devil condemn you. Yes, you will fail. Circumstances will arise when it will be very difficult to keep your normal schedule. Take those exceptions in stride and do not give up.

Two days ago, we spent the night in Sacramento, California, at my brother-in-law’s home. We stayed up so late that I could no longer comprehend what Ken, my brother-in-law, was saying.

My mission for six o’clock the next morning was to transport a piano five hundred miles to Moreno Valley, California. No, I did not wake up at three o’clock to have my quiet time with God. And no, I did not prepare myself the night before. After a quick shower and stand-up breakfast, I was on the road at 6 a.m.

At such times, remember that God loves you and longs to be with you. Sure, He was disappointed that you did not show up today, but tomorrow He will be there again with His loving arms open to receive you and reveal Himself to you. Continue to plan diligently for tomorrow’s appointment and keep building the routine. Commit your way to God, and He will bless your efforts.

Chapter Summary

• Jesus invites us to spend time with Him at a specific time each day.

• The key to determining when you will have your quiet time is discovering when you are most alert.

• For many, it is best to spend quality time with God in the morning; others prefer the evening or afternoon.

• Consistency is important in developing the daily habit of a quiet time.

Practical Steps

• Determine if you will spend time with God in the morning or the evening.

• Decide on the exact time of your daily appointment with God.

• Set your alarm or schedule in advance to make sure that you keep your commitment (if necessary to be awake, drink coffee, jog, etc.).

• Share your commitment with someone and ask that person to pray for you.

For Group Study

• Share with the group at what time you prefer to have your quiet time and why you prefer that time.

• On a scale from 1 to 10, how consistent have you been in spending regular time with God?

• What have been your obstacles to a consistent daily quiet time (for example, drowsiness)?

• Take a moment to fill out the below spaces (at least one for each).

Advantages of the Morning

1. _____________

2. _____________

3. _____________

Advantages of the Afternoon

1. _____________

2. _____________

3. _____________

Advantages of the Evening

1. _____________

2. _____________

3. _______________

___________ Four ___________

Does It

Really Matter How Much Time?

When I received Jesus in 1973 I longed to please Him. I began reading about the great men and women of God who spent hours each day on their knees.

I read about Martin Luther, who confessed that he was so busy that he had to spend three hours in the morning with God. Then I discovered that J. O. Frasier, a missionary to the Lisus tribes of western China, spent half his day in prayer and the other half in evangelism (note 14). Soon after, I found that John Welsh, a famous preacher during the Reformation, spent eight hours in daily prayer. How can I do any less? I asked myself. Determined to follow these spiritual giants, I set the goal of three hours daily in God’s presence.

Perhaps Martin Luther could juggle three-hour devotions each day, but I was an eighteen-year-old college student with a full-time supermarket job. “Where’s Joel?” my roommate inquired one evening. After calling several times he finally found me—asleep on my knees in the prayer closet. Trying to spend three hours on my knees after working eight hours each day just was not realistic. I finally realized that I was doing more sleeping than praying and I backed down.

Too Much Time

For those starting their pilgrimages in spending time with God, there is actually danger in trying to spend too much time with Him. When zeal wears thin, it is easy to feel burned out and stop having a quiet time altogether. The devil would love nothing better.

It is much better to plan for the long haul. Remember, you are running a marathon race, not the fifty-yard dash. Pastor Mark Littleton confessed, “Reading about these super pray-ers nearly wipes you out. As holy as David Brainerd was . . . you get a bit tired of him lying in the snow, praying for six hours, and getting up wet. Not from the snow, though. From the sweat!” (note 15).

I think this happens more than we realize. Sometimes our heroes are so far beyond where most of us live, work and think that we imagine what they did to be unreal, otherworldly, not for us. Never try to be a spiritual giant in one leap of faith. God will reveal how much time He wants you to spend with Him each day. You do not need to give up your job and family and spend eight hours each day in prayer. Set a realistic goal you can keep rather than one you are sure to break.

Not Enough Time

In-and-Out Burger is one of the most popular food chains in Southern California. Order your hamburger, shake, fries and get out quickly. Many approach devotions in the same way.

The problem is that it takes time to enter the presence of God and lay aside the busy, worrisome thoughts of the day. If you do not linger in God’s presence, if you do not lay hold of Him, you probably will not find His fullness. Leave the fast-food mentality with In-and-Out Burger, McDonald’s or Burger King. In order to receive God’s fullness, you must spend time in deep meditation. As the psalmist says, “Deep calls to deep” (Psalm 42:7).

Take care that you do not rob yourself of God’s blessing by leaving His presence when He is about to fill you. During your daily time with Him, Jesus transforms, feeds, convicts, encourages and gives fresh illumination and direction. You cannot rush in and out and still expect to receive His fullness. How often have I raced out of the house without adequately seeking God, hoping to accomplish a little bit more, only to return bruised, depressed and battered!

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Remember ...

• Start with a realistic amount of time you can commit to for the long haul.

• It takes five to ten minutes just to clear your mind and get focused on Jesus, so avoid the fast-food mentality.

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Strike a Balance

My recommendation for those starting their quiet times is to spend a half hour each day, with the goal of graduating to one hour. “Why even set a specific time?” you might ask. “Why not spend as much time as necessary?”

Because when you first spend time with God, it will be hard to feel His presence. You will probably feel dry and wonder why you even need to practice such a ritualistic exercise! Remember that it takes time to develop intimacy with God.

In those early days, expect to press ahead even if you receive little during your quiet time. Mike Bickle, a Kansas City pastor well known for his 24-hour prayer ministry, writes:

When you first spend 60 minutes in a prayer time do not be surprised if you come out of it with only 5 minutes you consider quality time. Keep it up, and those 5 minutes will become 15, then 30, then more. The ideal, of course, is to end up with both quantity and quality, not one or the other. (note 16)

You will find that as you set an appropriate amount of time for your personal devotions, you will be able to persevere as you develop more intimacy with God. C. Peter Wagner writes that “it is more advisable to start with quantity than quality in daily prayer time. First, program time. The quality will usually follow” (note 17). You will grow in your delight to spend time with God the more you do it. Hunger produces more hunger.

When I began dating my wife, our time together initially was awkward. We were not sure what to say, how to act or what to expect. As we spent more time together, our relationship became more natural. We understood each other better and we could enjoy each other more fully. Likewise, as you consistently spend time with God, you will notice a new freedom in His presence. The quantity of time will become more qualitative as you grow in your relationship with Him.

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Sweet Hour of Prayer

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father’s throne;

Make all my wants and wishes known;

In seasons of distress and grief,

My soul has often found relief,

And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.

(William H. Bradbury, 1861)

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Do Not Give Up

A man planted a beautiful garden that yielded rich and abundant food. His neighbor saw it and planted his own garden the next spring. But the neighbor did nothing to take care of it. He did not water, cultivate or fertilize. In the fall, he returned to his devastated garden. It had produced no fruit and was overgrown with weeds. He concluded that gardening did not work. Perhaps the problem was bad soil or perhaps he simply lacked a “green thumb.”

Meanwhile, a third neighbor began gardening. His garden did not yield a great deal immediately, but he worked hard and continued learning new skills. And as he put his new learning into practice year after year, his garden reaped an increasingly abundant harvest.

Developing a meaningful quiet time takes time and work. It will not “just happen.” Start with a particular amount of time and be consistent. You might not see immediate results, but as you steadfastly seek God on a daily basis, you will grow in a love relationship with Him. Your quiet time will become the most exciting part of your day, and you will notice a new fruitfulness in your life.

Chapter Summary

• Do not be overwhelmed by thinking that God requires an exorbitant amount of time from you.

• There is little benefit in spending either too much time or not enough time in daily devotions. The challenge is to reach a healthy balance.

• When starting a quiet time, begin with a half hour and graduate to one hour. Some men and women of God spend more time.

Practical Steps

• Decide on the amount of quiet time that best suits you.

• Spend that amount of time daily for the next two weeks. Analyze whether or not this amount of time is working for you.

For Group Study

• In your opinion, how much time should a person spend in his or her daily quiet time?

• How do you react when you hear about those who spend huge portions of time each day with God?

• Share your personal journey in spending daily time with God (perhaps trying to spend too much or too little time).

• Some have discovered that it is a good idea to be held accountable to others regarding a regular quiet time. Get together with one or two others and talk about how your quiet time has gone during the past week.

___________ Five ____________

Did He Really Say, “Close the Door”?

In 1990 we arrived in Ecuador, South America, as missionaries with the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

As part of my early missionary training experience, I traveled to a tiny mining town near the border of Ecuador and Peru. The only way to travel beyond the town was by foot or mule.

During the day I lectured in halting Spanish to about fifteen believers in a half-finished, open-air church about the importance of spending daily time with God. I told them they needed to find a silent place where they could spend time with God. A coal miner asked me if he could have his quiet time in the forest as he walked to work each morning. I responded with a resounding yes. The silence and solitude of that forest made it easy to find a place alone.

How different are our modern urban jungles, where noise reigns and silence is uncommon. In Intimacy with the Almighty, Chuck Swindoll says,

Ours is a cluttered, complicated world. God did not create it that way. Depraved, restless humanity has made it that way. . . . Tragically, precious little in this hurried and hassled age promotes such intimacy. We have become a body of people who look more like a herd of cattle in a stampede than a flock of God beside green pastures and still waters. Our forefathers knew, it seems, how to commune with the Almighty . . . but do we? (note 18).

We have grown so accustomed to noise that we almost feel uncomfortable alone in silence. Yet Jesus says, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6).

Praying in Secret

The Greek word Jesus uses in Matthew 6:6 for room is tameon, referring to the place in the Old Testament Temple where the treasures were stored. Some commentators note a relationship between the place of devotions and the riches received. In like manner, as we enter a place of privacy and “close the door” on the noise and cares of daily life, we find the precious presence of God.

Jesus, of course, set the example for us. He ministered to the clamoring crowds, but He also entered private places where He could “close the door” in order to commune with the Father. The gospel of Luke tells us, for example, that “Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them” (6:12–13).

Just as Jesus fled from the noise of the multitude to seek the Father, we must also close the door to the crowds of work, ministry and family in order to seek God successfully. We cannot really expect to enter into the holy presence of God while sitting in front of the TV, being interrupted by telephone calls or driving in the car on the way to work.

On a practical level, closing the door helps us to separate ourselves from noise in order to hear God’s voice; on a moral level, it guards us from spiritual pride and boasting. The Pharisees, a Jewish faction that stressed the observance of rites and ceremonies, loved to seek God among the crowds. They habitually sounded a trumpet before offering prayers, so that the multitude would note their “special” relationships with God. They loved the praise of men and the glowing adulation of the title “rabbi.”

Jesus sliced right through the Pharisees’ acts of hypocrisy. He gave this instruction to His disciples: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5).

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Christ’s Alone Time

• His ministry began with a forty-day fast in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11).

• He chose the twelve disciples after spending the entire night alone (Luke 6:12).

• After receiving the news of the death of John the Baptist, He “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” (Matthew 14:13).

• He dismissed Himself to be alone after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:23).

• Following a long night of work, He "got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place" (Mark 1:35).

• After Jesus healed the leper, He “withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16).

• In preparation for the cross, He spent the night praying alone in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36–46).

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Variety in Secret Places

How do you find a “room” where you can “close the door”? Use your creativity and experiment until you find what is right for you. Some prefer quiet time in a forest or park. Jesus preferred the desert or a mountaintop (see Luke 5:16). Peter sought God on a rooftop (see Acts 10:9). Paul retreated to the inner rooms of a boat (see Acts 27:23).

During one New York winter many years ago, I held my daily devotional time in a bathroom. The only available seat was the toilet. The challenge was having my quiet time before my roommates woke up and needed to use the facilities!

On normal occasions I spend my quiet time in my home office, but when possible I delight to seek God outdoors at the park or a lake. The only criterion for determining your secret place is to make sure that quietness reigns supreme.

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Possible Secret Places

• Bedroom

• Park

• Office

• Beach

• Backyard

• Forest

• Garden

• Garage

• Bathroom

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I like Paul Cedar’s advice: “It is important for me to have a private place where I can pray aloud and sing, laugh, cry, or do whatever else is appropriate in prayer without fear of interrupting others. I enjoy being in an environment that sets me free to commune with God without becoming self-conscious” (note 19). The best place is where you can shout, sing, cry or just wait in silence. If you are constantly wondering if someone is listening to you, it is hard to be transparent before God.

Some people say they cannot find a place to be alone. Okay, it might be difficult, but impossible? What about the first time you were in love with someone? Was it impossible to find a meeting place? Ask God and He will help you find a solitary place.

Potential Distractions

An important part of preparing for your quiet time is to guard against distractions. Remind your children in advance that you will be spending your quiet time with God. Make sure that your telephone answering machine is working. If you suddenly remember some urgent task, resist the temptation to stop your quiet time in order to fulfill it. Remember how much you need God’s daily bread.

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Common Quiet Time Distractions

• Ringing phone

• Doorbell

• Kids clamoring

• Hunger pangs

• Loud music

• T.V.

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On more than one occasion I have not followed my own advice. Instead I have chased rabbit trails during my quiet time and, in the end, received very little from God. As I look back on those days, I notice a pattern of irritation and frustration.

While refusing to allow Satan to condemn you when unforeseen circumstances divert your attention, do prepare as much as possible to maintain the quietness of your quiet time.

The Question of Posture

Paul told the Romans to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (see Romans 12:1). Can you picture someone offering his or her body to God? Offering our bodies in worship is just one of the many postures found in the Bible.

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Biblical Postures for Worshiping God

• Bending over (2 Kings 18:22; Psalm 57)

• Bowing or kneeling (2 Chronicles 29:29; Ezra 9:5; Psalm 22:29)

• Bowing low or falling on one’s face (Genesis 24:26, 48; Exodus 4:31)

• Throwing oneself down (Deuteronomy 9:25, Ezra 10:1)

• Bowing the head (Isaiah 58:5; Micah 6:6)

• Standing before the Lord (Nehemiah 9:2; Psalm 106:30; Jeremiah 18:20)

• Lifting up hands (Psalm 63:4)

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There is no one correct posture for your time spent with God. Today after listening to a worship song on my CD player, I was overwhelmed with God’s grace and faithfulness toward me. I fell down on the floor with hands held high. I wept before God, thanking Him for His kindness.

When God gives you a fresh vision for His holiness, it is good to fall on your knees out of respect and reverence. In the Old Testament, kneeling expressed humility and reverence. “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker,” says the psalmist (Psalm 95:6).

Posture is useful, however, only when it expresses the reality of the heart. To prostrate yourself painfully before God for hours because you think it is required would displease God. God hates religious ritual that is not backed up with heart reality. Listen to what God says about religious ritual through His prophet Isaiah:

Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.

Isaiah 1:13–15

One of the most moving passages regarding worship is found in 1 Chronicles 29:10–13. You can feel the passion and love for God in David’s worship:

Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

After sensing God’s glory and presence, we read that David and the congregation “bowed low and fell prostrate before the Lord” (1 Chronicles 29:20). Bowing low was a natural response to God’s glory and power. The people could not have done less.

Lifting of the hands is another common expression of worship to God. In the Old Testament lifting the hands was a sign of praise and thankfulness. Notice the connection in Psalm 63:4: “I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” There will be times in which you will be so filled with the joy and glory of God that you will want to express your love to Jesus by lifting your hands.

At other times, you may lift your hands to Jesus as an act of submission and surrender. Perhaps God has reached into your life, revealing an area of sin. Like a policeman, He has told you that you are “under arrest.” You raise your hands, in effect saying, “Lord, I give up. Take control of me.”

For the most part, you will want to find a posture that is comfortable. Your quiet time should be a delight as opposed to a burden. Do you like to sit and pray? Do it. Do you prefer kneeling or lying prostrate before God? That is okay, too.

Personally, I like to walk and pray. I learned long ago in Bible school that sitting or lying down, especially after a big meal, causes drowsiness. I am far more “in tune” with God while walking and praying. Again, do what is comfortable for you and enables you to enjoy your time with God.

Chapter Summary

• God desires that you pick a particular place for your quiet time where you can “close the door” on noise and outside activities.

• The only criterion for choosing a secret place is that it allows you to concentrate on God and express yourself to Him freely.

• Follow the Lord’s leading when choosing postures in your quiet time (kneeling, prostrating yourself, etc.). A natural, comfortable posture is best.

• More important than the physical posture is the attitude of the heart.

Practical Steps

• Choose the physical location where you will spend time with God.

• Spend time with God in that particular place and determine if it enhances solitude and quietness. If not, choose another secret place.

• Experiment with a variety of postures (kneeling, prostrating yourself, standing, walking) during your quiet time.

For Group Study

• Why might people hide from solitude and silence by surrounding themselves with noise and activity?

• Share some secret places in which you have spent quiet time with God. Was one better than another? Why or why not?

• What is your favorite secret place? Why?

• Share various postures you have practiced in the past. Which posture do you prefer? Why?

____________ Six ____________

Hide-and-Seek?

While teaching a course on missions a few years back, I meandered into the theme of seeking God. A bright student spoke up with a challenge: “Why do we need to seek God? He doesn’t need to be found.”

“Well, um, because you just do,” I fumbled. Weaving in and out of the argument like a boxer trying to avoid another jab, I tried to convince myself as much as the class. I found myself becoming dogmatic, not really understanding how to explain the concept. As soon as I could I returned to the theme of missions.

Although I could not articulate to the class that night the why and how of seeking God, I knew from personal experience that God wants us to seek Him. I also knew that the Bible is filled with references about the importance of seeking God.

For years, in fact, my favorite Scripture was Hebrews 11:6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Later as I reflected on the phrase “seeking God,” two things became clear. First, God invites us to seek Him because He wants us to depend on Him. Second, God desires us to seek Him because He longs to reveal Himself to us.

God is not playing hide-and-seek with us, hoping that we do not find Him. Rather, He tells us that if we seek Him we will find Him. To find God simply means to experience His presence, to discover His will for our lives and to grow to know Him more intimately.

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Key Principles

• God wants us to seek Him because it show us our dependence on Him.

• God will reveal Himself to the seeker—He wants us to find Him.

• God Himself is the chief reward of our search.

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Blessed Dependence

When we seek after God, we are actually saying: “God, I need You. Unless You come through, there’s no hope.” We are affirming the words of Christ when He said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

So often we come to God with preconceived plans and agendas. We tell Him what we want to do, and then we ask Him to bless our plans. We think we know best.

God wants us to look to Him first. He desires our dependence and even helplessness. Jim Cymbala, author of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, says, “I’ve discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power” (note 20) By seeking God, we’re saying: “God, I need you to guide my every step and to help me make every decision. Apart from You I can do nothing.”

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Christ’s Method for Fruit-Bearing

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ... Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." (John 15:1, 4–6).

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When we seek God we demonstrate our trust in Him. Take the Old Testament story of King Asa. Sorely outnumbered by Zerah the Cushite, who marched against him with a vast army and three hundred chariots, Asa called out to God and said,

Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.

2 Chronicles 14:11

The response from God? “The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah” (2 Chronicles 14:12). Afterward, the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, son of Oded, who went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2).

Asa could not have defeated the Cushites with his little army. He desperately needed God to grant victory. In a state of helplessness, he showed his utter dependence on God as he earnestly sought Him. God demonstrated His mighty power on his behalf. Examples like this abound throughout the Bible.

When we seek God in our quiet times, He is pleased by our dependence on Him for every decision, concern and difficulty. When I am struggling with family, finances or future, I have learned to go directly to Jesus. I have discovered that He longs to see me in that state of trust and dependence.

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Seek God in Times of:

• Gratitude

• Crisis

• Challenge

• Fear of failure

• Need for direction

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At times, I believe, God even allows difficulties and trials so we will be stirred to depend on Him. I have found that when I become too self-sufficient and independent God often places a carefully designed trial in my life to remind me to place my dependence once again upon Him.

God Delights in Revealing Himself

God delights in revealing Himself to the seeker. He said to Israel, His people, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you” (Jeremiah 29:13–14). God is not waiting for us to flagellate ourselves or earn merit badges before He reveals Himself. God longs to show Himself.

Andrew Murray, a famous nineteenth-century devotional author, believed that God wanted to reveal Himself to those who seek Him during their quiet times (note 21). He counseled those entering a quiet time to seek God and experience His presence. Murray’s advice transformed my own time with God. Suddenly I had a goal, a purpose. I wanted to find God. I wanted to experience His joy, His peace and His glory.

When one of my close friends struggled with dryness in his quiet time, I told him about Murray’s advice. He later wrote,

I remember something you said when we were walking in that beautiful park in the Pasadena area. You said not to leave your quiet time until you feel you have touched the Lord. Well, that has been something I have practiced, which is a matter of the will at times. This has produced a joy when being with Him. I now leave my time with God with a sense of peace and purpose (note 22).

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Tips on Seeking God

• Seek God Himself, rather than His reward.

• Persist in seeking Him even when you don’t feel His presence.

• Expect to find Him and experience His joy.

• Refuse to allow your quiet time to become a sterile exercise.

God delights in revealing Himself to the seeker—it’s only a matter of time before He will reveal Himself to you.

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Bruce Wilkinson, the author of The Prayer of Jabez, counsels, “Decide to seek the Lord until you find Him” (note 23). There will be times when God does not reveal Himself immediately. In those moments, we may feel like the psalmist who cried out, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5–6).

Many have called these downcast times “the dark night of the soul.” During these times God tests us, asking us to keep on seeking. Jeanne Guyon, a seventeenth-century French devotional writer, said, “The fact you will have spiritual dry spells is not the issue. The important question is what you will do in a time of spiritual dryness?” (note 24).

Whether we like it or not, it is often in this process of seeking God that we learn important lessons. And although we will pass through times of spiritual dryness, the exciting part is that God Himself is waiting at the end of that journey with His arms outstretched, longing to fill you up again.

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Confess All Known Sin

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear (Isaiah 59:1–2).

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If you do not find God today in your quiet time, do not go away discouraged. Know that He will reveal Himself to you. Continue to seek after Him, and you will enjoy the fruit of your search.

Joy in His Presence

When God does reveal Himself to us, we often feel joy in His presence. This joy is the best barometer to tell us when we have actually found God. We experience the hope of King David: “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11).

Many people confuse joy with happiness. Happiness is based on our current happenings—the conditions we face. Joy, however, is a fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22) and does not depend on feelings or circumstances. When we experience the presence of God—even though the difficult circumstances may not change—we will sense the gentle afterglow of joy, the sweet acknowledgment that God showed up. His joy remains as we go on to face the coming day.

The Grand Prize

More important than the joy we receive is the reward of finding God Himself. Joy, peace, direction or any other benefit is a distant second to the thrill of experiencing God Himself. God said to Abraham, “I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1). As you seek God diligently in your daily quiet time, not only will you find yourself growing in your intimacy with the Almighty, but also you will discover that knowing God is your greatest reward.

Chapter Summary

• Seeking God demonstrates our dependence on Him.

• God desires to reveal Himself to us.

• We will most likely experience spiritual dry spells, but if we persevere, God is waiting for us at the end of that period.

• God’s joy is an indicator that we have actually found Him.

• The best reward of seeking God is to find God Himself.

Practical Steps

• Review the Scriptures presented in this chapter about seeking God. Commit yourself to seeking Him in your quiet time.

• Check the joy level in your heart after spending time in His presence. Do you sense that He has filled you?

• Ask God to fill you with His joy in your quiet time.

For Group Study

• Have you felt the presence of God in your quiet time? Share your experience.

• How do you normally know when you have found God?

• What are some of the hindrances you have experienced when seeking God?

__________Part 2__________

The Disciplines

of a Quiet Time

In this section we will focus on how to seek God. Having discussed the mechanics of a quiet time, such as place and posture, we now turn our attention to its content—specifically, the spiritual disciplines involved in a meaningful quiet time.

The spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer are at the core of quiet time. The spiritual disciplines of worship, confession and listening help us to grow in intimacy with God. Journaling allows us to record all that God is doing in our lives. We will discuss these and others.

The spiritual disciplines will not automatically make us grow; they do, however, provide the conditions for God to work in our lives. Marjorie J. Thompson, director of the Pathways Center for Christian Spirituality, says:

Spiritual disciplines are like garden tools. The best spade and hoe in the world cannot guarantee a good crop. They only make it more likely that growth will be unobstructed. The mystery of maturation lies in the heart of the seed, and the outcome of planting depends largely on the vagaries of weather. Still, tools are important in helping to ensure that planted seeds will bear fruit. Tools can remove stones and roots, aerate the soil, weed and water the garden (note 25).

It is important to remember that each discipline, each tool, is important and works in conjunction with the others. No one can take the place of another. For instance, many people spend their quiet times reading a set number of chapters of the Bible each day. Granted, a quiet time without the Bible leaves little sustenance, but Bible reading does not equal quiet time. In other words, filling your entire quiet time with Bible reading is like eating meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Will you go away full? Yes. Will you receive important nutrients? Yes. Is it a balanced diet? No. You still need vegetables, fruit and salad. Meat is great, but think balanced diet when it comes to quiet time with God.

Each chapter in this section covers a different spiritual discipline. Most likely you will not practice each discipline during every quiet time. You should, however, understand the spiritual disciplines, know how they function and then allow the Spirit of God to direct their use in your quiet time.

___________ Seven ___________

Reading

God’s Word

“I really wanted to go astray, but I couldn’t do it,” Owen told us. As Bible college students in Alberta, Canada, we were having our weekly testimony and encouragement time. Scrunched together at one end of a long, narrow dorm hall, we listened intently to Owen’s testimony.

“As a teenager I tried drinking, smoking and partying with non-Christians. The amazing thing is that every time I tried to sin, God’s Word kept flooding my mind.

“When I was a child, my parents insisted that I memorize large portions of Scripture. When I wanted to rebel as a teenager, those Bible verses kept popping into my mind at the most inopportune moments. I tried listening to loud rock ’n’ roll music, yet in my silent moments, God’s Word jumped out at me.

“I was upset with my parents for insisting that I memorize the Bible,” Owen said. “Now, however, I thank God for them. As you can tell, God’s Word won the battle, and here I am in Bible school.”

Owen ended his testimony by reading Psalm 119:11: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Cure for the Wandering Heart

All of us, like Owen, are prone to wander away from God. It is our nature. We need an anchor to tie our heartstrings to the will of God. That anchor is God’s Word. Referring to the Bible, Paul says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). When the waves of sin and despair seek to pry us loose, God’s Word holds us close to God.

God instructed the rulers of His people to read His law every day—not just on special days or the Sabbath. He said:

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Deuteronomy 17:18–20

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Thy Word is Like a Garden, Lord

Thy Word is like a garden, Lord,

With flowers bright and fair;

And ev’ryone who seeks may pluck

A lovely cluster there.

Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine,

And jewels rich and rare

Are hidden in its mighty depths

For ev’ry searcher there.

(Edwin Hodder, 1837)

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Begin your quiet time by reading the Word of God. The Bible is God’s love letter to us, instructing us on how to live a holy, successful life. Not only will it keep you from sin, but it will reveal who God is. You will begin to understand His nature, how much He loves you and His perfect plan for your life. With God’s Word filling your heart, you will then flow naturally into worship, confession of sin, listening to His voice and praying for others.

Go to the Source

There are many great devotional guides on the market today. Some authors excel in writing books for quiet times. My only caution is that you do not allow any book or guide to replace God’s holy Word. All other materials are only faint mirrors of the Bible.

The Bible is without error. This is not true of other books or guides. We can read the Bible with full confidence, knowing that everything in it is worthy of deepest trust (see 2 Timothy 3:16). As you open God’s Word in the quiet time, you can be assured that God Himself is talking to you.

Not only is God’s Word inspired, but also we have a divine Helper to aid our understanding when reading it. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would “guide [us] into all truth” (John 16:13). Since the Holy Spirit lives within every born-again believer, He will be right there to reveal God’s truth to you. As Paul the apostle said, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Before reading the Bible, ask God for His wisdom. You might say, “Holy Spirit, help me understand the Bible and apply it to my daily walk.” This is the prayer that God loves to hear and answer.

God has also given us the promise of success and prosperity when reading His Word. This is not true of any other book or guide. Referring to the one who reads and meditates upon God’s Word, Psalm 1:3 says, “Whatever he does prospers.” In Joshua 1:8 God pronounces “success and prosperity” to the one who meditates on and obeys His Word. These are just a few of the many Bible promises to those who delight in God’s Word. The real question is this: Can we afford not to read His Word daily?

Establish a Bible-Reading Plan

My ten-year-old daughter recently launched into her own quiet time. She insisted on starting with Genesis and going right through the Bible. “Sarah,” I told her, “you should consider jumping from the Old to the New Testament.”

“No,” she said, “I know what I’m doing.”

About two months later (and I give her credit for lasting that long) she said, “Daddy, the Bible is so boring. I didn’t know I’d have to read so many verses about the Temple measurements, the priest’s clothing. . . . I’m stuck in Exodus.” Like Sarah, many well-intentioned souls start their Bible-reading trek in Genesis and fizzle out before finishing Numbers.

Another method many Christians use is to sit down, open the Bible and start reading wherever it opens. They feel they are more likely to be led spiritually to read the Bible this way. The result, however, is a disjointed and incomplete view of Scripture.

Personally, I have tried many Bible-reading methods. I have run the gamut from microanalysis of one or two passages of Scripture to galloping through twenty chapters every day (I disciplined—or punished—myself by not going to bed until I finished my twenty chapters). I have tried starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation with little success.

For the last fifteen years I have found my rhythm by using the One-Year Bible. The One-Year Bible is a complete, “regular” Bible. It has all the books of the Bible, arranged into daily readings that allow you to progress through the Bible in one year.

I highly recommend the One-Year Bible because it features a balanced diet that includes a daily portion from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. And if you are faithful in its plan, you can rejoice on December 31 in having read the entire Bible!

For those who feel the pace of the One-Year Bible is too fast and would prefer to go more slowly, another balanced diet would be something like this: Read an entire New Testament book (a chapter per day), then read an entire Old Testament book (a chapter per day). Supplement each day’s reading with a Psalm or Proverb.

There are a lot of excellent Bible-reading plans, and you might find one that suits you better than the ones I have mentioned. The important thing, however, is to establish a systematic plan of Bible reading for your quiet time. Remember the anchor.

More than Study

Anyone who teaches from the Bible, say a minister or someone who leads a home group gathering, might be tempted to use the quiet time as preparation time. Refrain from doing this. The point of the quiet time is lost if it is spent uncovering God’s hidden mysteries for someone else while failing to feed your own soul. The potential failure of any Bible-reading plan designed for a quiet time is to study God’s Word without feeding from it. Discipleship writer Leroy Eims says:

Some of the most cantankerous and cranky people I know are loaded with Bible facts. They can name the minor prophets, the years of the falls of Jerusalem and Babylon, the width of the wall of Jericho, and so on. But the point of the Bible is to help you do something about your bad attitude, or thought life, or sharp tongue (note 26).

Your Bible-reading time should not become a fact-finding mission or a Bible history lesson; instead, it must go beyond general Bible knowledge and lead to the application of God’s truth to your life. Contemporary devotional author Richard Foster says, “A vast difference exists between the study of Scripture and the devotional reading of Scripture. In the study of Scripture a high priority is placed upon interpretation; what it means. In the devotional reading of Scripture a high priority is placed upon application: what it means for me” (note 27).

Bible study involves three components: observation, interpretation and application. Observation is simply observing what the text says. It asks the question “What does this passage say?” Take John 3:16. An observation question from this verse might be “How did God demonstrate His love for us?” You will notice that the answer lies within the text: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.”

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Observation

Understanding what the Bible passage says.

Interpretation

Clarifying what the Bible passage means.

Application

Putting the Bible passage into practice in our everyday lives.

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Interpretation goes one step further. Interpretation asks the question “What does this verse or passage mean?” John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world.” Interpretation questions are: “What does the word world mean? Is John talking about the planet? The people on the planet? A worldly system apart from God?”

But while observation and interpretation are both important in understanding God’s Word, the goal of quiet-time Bible reading is personal application. To apply John 3:16, for example, you could ask the question “How has God shown His love to me personally?” You could then begin to apply God’s love to your own life today: “If God loves me so much that He gave His only Son for me, He surely is interested in my life here and now. If He gave the most precious gift for me, I can be confident of His love for me today. Thank you, God, for your love for me. Thank you for perfectly planning my life and circumstances. Lord, I love You.”

You do not want to leave your time with God full of new information, yet without a changed life. Make it your goal to leave transformed by His Word—renewed, encouraged and ready to serve.

Chapter Summary

• The Word of God is the foundation for the quiet time. It is the staple of our devotional diet.

• The application of the Word of God takes precedence over observation and interpretation.

• It is best to have a daily Bible-reading plan. The author recommends the One-Year Bible.

Practical Steps

• Decide on a particular Bible-reading goal (read the entire Bible in one year, two years, etc.).

• Determine what Bible-reading plan you will use.

For Group Study

- Share the Bible-reading technique that has worked for you. What difficulties have you encountered in your Bible reading? What victories?

___________ Eight ___________

Meditation

During my junior year of high school I took the advice of a friend who said that transcendental meditation would give me peace. I went to a course in transcendental meditation, bowed down to the Hindu-looking image and received my mantra. I then began to meditate. The routine was monadic: Sit for twenty minutes and say the mantra over and over. This practice, I was told, promised peace, love and tranquility.

God was merciful and several months later rescued me from darkness. After Jesus delivered me from demonic influence and began to reign in my life, He gave me a new theme for my meditation: His own powerful name. Every time the TM mantra flashed in my mind, I would simply repeat the mighty name of Jesus. He began to take control of my life.

Many in our culture have replaced the God of the Bible with the gods and goddesses of the New Age. “You are a god” is the new challenge. “Find the god within you.” Of course, this “new” teaching is not new at all. It is as old as the Garden of Eden.

Now the serpent . . . said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” . . . “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:1, 4–5

“You will be like God,” Satan said. “Disobey Him, and you’ll be your own god. In fact, who needs the Creator at all? Why submit to the God of creation when you can become your own god?”

Eastern Detachment v. Biblical Meditation

The dictionary defines meditation as the concentration of the mind on just one thing in order to aid mental or spiritual development. It involves the act of thinking about something deeply and carefully (note 28). Words to describe meditation include consider, reflect and think.

Christian meditation, in contrast to Eastern meditation, begins with the assumption that there is one true God who exists in three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It assumes that man is sinful and in need of a Savior. God, the Creator of this world, has given us a Bible free from error. He has also given us the Holy Spirit, who indwells us and illuminates our minds to understand His Word.

Christian meditation and Eastern meditation have differing goals. Foster says:

Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it. The ideas are radically different. All Eastern forms of meditation stress the need to become detached from the world. There is a longing to be released from the burdens and pains of this life and be caught up into the effortless, suspended bliss of Nirvana. Personal identity is lost in a pool of cosmic consciousness. Detachment is the final goal of Eastern religion. . . . Christian meditation goes . . . on to attachment (note 29).

Unlike Eastern meditation, when we meditate on God’s Word we do not place our minds in a passive state. Instead, we affirm that God’s Word is truth and that God communicates to us directly through His Word. We seek actively to understand God’s Word and how it applies to our own lives. This results in increased understanding, a transformed life and God’s blessing.

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Steps to Meditation

1. Read a passage of Scripture prayerfully.

2. Concentrate upon it.

3. Ask God how to apply it to your life.

4. Let it sink down deep and take root in your life.

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Meditating upon God’s Word

Christian meditation concentrates on God, His Word and His goodness. While reading a portion of Scripture, certain verses will speak loudly to you. Meditate upon them. Handle each verse carefully. Discover how rich it is and how rich you are as a result of meditating on it.

In the last chapter, I recommended a daily Bible-reading plan. Yet you must not move through Scripture so quickly that you gain no understanding. As you walk slowly through the woods of God’s Word, listen carefully to the birds’ songs, the river’s roar and the sound of twigs breaking under your feet.

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Feeding on God’s Word

• God’s Word is bread. It nourishes, sustains, and enables us. Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

• Jeremiah said something similar, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16).

• Meditation allows us to appropriate God’s Word in our own lives. It’s not a time to analyze God’s Word; it’s a time to eat it and apply it.

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Meditation Flourishes in Stillness

Only in the quietness and privacy of our own hearts does meditation have the chance to flourish. It is impossible to meditate when phones are ringing, babies crying or music blaring. Meditation is best accomplished when we can hear the gentle whisper of the Spirit speaking to our hearts and minds. In the quiet time, separated from the hustle and bustle of life, you will find great fulfillment in meditating on God’s Word.

Meditation Leads to Memorization

All three of my daughters have successfully memorized Bible verses, whether for AWANA, school or Daddy. And they know that I will not let them get away with canned memorization. I ask them to tell me what the Bible verse or passage means. It is even better when they can tell me how to apply it.

Meditation of Scripture centers on internalizing and personalizing a passage. It is the process of thinking and rethinking a passage of Scripture until you understand its meaning and application for your own life. The written word becomes God’s Living Word. Memorization is the natural outcome of meditation. Once you know a verse or passage this intimately, you will have it memorized. It will be part of you.

Memorization by itself will not transform you. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day memorized huge amounts of the Bible. Some could quote the entire Old Testament. Yet this exercise did not prevent them from persecuting and eventually killing Jesus. Jesus cut to the chase, saying, “I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts” (John 5:42). Meditation helps memorization stay honest. It prevents the verses from just filling brain space. Meditation propels God’s Word to seep into daily life and practice.

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Help for Memorization

1. Understand the thoughts behind the words rather than just the words. The goal is not just to memorize a verse(s), but to understand it and to apply to your daily life.

2. Realize that there is no such thing as a bad memory—only memories that haven’t been trained. Anyone can develop his or her memory through continual discipline.

3. Quote the verse out loud. This will help you to not only see the verse but also hear it.

4. Memorize a Bible passage (several verses completing a whole thought) rather than one isolated verse. This will help you to better understand the context.

5. Continually review the verse(s).

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The Benefits of Meditation

Bill Gothard, seminar teacher of Basic Youth Conflicts, believes that meditating on and memorizing God’s Word is the surest way to succeed in school. He counsels those struggling with bad grades to meditate on and memorize verses of Scripture. Gothard has noticed that those who follow his suggestion grow wiser and more disciplined.

Gothard dares to take the psalmist literally: “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, . . . I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts” (Psalm 119:98–100). Prosperity (not just material but in all aspects of life) comes from God. As we meditate upon and memorize God’s Word, He will prosper us.

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Benefits of Memorizing Scripture

• We are enabled to resist temptation (Matthew 4:1–11).

• We discover victory over sin (Psalm 119:11).

• We gain better understanding (Psalm 119:98–100).

• Our "thought life" is renewed (Proverbs 23:7).

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When you commit yourself to spending time with the God who ordered the stars, the universe and the pregnant mother’s womb, He will order your day and grant prosperity. He will show you how to reschedule or delete an unnecessary activity to get more time out of your day. God illuminates our minds as we meditate on Him.

Richard Foster reminds us,

Often meditation will yield insights that are deeply practical, almost mundane. There will come instruction on how to relate to your wife or husband, or how to deal with this sensitive problem or that business situation. . . . It is wonderful when a particular meditation leads to ecstasy, but it is far more common to be given guidance in dealing with ordinary human problems (note 30).

So often we want God to show us some earth-shaking revelation. We want to feel the wind, hear a shout or watch the earth tremble. We want God to give us a spectacular revelation. Most often, however, God gives us practical instructions: take your wife out on a date; take out the trash; be more patient with your kids.

Example of Meditation

Let us see how this works. Here is a practical example:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 1:3–8

Read this passage several times. Pray over it. Notice all the riches God has given to you. You are:

Verse 3: Blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Verse 5: Predestined to be adopted as son and heir to all of the promises of God.

Verse 6: A recipient of His glorious grace that He has freely lavished on us.

Verse 7: Redeemed through His blood—redeemed from the slave market of sin.

Verse 7: Forgiven. Christ has taken our sins away and made us whiter than snow.

As you meditate on this passage, you begin to notice how often the phrase in Christ (or words with that meaning) appears: There are eight such references between verses 3 and 14. You recognize that the key to all of God’s riches and glorious inheritance is the fact that we are “in Christ.” God blesses us because of His Son, Jesus.

Now try to apply the passage to your own life. Ask yourself: “Am I walking in Him? Do I understand how much God loves me or am I still trying to make myself worthy? What areas of my life are still in the dark and need to be cleansed by Christ’s blood?”

As God’s Word seeps into every part of your life through daily meditation, you will discover a new freedom and victory. The words of Christ will ring true in your own life. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

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God’s Recipe for Success

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 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 1:1–3).

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Reflecting on God’s Faithfulness

Quiet time provides an excellent opportunity to stop, consider and reflect on God’s faithfulness in our lives. In my quiet time with God, I often find myself reflecting on His work in my life. I might rehearse a particular time period in my mind and how He led me every step of the way. It is almost as if I am sorting out my own life under God’s divine providence.

When we live solely in the pressure cooker of the right now, it is hard to understand the whole picture. Our focus is too limited. Yet as we meditate on God’s faithfulness in the past, we gain hope and confidence that God is working in our lives even now and that He will continue to guide us in the future.

Meditation on God’s faithfulness is especially important in moments of anguish and difficulty, when we need to remember that God is with us. A pastor friend of mine told me how God had supernaturally provided a first-class worship leader for his church. Then, every time the pastor faced a struggle in his church he would say, “Lord, thanks that You’ve provided our worship leader. I know that You are working in our church.” God’s past faithfulness gave him the confidence to trust God for the future.

The psalmist David did the same thing. He expressed his anguish, only to remember God’s love and faithfulness. He said:

The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Psalm 143:3–6

After God divided the Jordan River so that His people could pass over on dry ground, He told Joshua to take twelve stones from the riverbed. These stones would help the Israelites to reflect on God’s great work in future years. You have those “stones of remembrance” in your own life, those times when God manifested His power and demonstrated His faithfulness. Reflect on them. As you remember how God has worked in the past, you can face the future with new confidence, knowing that He is the same yesterday, today and forever (see Hebrews 13:8).

Chapter Summary

• Christian meditation finds its boundaries in God’s Word.

• Christian meditation focuses on God’s Word, His Person and His workings in our own lives.

• Memorization is the result of deep meditation.

• The benefits of meditation are often very practical and apply to daily living.

• Meditation on God’s past faithfulness gives us future confidence.

Practical Steps

• Reflect on Joshua 1:7–8 and Psalm 1. Allow these verses to penetrate deeply into your own life. Ask yourself what changes you need to make in your life as a result of these verses.

• Take one or two Bible verses from your daily Bible reading and meditate upon them. Then memorize those same verses.

• Consider the last six months of your life. How has God demonstrated His continued faithfulness to you during this time period?

For Group Study

• Share your favorite verse of Scripture. Why did you choose this verse?

• Do you believe that it is possible to memorize Scripture without being transformed by it? Why or why not?

___________ Nine ___________

Worship

“And David . . . sat before the Lord” (1 Chronicles 17:16, kjv).

This phrase captures the essence of pure worship. God had just reminded David of his lowly background as a shepherd of sheep, and of how He had raised him up as king over all Israel. God had reiterated all that He had done for David in the past. And not only had God pledged to continue to bless David in the present, He promised to bless and prosper David’s future offspring as well:

“I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.”

1 Chronicles 17:10–11

Hearing these words, David lacked the strength to stand. He simply sat in a heap of gratitude. Words were meaningless. Time stood still. Finally, David responded with a grateful heart:

“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men, O Lord God. What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, O Lord. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.”

1 Chronicles 17:16–17

The Heart of Worship

Worship is the response of a grateful heart. It is simply sitting before the Lord and saying, “God, I love You. You’re so wonderful.” My favorite worship chorus, by Matt Redman, is called “Heart of Worship”:

I’ll bring you more than a song;

For a song in itself,

Is not what you have required.

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You’re looking into my heart

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about you. It’s all about you, Jesus.

I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it

When it’s all about You;

It’s all about You, Jesus (note 31).

Some people think that worship is only a Sunday morning event or something you do as a group. In reality, there is no better place to express that gratefulness than in your quiet time. Why? Because worship in quiet time is all about Him. You do not have to worry about performance or trying to impress God or others—just be yourself. He looks into your heart. He sees your nakedness and neediness and accepts you anyway. Sit before the Lord and thank Him.

The Old Testament word for worship means literally “to prostrate oneself on the ground”—absolute humility before the Creator. Most of the words that refer to worshiping God are used in physical terms: lying prostrate on one’s face, kneeling, standing, clapping, lifting up the arms, dancing, lifting the head and bowing the head.

Worship in the Bible is a natural act. Mary of Bethany threw aside all protocol to flood Jesus with a torrent of tears to honor the One who had set her free. Intimacy, combined with gratitude, exploded into heartfelt worship. She did not care what others thought of her. She aimed to please one Person and one Person only: Jesus Christ. She desired to anoint His feet with ointment and wash them with her tears.

We see this same freedom of expression in King David when he danced before God with all his might, unconcerned about the fears and jeers of others.

In the New Testament, the meaning of the word worship is even more intimate. It means literally “to kiss.” The word worship appears 59 times in the New Testament. Read the book of Revelation if you want to know what you will be doing throughout all eternity:

Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Revelation 4:8–11

Since we will be worshiping God throughout eternity, shouldn’t we make it our passion right now?

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O.T. Meaning of Worship

To prostrate oneself on the ground, showing humility. Expressed in physical acts of reverence to God (kneeling, dancing, lifting of the hands)

N.T. Meaning of Worship

To kiss (intimacy with the Almighty).

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Worship First; Service Second

By pursuing a daily quiet time, we are saying, “Lord, my service and my work are not nearly as important as You are. Lord, I place You first in my life. I want You more than anything else.”

The divine order as given in the Bible is worship first; service second. Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10). This order was repeated later when Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ . . . ‘And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37, 39).

Consider the New Testament example of Martha and Mary. Martha excelled in serving but failed in worship. Mary cared about only one thing: the Person of Jesus Christ. Who got the A? Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).

In Revelation, Jesus described an incredible church that produced good works like a modern-day factory. Yet after highlighting that church’s impeccable deeds, Jesus rebuked them: “I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:4–5).

Remember: Worship first; service second.

It’s a Heart Thing

How do you worship God in your quiet time? You might sing a hymn or favorite worship chorus, wait in silence or read a psalm. Generally I read God’s Word first and respond by worshiping Him. Paul Cedar also follows this natural progression in his devotional life:

My words of praise and worship often flow from my times of Bible reading and meditation. Then I express to Him some words of praise and worship from one of the psalms or another passage of Scripture. Sometimes a certain song or hymn of praise will come to mind when I am meditating on my Bible reading or when I am reading one of the psalms as an expression of praise and worship to God. Otherwise, I proceed sequentially through my hymns and praise songs (note 32).

Worship in quiet time is a heart issue. Never allow worship to decline to mere duty. Never let the awe and wonder of God be choked out by canned performance or repetition of words you do not really mean. Get to the heart of worship. It is all about Jesus.

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Looking to Jesus

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”

(Helen H. Lemmel, 1922).

The words from this timeless hymn exhort us to look away from self and onto the problem-solver. It reminds us that our own power is inadequate and that only Jesus can give full release.

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If God has given you the gift of tongues, the best place to use it is in your quiet time. Speaking in tongues is a great benefit in worship because often words cannot express our torrent of desire. Often I will speak in tongues in my quiet time because I know I am ministering directly to the heart of God. Speaking in tongues allows the Spirit Himself to minister directly to God through me (see 1 Corinthians 14:2).

Whatever the element of worship in your quiet time, remember that God desires heartfelt worship that expresses the love and gratitude we have for Him. Surrender Your whole heart to Him in humble worship.

Chapter Summary

• Worship is the natural response of a grateful heart to God’s grace, mercy and love.

• In the Old Testament the word for worship meant “to prostrate oneself before God”; the New Testament word for worship means literally “to kiss.”

• Worship in quiet time is the act of expressing our praise, thanks and adoration to the One we love.

Practical Steps

• Look up all the verses in Revelation that refer to worship. Meditate upon them.

• Read a psalm in your quiet time, expressing your worship directly to God.

• Prepare a song sheet of your favorite worship choruses or find a hymnbook that includes some of your favorite hymns. Sing to the Lord in your quiet time.

For Group Study

• Share with the group how you worship God in your quiet time (for example, reading a psalm, sitting in silence, singing a praise chorus or hymn).

____________ Ten ____________

Confession

It was a sunny, dream-like day in Southern California. I was five years old, floating on an air mattress in a built-in pool, without a worry in the world. Dad and Mom were cooking supper on the barbecue, and my brothers and sisters were playing. What could possibly go wrong?

Suddenly, I spotted a gorgeous abalone shell lying on the side of the pool. The colors attracted me. I wanted that abalone shell. I maneuvered my floating mattress to the side of the pool and grabbed it. Into the water it fell, my hand grasped tightly around it. I followed it all the way to the bottom of the pool, refusing to let go. The last memory was my mouth filling up with water. . . .

The family was above water enjoying the sunny day. “Where’s Joel?” someone said. Then they noticed a body at the bottom of the pool. Panic.

The next thing I remember was the sickly feeling of gurgling water and everyone standing around me. I remember thinking, Why is my mother acting so happy? She seems glad to see me.

In our daily lives, amid even the most pleasant of circumstances, shiny abalone shells of sin surround us. Satan dangles temptation before us, hoping that we will grab on to it. When we do reach out and take hold of it, he reels us in and begins to control areas of our lives.

The good news is that there is cleansing and healing in the blood and power of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:14 tells us that “the blood of Christ [is able to] cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Jesus desires to work within us as we recognize our sin, confess it and receive His cleansing. Jesus is able to set us free from Satan’s bondage.

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Strongholds

• The Old Testament picture of a stronghold is the heathen nations holding tightly to the land that God promised Israel. God promised them the land, but He told them to conquer all of it.

• Israel conquered most of it. The heathen nations held on to the remaining portions. These pockets of resistance became strongholds, thorns and briars to God’s people.

• When we open our lives to sin, Satan takes advantage and strengthens his positions in our lives. He digs trenches, refusing to surrender

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Unhindered Communion

I love my kids and have a great relationship with them. We normally enjoy unbroken fellowship throughout the day. However, if I tell Sarah to stop running in the house and she defiantly runs even faster, she has entered the path of disobedience.

Because of her disobedience, our communion changes. The easy flow of conversation is cut off. We have to deal with her sin. Saying sorry is the best place for her to start. If she refuses to do so, we will have to take additional measures.

We are God’s children, and He operates under similar principles. When we sin against God, we cloud our communion with Him. David understood this when he said, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer” (Psalm 66:18–19). David recognized that unbroken fellowship with God required the confession and forsaking of sin.

In your quiet time, ask God to search your heart to determine when and how you have sinned against Him. Jeanne Guyon penned these words: “Lay your entire soul open before God. You can be certain that the Lord will not fail to enlighten you concerning your sin. Your Lord will shine as a light in you; and through His shining, He will allow you to see the nature of all your faults” (note 33).

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David’s Confession of Sin

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

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Perhaps God will reveal sin that you committed the day before. Or perhaps He will warn you about a reckless decision you are about to make in the future. Confess those sins immediately. Ask Jesus to cleanse you by His blood. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” When we confess and forsake sin, God’s abundant mercy and grace are poured out upon us.

In my own quiet time a few months ago, God revealed to me that I was harboring the sin of unforgiveness toward a particular pastor. Two days earlier, that pastor had offended me, and I felt that I had every right to be upset by his action.

Unfortunately, I failed to see that my own bitterness stripped me of personal joy. I felt a sense of pressure and was slightly depressed when going to bed after this incident, but I did not know why. The next morning, God called me on the carpet. I needed to confess my sin of bitterness. After confessing my bitterness and resulting rebellion, the heaviness lifted and I felt freedom.

Our constant prayer in quiet times should be the prayer of David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24). Only God can reveal sin’s deceitfulness. We cannot.

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God’s Desire for All of Us

In the time of Jeremiah, God saw His people as broken, cracked cisterns that failed to hold His living water. He rebuked them for not acknowledging that He was the only true source of living water, saying, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

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Stay Cleansed

God has granted me the opportunity to study and visit some of the largest churches in the world. One phenomenon I have noticed in many of these churches is the growing interest in weekend retreats, often called Encounter with God retreats. The purpose of these retreats is to break the bondage and strongholds of sin in a person’s life so that he or she can walk in spiritual freedom.

When I attended my first Encounter retreat God worked powerfully and I confessed strongholds of bitterness and anger, as well as other sins. God transformed my life, and I experienced an incredible new freedom and liberty.

Yet as the months passed I noticed that I still struggled in some of these areas. I realized that in order to remain free I needed to approach God on a daily basis, confessing any reoccurring sin. God showed me that I needed the strength of my daily quiet time to walk in continual victory.

Camps and retreats are great. God uses them to speak to us clearly and powerfully. But remember that we cannot live today on a yesterday’s one-time experience. We need to walk in daily repentance.

Think of it this way. In biblical times, dirt roads were the norm and everyone wore sandals. Thus, no matter how hard a person tried to keep his feet clean, they would naturally pick up the dirt and dust of the Roman roads. Footwashing was not a religious rite; it was a practical need.

Even as mature Christians, we unconsciously pick up bad habits, wrong thoughts and Satan’s darts. The world, flesh and the devil lurk in the least expected places. You can hardly watch TV, listen to the radio, drive down the freeway or overhear a conversation without seeing wicked images, worldly overtures or outright sinful behavior.

The quiet time is our footwashing. It is the time to come to God and His Word, asking Him for restoration and renovation. The apostle John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The good news is that there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sins. Quiet time provides the perfect opportunity to let God speak to us, restore us, renew us and give us power to overcome the enemy.

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Steps to Freedom

1. Ask God to reveal hidden areas of sin in your life.

2. Acknowledge your sin before God.

3. Confess your sin.

4. Experience God’s cleansing and renewal.

5. Stay clean by asking God to reexamine your heart daily.

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Chapter Summary

• Only God can reveal the secret sins of our hearts.

• Daily confession is the way to maintain communion and fellowship with God.

• The deceitfulness of sin attracts us to trade true holiness, health and happiness for temporal pleasure.

• Confession of sin can occur any place or any time, but God often reveals areas of sin in the quiet time.

Practical Steps

• Ask God to reveal areas of sin in your life.

• Confess the sin(s) that God reveals.

• Develop the habit of confessing sin regularly during your quiet time.

For Group Study

• Share an experience when you were set free from an area of sin after making confession to God.

• Why is it so important to make confession of sin a regular habit?

___________ Eleven ___________

Listening

I mentioned earlier that my family went to Ecuador in 1990 as missionaries with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. We knew that after our second term, eleven years later, that God was leading us somewhere else, but it was hard to know exactly what He had in mind.

Did God want us to teach in a U.S. seminary? If so, what seminary? Should we do church consulting? Where? Ministry in another country? Which country?

How I longed, during those intense days of trying to discern God’s will, for an audible voice or prophetic message! I found myself checking my computer in-box, secretly hoping that someone would send me a prophetic word via e-mail. I hoped to hear the phone ring or someone knocking at my door with God’s definite counsel about our future ministry. Yet God did not bend to my quick-fix mentality. He wanted me to listen to His voice, to hear directly from Him.

In time God did speak and clarify His will to us. Yet on numerous occasions during that time period of waiting, I had to go back to God in prayer and say, “God, is this of You? Are you speaking here?”

The secret power of the quiet time is to learn to listen directly to the Almighty and find His intimate will for your own life. Often God answers in a whisper, so you have to be listening continually.

Our tendency is to want someone else to speak to God on our behalf and just tell us plainly what He wants. This is the route the children of Israel took. They were fearful of going directly to God and so they said to Moses: “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Exodus 20:19).

This pattern was repeated later on when the Israelites asked Samuel to give them a king who would go before God on their behalf. God granted their request reluctantly, saying to Samuel, “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7).

Tommy Tenney, revivalist and author, says this in The God Chasers: “We need to pray, ‘God, I’m tired of everybody else hearing from You! Where is the lock on my prayer closet? I’m going to lock myself away until I hear from You for myself!’” (note 34). God wants you to learn to hear His voice. He desires to impress His specific will upon your heart. Just remember that it will cost you time and effort. You must spend time in His presence daily.

God Speaks in the Silence

After a full day of calling down fire, killing false prophets and seeing miracles, the prophet Elijah was drained. He needed rest, yet he still had to worry about Jezebel’s vow to skin him alive. At this point Elijah’s spirituality left him and he did something very natural—he ran for his life. God was gracious to Elijah and provided him with food and rest. Later God spoke to Elijah, saying:

“Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1 Kings 19:11–13

We all like the sensational prophetic word that tells us exactly what to do, the letter in the mail with the $100 bill, the phone call at the exact moment of need. Yet here God did not reveal Himself through an earthquake, a fire or a mighty wind. He chose to come to Elijah in a still, small voice.

In another Old Testament story, Scripture tells us that “the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am’” (1 Samuel 3:3–4).

Here again, God shows that He prefers to speak in the deep stillness. This is not to say that He cannot speak anytime or anywhere. At times, God grants incredible visitations and speaks to His children in an audible voice. Yet God prefers to speak in a soft, gentle whisper when His child is alone, quiet and waiting. It is then that He impresses His will upon the stillness of our own hearts.

The most common time for God to speak is when His children are sitting quietly in His presence.

The psalmist wrote: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). I like Eugene Peterson’s radical and refreshing interpretation of this verse in The Message: “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”

God can speak anytime, anywhere and anyplace. He is not bound to speak in a temple or in any physical place. God’s new temple is our bodies, and the Holy Spirit dwells there all the time. The most common time, however, for God to speak is when His children are spending quality time in His presence. During a quiet time, God has our attention. We have dedicated time to Him. Our hearts are prepared through the Word, worship and confession. The static is gone. The signal comes in loud and clear. We are tuned into the right station.

God’s Sweet Impressions

I do not believe that there is any one formula for hearing God’s voice. As you become intimate with God, you will know only how God speaks to you; you will not become an expert on how God speaks to others. Blackaby and King write:

An intimate love relationship with God is the key to knowing God’s voice, to hearing when God speaks. You come to know His voice as you experience Him in a love relationship. As God speaks and you respond, you will come to the point that you recognize His voice more and more clearly. Some people try to bypass the love relationship. Some look for a miraculous sign or try to depend on a “formula” or a set of steps to discover God’s will. No substitute, however, exists for the intimate relationship with God (note 35).

The word impression best describes how God speaks to me. He impresses on my mind and spirit His will and desires for my life. As I have spent time in His presence, I have become familiar with His gentle nudges upon my life.

I am not sure how to describe these gentle nudges. I simply know when God is speaking. It is plain, clear, gentle and right. My inward reaction is Yes, that’s it. These impressions might show me whom I should call, where I should go or what I should do.

One time, I had been wrestling for a few weeks with how to present a concept in a future speaking engagement. One morning in my quiet time while meditating on the Word of God, a sweet impression came upon me about how to present this concept in a winsome way. A gentle peace flowed over me and I found myself saying, “Yes, this is from You, God. This would work. Thanks.”

When God speaks there is always peace. Paul says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). The phrase “rule in your hearts” means to make the calls like an umpire. God’s peace will help us know His decisions for our lives, like an umpire calling balls or strikes.

God’s voice should not bring turmoil or fear. James describes this distinction:

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

James 3:14–17

Even when God is speaking to us directly about sin or asking us to walk in obedience to His leading, He comes in a tender way. Satan, by contrast, disrupts, disturbs and causes turmoil. He is a thief, murderer and liar who shocks, causes grief and loves to leave people helpless and confused.

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God’s Voice

• Accompanied with peace

• Gentle wisdom

• Freedom

• Power to accomplish the task

Satan’s Voice

• Accompanied with fear

• Confusion

• Pressure

• Guilt because of difficulty of task

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If it is God’s voice you are hearing, all confusion will cease. When I find myself in confusion, I seek God. In His presence, I find rest, fulfillment and comfort. The Bible tells us that “the kingdom of God is . . . righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

While studying in Canada, I remember a fellow student who approached me full of anxiety. He said, “I woke in the middle of the night and felt God say to me, ‘Prepare yourself to die.’ I feel so fearful. Do you think that God spoke to me?”

“No way,” I told him. “God wouldn’t provoke fear in you. Rebuke the devil.” I knew from experience that God does not scare us with His will. I agree with Everett Lewis Cattell:

I heard another helpful thing from some preacher. He said that . . . whenever we were seized with a sudden impulse to do something odd and to do it quickly, we could be practically sure that the impression had come from the devil. . . . [T]his has proved true in my later experience. God is love; He does not give us guidance as a form of punishment but rather as a loving expression of His interest in the affairs of our lives (note 36).

One time when I was ministering in Russia, my daughter Sarah felt she heard God telling her that I was going to die before returning home. My wife asked Sarah, “How do you feel as you think about this?” She began trembling and crying and said, “I feel so scared.” Celyce knew immediately from whom the thought came. She told Sarah about God’s gentle voice and the peaceful fruit that accompanies His impressions. Celyce and Sarah prayed to rebuke the enemy and to grant her God’s sweet peace.

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Learn to Discern the Counterfeit

Those who train people in anti-counterfeiting work never provide the trainee with counterfeit bills. Rather. the trainees become so familiar with genuine bills that they can detect false ones easily. In the same way, as you become accustomed to hearing God’s voice, you’ll grow to detect any counterfeit impressions.

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Recognizing God’s Voice

It is wise to remain humble when it comes to hearing God’s voice. I prefer to use the phrase I believe God impressed upon me . . . rather than The Word of the Lord came to me last night. . . .

In 1976 I met a woman named Elaine at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, and we began dating. Our dating relationship was on-and-off, mainly because a year later I joined Youth With A Mission and ended up going to Bible college in Alberta, Canada, in preparation for full-time mission work.

Elaine and I kept in touch, and I wanted to continue our relationship. During one summer break, while spending time in California, I called Elaine, hoping to see her.

Her response was cold and short. “The Lord told me that we need to break off our relationship.”

I countered, “Elaine, the Lord didn’t tell me that,” but Elaine had nothing more to say and hung up the phone. She had heard from God and her conversation with the Almighty did not include the name Joel Comiskey. Case closed.

In hindsight, I am sure that God was speaking to her, and I know now that He had a different plan for both of us. However, at the time, her lack of humbleness left me speechless and angry. When you share God’s impressions with others, do so with humility. Even when you are sure you have heard from God, speak graciously.

If we are honest, we will admit that hearing God’s voice is not as easy as some make it sound. Some people profess to be able to reel off every adjective, adverb and exclamation mark of God’s audible communication to them; this has not been my experience.

Even Peter had a hard time discerning God’s voice every time. He was correct about Christ’s identity when he said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus then acknowledged that Peter had heard directly from God:

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Matthew 16:17–18

Yet just a few verses later, we read that Peter failed to hear God’s voice regarding Christ’s mission to die on the cross. He took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him:

“Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 16: 22–23

Peter was now one for two.

Even though Jesus said that His sheep will hear His voice (see John 10:3–4), we must also realize that lambs have to learn to recognize it. It is a process. It takes practice. God might never speak to you exactly as He spoke to Samuel or Elijah.

We can be confident, however, that we will grow in hearing God’s voice the more we spend time with God in secret. As we spend time with the Maker, He will speak to us more often and more clearly, and we will receive divine guidance that will transform not only our own lives, but also the lives of those around us.

Chapter Summary

• God desires to speak to us directly.

• God normally speaks to us in the silence of our quiet times.

• God’s peace accompanies His impressions upon us (see Colossians 3:15).

Practical Steps

• Wait in stillness before God and seek to hear His impressions upon your heart.

• When God speaks to you, write down those impressions in a journal.

For Group Study

• Share a time when you felt God was speaking to you. What did He say?

• Share with the group the most common way that God speaks to you.

___________ Twelve ___________

Prayer

When my wife and I arrived in Costa Rica in April 1990, we were as green as gringos could be. We had entered an intensive Spanish study program because we knew we would soon be traveling to Ecuador. We longed to speak Spanish correctly.

As we studied, we learned that God gives grace in weakness. Instead of saying Quisiera conocerte, “I would like to get to know you,” I would say, Quisiera cocinarte, “I would like to cook you.” Some of my more hilarious Spanish blunders are not repeatable in public.

I was 33 years old and sorting out the foreign sounds was difficult for me. To compensate for my lack of natural talent, I had to study for hours. Like a child, I learned the importance of following grammar rules and the logic of the Spanish language. I knew, however, that taking time in the beginning would have a long-term impact on my ministry in Spanish-speaking countries.

The language of prayer, although simply communion with God, also follows certain rules. The Word of God tells us about three in particular, which we will study in a moment: understanding God’s willingness to answer, asking according to His will and praying fervently. If we follow these principles, we will discover that God will give us more than we can ask or think (see Ephesians 3:20). Likewise, we ignore these rules at our own peril.

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Principles of Prayer

• God is willing to answer (Matthew 14:13–14).

• We have all power in Jesus’ name (Philippians 2:9–11).

• We must pray according to God’s will (1 John 5:14–15).

• God desires fervent prayer (James 5:17).

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The Place of Prayer in Daily Quiet Time

The dictionary defines prayer first as an act of communion with God and second as reverent petition made to God (note 37). Prayer is an intimate dialogue between Father and child. Petition is a result of that communion with Him.

Many people believe that prayer and a daily quiet time are the same thing. You can detect this in a quick response like, “Sure, I pray.” Yet prayer is just one aspect of having a quiet time.

The disciplines of the quiet time follow one another naturally. Studying God’s Word is normally the first discipline, followed by meditation, worship, confession and listening. Without these prior spiritual disciplines, the believer is ill-equipped to pray according to God’s will.

George Mueller, a man who modeled effective prayer, wrote: “When we pray, we speak to God. This exercise of the soul can be best performed after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God” (note 38).

In my own quiet time, I like to receive spiritual strength from the Word and worship before prayer. As I find strength through God’s Word, I am more encouraged to commune with God and pray for others.

God’s Willingness to Answer

The first guideline for effective prayer is the knowledge that God desires to respond. God not only hears our prayers but also intends to answer. This principle is captured in Christ’s reply to the leper who questioned His willingness to heal. We read: “Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’” (Mark 1:41).

Richard Trench, Anglican Archbishop of Dublin in the 1900s, said, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of His highest willingness” (note 39). God encourages us to pray by revealing His intention to answer. In the space of three chapters in the gospel of John, Jesus repeats over and over the Father’s willingness to answer our prayers:

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

John 14:13–14

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

John 15:7

“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

John 16:23–24

So often we think that answered prayer requires self-flagellation or false humility. We feel that we have to earn our right to be heard. The very opposite is true. Because of Christ’s name, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, knowing that our prayers will be heard and answered (see Hebrews 4:16).

Jesus says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

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God’s Delight

God delights in answering our prayers because we are His children, clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We approach God not in our own name and righteousness but in the powerful name of Jesus, His Son.

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Our Father in heaven, like any good earthly father, wants His children to grasp His willingness to respond. Our duty is simply to follow the advice of Jesus: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Remember: God desires to answer our prayers, but He also wants to transform us in the process. So often God has to work in our own lives before He can entrust us with the answer.

Hannah, the mother of Samuel, prayed and prayed for a child. Yet God did not answer her request right away. God kept Hannah’s womb closed until she was ready to offer her firstborn to the Lord. God waited until Hannah’s heart was in line with His own, and when the change was complete, God answered her prayer by allowing her to give birth to Samuel who became a great prophet of Israel (see 1 Samuel 1:10–11).

Charles Finney, a popular nineteenth-century revival preacher, once said, “Prayer produces such a change in us as renders it consistent for God to do as it would not be consistent for Him to do otherwise” (note 40). In order for God to agree to our prayers, He must prepare us to receive the answer. Expect God to change you as you pray.

Praying According to the Will of God

Although the Bible is replete with God’s promises to answer prayer, we should not assume that God will grant every prayer request. He will always hear and answer, but sometimes His reply is no.

Failure to understand this causes sincere believers to doubt that God really hears them. Tired of spinning the same prayers in the orbit of their own minds, and waiting long periods of time for an answer, many finally lose confidence and cease praying.

Most believers need a jolt of confidence to continue praying. The apostle John wrote precisely to this group when saying, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15).

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What a Friend We Have in Jesus

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Ev’rything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Ev’rything to God in prayer!

(Joseph Scriven, 1819)

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Praying according to the will of God, the second guideline for effective prayer, is the only known remedy for the quagmire of doubt. When you know you are praying according to the will of God you will be motivated to continue, knowing that God will grant your request.

When determining the will of God, the first place to look is the Bible. This is where the quiet time comes in. Studying and meditating on the Word of God injects confidence into weary believers. We can be confident that God wills what His Word has already declared. Take, for example, the salvation of the lost. The apostle Peter wrote:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:8–9

Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy: “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:3–5).

The believer can pray confidently for the salvation of a relative or friend because the Bible tells us that God is not willing that any should perish. Even though Christians will never fully understand the secret plan of God’s sovereign election and our free will (not all will be saved), we can pray confidently knowing that God desires the salvation of all people.

Other petitions are not so clear. Does God want me to go to school on the East coast or the West coast? Which car should I buy? Is it better to rent or buy a house? God’s personal will is distinct for each individual, and the believer must discern God’s unique will for him or her.

Often Christians fail to receive answers because questionable desires permeate their prayer requests. They are praying according to their own will instead of God’s. James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

In 1978, for example, I applied for a bus-driving job with the Los Angeles Unified School District. My primary reason for wanting the job was to make more money. I repeatedly “claimed the job by faith,” declaring that it was “already mine.” I attempted to deny all doubt and negative thinking, following the advice of a radio preacher I had heard.

There was only one problem: God did not want me to have that job.

He had other plans for me. I missed the final driving test by one skimpy point (failure to leave the stick shift in gear when I parked the bus). Yet it was a holy failure. Only a few months later, I left with Youth With A Mission for a short-term trip to Canada and remained in Canada for further studies. From there, God launched me into Christian ministry. As I look back I now realize that I had wrongly discerned the will of God.

Do not force your own will on God’s. Do not “name it and claim it,” thinking that God must respond. He is sovereign; you are not. Spending time in God’s presence will help you discern God’s specific leading. As you study the Word, meditate on His promises, worship in His presence and listen to His voice, He will show you His specific plan for your life.

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Discernment

As we spend time in God’s presence, his Holy Spirit will help us discern His specific leading.

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After we discern God’s will for each situation, we can pray with full confidence. The book of James tells us that when a believer asks something, “he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (James 1:6–8).

The story is told of a little girl who went to a prayer meeting to pray for rain. It had not rained in that particular community for years, yet she brought along her umbrella. When people asked her why she had brought it, she said, “I thought we were going to pray for rain. I came prepared.” By the end of the service it had begun raining and she was the only one protected.

Praying with Fervency

For fourteen years I had a secret dream to visit Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea. In 1997 God fulfilled my desire.

At six o’clock on a Sunday morning I attended the first service of the day, which was packed with approximately 18,000 people. I attended all eight worship services throughout the day. Before attending the service at three in the afternoon, I thought to myself, Surely this service won’t have many people. I was wrong. Twenty-five thousand people were present.

At the end of the day, I estimated that 153,000 people had attended the mother church and an additional 100,000 people had attended the ten satellite churches that meet throughout Seoul and watch the mother church worship service via closed-circuit television.

Someone had told me before going to Korea that the Yoido Full Gospel Church was in decline. I thought to myself, If this is decline, what does church growth look like!

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More Earnest Prayers Needed

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops (James 5:17–18).

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It was not until the next morning that I understood the secret of the success of this great church. It was lightly snowing that Monday morning in April. I bundled up and went down to the main sanctuary at 5:30 in the morning. There I saw 3,000 Korean saints on their knees crying out to God, “Give us Korea for Your Son, Jesus, dear Lord.”

I realized that the largest church in the history of Christianity was a praying church. This church was willing to pay the price in prayer, and God was blessing them mightily as a result.

That same Monday morning I took a bus to Prayer Mountain, a former cemetery converted into a mountain of prayer. An estimated 10,000 people pass through this prayer mountain every week. The Yoido Full Gospel Church has carved hundreds of caves into the side of this mountain for the purpose of prayer. It was exciting to walk by the prayer caves and hear the cries of God’s people ascending to the throne of God.

These Korean believers reminded me of Epaphras, a person Paul said “is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Colossians 4:12). The verb wrestle in this verse means literally “to agonize.”

This is what I lack, I said to myself. I need to wrestle more in prayer. I need more fervency. Compared to the Korean Christians, my prayer life was halfhearted. I left Korea inspired to bolster the fervency of my prayer life.

In your quiet time, pray with fervency and earnestness. Persist in your prayers for unsaved parents, office workers or wayward children—knowing that God is willing to answer your prayers. As you pray according to His will, God will answer, and your quiet time will come alive.

Chapter Summary

• Prayer is first and foremost the act of communion with God. Second, prayer involves interceding on behalf of others.

• God is eager to respond to our prayers. He wants us to pray according to His will and pray fervently, so that He might answer our prayers beyond our imagination.

• God works through prayer to transform us.

• We can pray with confidence when we know that we are praying according to God’s will.

Practical Steps

• Find a Bible verse(s) to justify a particular prayer petition. This will help you pray with more fervency.

• As you pray for God to work in your own life (such as freedom from bitterness, more joyfulness), record those changes in a journal.

For Group Study

• Share some prayer requests you are praying for right now.

• Why do you believe those prayer requests are in the will of God?

___________ Thirteen___________

Intercession

When I think of my early childhood, I remember my friend Glen.

Glen and I have been friends since our elementary school days in Long Beach, California. I can still remember playing at his house, the Mexico trip we took together with the YMCA, and the follies of sixth-grade camp.

We remained good friends throughout junior high, but in high school Glen and I began dabbling in the short-lived “pleasures of sin.” Jesus rescued me at the age of seventeen, but Glen continued to follow the prince of this world, Satan.

One day four years later, while I was in Bible school in Alberta, Canada, my mother called from California. She said, “I talked to Glen’s mom last week. She said that Glen is living with his girlfriend in Hawaii and is involved in drugs and wild living. But, Joel, she mentioned that Glen has a great respect for you.”

When I heard those words, I felt the Spirit of God saying, Joel, you need to start praying regularly for Glen.

Now, I had never considered myself a prayer warrior. Embarking on this new trek of persistent prayer for Glen was unexplored territory, but I decided to give it a try. I began to pray for Glen almost every day—probably five to six days per week.

One year later, I was on a summer vacation in California. I called my friend Ginger, which I did often to keep in touch. She exclaimed, “Joel, Glen has just returned from Hawaii. He is here in my house right now! He has been saying for the last couple of days, ‘I must talk to Joel; I have to talk to Joel.’”

Amazed, I talked to Glen on the phone (for the first time in five years), and we planned to meet the next night. At that meeting, I shared with Glen the entire Gospel. Glen did not receive Jesus Christ that night—he was not ready to give up the sin that he still cherished. But God had worked a miracle in my own life and forever convinced me of the power of intercession.

With God’s encouragement I prayed for Glen nearly every day for the next ten years. During that time period I tried to contact Glen, but he refused to return my phone calls. I probably talked with him three or four times during those ten years. Glen knew my intentions, had counted the cost and still wanted to live apart from Jesus.

Then one Saturday afternoon I was praying and meditating in the building of the inner-city church I had planted in Long Beach, California. Suddenly Glen entered the church building, saying, “Joel, help me. I need to change. My life is a wreck.” We talked and I urged Glen to attend the church service the next day.

Glen arrived on time, and during the invitation he gave his life to Jesus Christ! Words could not express the gratitude and joy I experienced that morning. After praying for ten years, God had answered! I began to disciple Glen and his girlfriend, Karen. Several months later I baptized them. Soon thereafter, I had the privilege of marrying them. Later I dedicated their baby to the Lord. God truly answers prayer.

Praying for Others

Intercessory prayer is an earnest request or petition to God on behalf of another. The Bible gives us many examples of intercession:

• Job interceded for his companions, and the Lord made him prosperous again (see Job 42:10).

• Abraham interceded for his nephew Lot who was living in Sodom. His petition was that God spare his nephew and grant him mercy (see Genesis 18:16–33).

• Moses interceded for God’s people who were facing God’s judgment. Moses pleaded with God to act in mercy rather than judgment (see Exodus 32:9–14).

• Samuel recognized his duty to pray for God’s people. He even considered it a sin not to do so: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).

• Jesus Christ interceded for His disciples: “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. . . . Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:9, 11).

God is looking for prayer warriors who will stand in the gap on behalf of others. Speaking through Ezekiel, God said, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:30).

Prayer in our quiet times is not designed solely to edify us and meet our own needs. God wants us to enter the battleground and pray fervently for others. Intercession means commitment and dedication. In your quiet time, you will probably pray for certain individuals on a daily basis—your unsaved dad, sister, cousin or fellow worker. There are other items you might pray for on a weekly basis. It is helpful to make a list of those things you pray for each day of the week. Then record the answers as God responds.

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Steps to Intercessory Prayer

• Properly discern the need of the person(s).

• Enter the prayer battleground on behalf of that person(s).

• Pray persistently and fervently for his or her needs.

• Rejoice when God answers your prayers.

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Why is intercession such hard work? Because Satan, the prince of this world, refuses to relinquish control without a battle. We must remember that intercessory prayer is spiritual warfare against demonic strongholds. The Bible reminds us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

Rebelling Against the Status Quo

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:9–10 how to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” David Wells, in his excellent article “Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo” says that

petitionary prayer only flourishes where there is a twofold belief: first that God’s name is hallowed too irregularly, his kingdom has come too little, and his will is done too infrequently; second, that God himself can change this situation. Petitionary prayer, therefore, is the expression of the hope that life as we meet it, can be otherwise and, on the other hand, that it ought to be otherwise (note 41).

Intercessory prayer in the quiet time is rebellion against the world in its fallenness and the absolute refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal. It is most effective when it actively rebels against the status quo of this world. Resignation, in fact, is the greatest enemy of powerful intercessory prayer (note 42).

Your prayers can and will make a difference. Do not accept as normal what God has clearly defined as abnormal: lying, cheating, bribery, perverse sexual habits, etc. Insist through prayer that God’s will be accomplished in a particular unjust situation.

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Rebelling against the Status Quo

• Do not accept as normal what God has declared as abnormal.

• Channel your righteous anger at unjustness and other evils through intercessory prayer.

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Do not loose your anger at the unjustness around you. Instead, properly channel it through intercessory prayer. Rebel against the status quo so that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Many of the people in the congregation of my church in Long Beach were African-Americans. One Sunday morning, I related a fictional story about an African-American woman on the west side of Long Beach who lived alone in her apartment.

I told how the landlord did not care about his tenants and allowed the building to decay. This poor widow did not have any heat in her apartment during the winter months. She decided to take the matter to court. Even though she knew nothing about the court system, she went ahead and filed a complaint anyway.

Unfortunately her case appeared before a prejudiced, atheistic judge. He thought that African-Americans should not expect to have their rights upheld. When she first appeared before him, he avoided eye contact while shuffling “more important” papers. She came back again and again, however, filing claim after claim. She refused to give up, even though he became angry. Finally he became so irritated that he granted her request in order to make her stop coming to his court.

This story helped my congregation understand the meaning of Christ’s parable about the poor widow in Luke 18 who refused to accept the status quo. She, too, pled her case before an uncaring judge and won because she refused to accept her unjust situation.

As Christians, we can rebel against the status quo by praying persistently for our unsaved friends to be saved, for the unreached to hear the Gospel and for God’s righteousness to reign in the midst of injustice.

Never Give Up

George Mueller prayed throughout his lifetime for five friends to know Jesus Christ. The first one came to Christ after five years. Within ten years, two more of them received Christ. Mueller prayed constantly for more than 25 years, and the fourth man was finally saved. For his fifth friend, he prayed until the time of his death, and this friend, too, came to Christ a few months after Mueller died. For this last friend, Mueller had prayed for almost 52 years.

Do not stop praying for someone after a few weeks. It might take a lot longer. God does not view time in the same way we do. He hears every prayer you make, and He desires that you persist until the end. At times you will want to give up. Don’t. God is hearing your prayers and is pleased with them. In His time the answer will come—quickly.

Chapter Summary

• Intercession is praying to God on behalf of someone else.

• Intercession is hard work and requires persistence.

• The phrase “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) provides the fuel for intercessory prayer.

Practical Steps

• Write down on a list the names of those for whom you want to intercede.

• Make another list to jot down the answers to your prayers.

For Group Study

• Share with the group the names of three people you are praying will receive Jesus Christ.

• Share with the group an answer to one of your intercessory prayers.

• Pray for one another.

___________ Fourteen ___________

Spiritual Warfare

“Dad, can we have fun in our family devotions today? Let’s play a Bible game. Let’s do something special,” said my daughter Sarah.

I have the tendency to make our family devotions too adultlike. My small children remind me of the need for imagination, creativity, and fun. Bible skits are always a winner. Our five-year-old daughter’s favorite skit is “Daniel and the Lion’s Den.” All by herself, Chelsea plays Daniel, the king, and the lions. I get worn out just watching her.

Did you know there is a second lion story in the book of Daniel? The second lion story took place for the exact same reason as the first: Daniel’s commitment to spending quality time with God. But in the second lion story, Daniel is dealing with the same roaring lion Peter is referring to when he says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

In this story, the angel Gabriel came to Daniel on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as Daniel was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, and said:

“Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

Daniel 10:12–14

Little did Daniel realize that he was in the midst of a historic moment. The enemy had moved to thwart God’s hand, and Daniel’s prayers granted the victory. Daniel’s dedication to spending regular time with God changed the course of history.

Only God knows how many saints have had an impact on nations through their quiet moments with God. Like Daniel, God wants to use each of us to turn the world upside down. In our quiet times, He will grant us new power to overcome the devil and walk victoriously before God.

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Authority and Power of Jesus Christ

The name of Jesus Christ is over every name in the entire universe (Ephesians 1:19–23; Philippians 2:9–11).

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18)

The power of the name of Jesus overcomes the attacks of the devil (Mark. 16:17,18; Luke 10:17; Acts 16:18)

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Setting the Captives Free

A new wave of thinking about spiritual warfare has emerged in recent times. Spiritual mapping, naming demonic forces, prayer walking and breaking generational curses are some of these new spiritual techniques.

When I took Peter Wagner’s course at Fuller Seminary on spiritual warfare, I was skeptical about this new spiritual armament. I realized quickly, however, that Wagner was talking about an age-old Bible theme: How can we take back the territory that the enemy has claimed in people’s lives? Scripture says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

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The Weapons of Our Warfare

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3–5).

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While many evangelistic programs on the market today attempt to win souls by the sheer force of argument and persuasion, we must remember that only Jesus Christ can take the spiritual blinders off someone’s eyes. Only He can open the minds of those who do not yet know Him.

Omar Cabrero is the founder of the Church of the Future in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His church is one of the largest in Argentina with approximately 150,000 members in 188 churches (note 43).

Omar discovered that the best way to evangelize people was to go to a city that he wanted to reach with the Gospel and rent a hotel room for the purpose of fasting and prayer. For days, he would engage in spiritual warfare for the people of that city until he felt they were released from Satan’s grip. When he sensed that God’s work had already been accomplished, he would then begin an evangelistic campaign in which thousands upon thousands received Jesus both as Savior and Lord.

You do not have to rent a hotel room to engage in spiritual warfare. Do it in your prayer closet when you meet with the King of kings each day. You might not see the results immediately, but be confident that God is working in the spiritual realm. Be persistent and you will rejoice as God answers your prayers.

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The Word of Christ

- Our only offensive weapon in the Bible

(Ephesians 6:17)

- Jesus quoted God’s Word to rebuke the devil

(Matthew 4:1–11)

The Blood of Christ

- There is power in the blood of Jesus

(Hebrews 9:14)

- We overcome the devil by the blood of Jesus

(Revelation 12:11)

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Recuperation

Often we enter our quiet times to recuperate from attacks and wounds sustained on the battlefield. Satan’s darts have plunged into our souls: an explosive fight with one’s spouse, anger and defiance from a belligerent student, the temptation to view pornography. In our quiet times, we tend to our spiritual wounds and receive fresh strength from the Almighty.

The quiet time is a place to gather our wits, shuffle our armor into place, stop to distinguish the voice of the enemy from the voice of the Lord and strategize how to outflank the enemy on this new day.

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The Subtlety of Satan’s Attacks

Satan distorts quiet time by converting it into a legalistic manual of rules. Soon, you’re more worried about the clock, the procedure, the correctness of it all, rather than God Himself. Quiet time becomes a religious ritual instead of a daily delight

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A few days ago, I woke up feeling condemned. I had said something stupid to someone the day before. Why did I say that? I thought to myself. I felt so low, so beaten down. And Satan was right there fueling the fire, reminding me of every detail.

As I entered my quiet time and began to meditate on Jesus Christ, God began to work in my life. As I saw myself from Christ’s perspective, I found strength and liberation. Satan had no choice but to flee.

We are cleansed whiter than snow by the blood of Jesus. Jesus has paid the price for our sins and removed them forever. Neil Anderson says:

Your identity as a child of God and your authority over spiritual powers are not things you are receiving or will receive at some time in the future; you have them right now. You are a spiritually alive child of God right now. You are seated in the heavenlies with Christ right now. You possess all power and authority over the kingdom of darkness right now (note 44).

We can walk in freedom, knowing that Jesus Christ has bought us with the price of His blood. Because of the cross, Satan is now defeated. God wants us to affirm the truth of Christ’s victory while firmly resisting the devil. Although Satan will try to intimidate and hassle us, as we resist him in the name of Jesus he must flee (see James 4:7).

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Victory over the Devil

Just after moving into our new home, Nicole, my middle daughter, awoke with the same frightening dreams on several occasions. We decided as a family to take the house for Jesus. We marched through every room of our home, cleansing the house, and rebuking the Enemy in Christ’s name and by the power of His blood (Revelation 12:11). Nicole’s scary dreams ceased from that day onward.

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In our quiet times, we sharpen the sword of the Spirit by remembering what God says about us. We remember that we are in Christ, that God loves us and that He has a perfect plan for our lives.

These gentle reminders give us the assurance that the battle is not ours but the Lord’s, and that He will grant us the victory. We leave our quiet times with new confidence, knowing that no weapon formed against us will prosper.

Chapter Summary

• We are in a spiritual battle. In our quiet times we engage in this battle through intercessory prayer, knowing that the One who lives in us is greater than he who is in the world.

• The quiet time is the time to recuperate from a spiritual battle and prepare for the next one.

Practical Steps

• Recognize your position of authority in Jesus Christ. Reflect on and memorize these verses: Matthew 28:18–20, Luke 10:17–20 and Colossians 2:13–15.

• Pray for lost people to be freed from satanic bondage.

For Group Study

• Share an experience when you were under satanic attack and called out for God’s help. What happened?

• In your opinion, why do people ignore the demonic realm?

• How has this lesson helped you to see the quiet life as a place to do spiritual warfare?

___________ Fifteen ___________

The Filling

of the Spirit

We bought our first home without ever seeing it. In fact, we were 3,500 miles away in Quito, Ecuador, when escrow closed. On the way to view it for the first time, my wife wondered what we had done. All we could see along the 91 Freeway was dry, rocky desert surrounded by smoggy Los Angeles air. It is not the prettiest sight.

Celyce is from Mariposa, California—a place full of green hills, trees and fresh air. Cringing inside, she breathed one of those, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours be done” prayers.

Yet as our car climbed the hill toward our new home in Moreno Valley, everything changed. Green lawns. Space. A lake. We could even see the mountains, something not always possible in Southern California.

Living in our house refreshes us daily. The green belt behind us is filled with trees, flowers and rolling green grass, hiding the fact that we are surrounded by dry desert. As we drink in the surrounding beauty, we are refreshed to face the rocky wasteland and smoggy air below.

The world around us is also a dry spiritual desert. Heartache. Broken dreams. Discouragement. Without refreshment, we will soon dehydrate. We need desperately to find an oasis.

Being Refreshed with Living Water

Jesus said: “‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7:37–39). Three principles stand out from these verses:

• Living water is equated with the reception of the Holy Spirit.

• We need God’s living water to quench our thirst and be refreshed.

• Jesus invites us to come and be filled.

The ideal time to receive this living water is in our daily quiet times. During these times we are able to enter into communion with our heavenly Father, confessing known sin and listening to His voice. It is also a great time to ask Jesus to fill us with His Holy Spirit.

With such a clear invitation from Jesus Christ Himself, there is no reason to be thirsty in the Christian life. If we come daily, asking Him to fill us with the Holy Spirit, our souls will be satisfied and we will be equipped to face the dry desert around us.

A Continual Filling

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:18: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” In the original Greek, the phrase be filled as found here is a present tense verb. Paul could have used the past tense or a future verb tense to signify a one-time filling; instead, he chose the present tense to denote that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event but a continual experience.

In 1973, several months after my conversion, I experienced a moment of being filled with the Holy Spirit. At that moment, I was empowered to witness and anointed in a new way. I developed a deep hunger for the Word of God. To describe my experience, some might use the term baptism; others would use the word filling. To me, it does not really matter what term is used. More important than the terminology is the fact that a single experience was not enough. I found I needed fresh fillings of the Holy Spirit and renewed anointing on a continual basis.

Even the apostles needed fresh fillings of the Holy Spirit. You would think that after tongues of fire landed upon them and they were baptized in the Spirit (see Acts 2), they would have been filled for life. But it was not enough. After the tongues of fire episode, we see the same apostles receiving a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit:

They raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. . . . Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Acts 4:24, 30–31

If the apostles needed to be filled continually, how much more do we need more of the Holy Spirit! Jim Cymbala says:

I am well aware that Christians disagree today on whether the infilling (baptism, empowerment) of the Spirit is part of the salvation “package” or a separate, subsequent experience. Long and intense discussions go on about that. Whatever you or I believe, let us admit that this passage shows bona fide Christians experiencing a fresh infilling. The apostles didn’t claim they already had everything they needed. Now that they were under attack, they received fresh power, fresh courage, fresh fire from the Holy Spirit (note 45).

Let us stop arguing terminology and humble ourselves at our point of need—the continual, daily filling of the Holy Spirit. Memories of a former Pentecost will not suffice. We need the fresh wind and fire of the Holy Spirit each day.

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Recharge Your Batteries

We are like a cassette player that uses rechargeable batteries. After a while, it becomes difficult to hear the tape because the batteries need recharging. We must place the batteries in a recharger and charge them for several hours. After the batteries are recharged and put back into the tape player, you can once again hear the voices on the tape perfectly.

Our own lives need to be recharged daily with the filling of the Spirit. The recharging takes place in our quiet time. Afterwards, we can hear the voice of God and receive His direction more clearly. Without this daily filling, it’s far more difficult to hear His voice and receive His direction.

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During our quiet times God invites us to ask for a renewed filling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). Jesus is telling us that the heavenly Father desires to pour out His Spirit upon us. All we need to do is ask.

In a previous chapter I talked about the importance of restoring a right relationship with God through confession. First you must ask God to cleanse you of your sin. Then, if you ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, you can be sure that He will.

God could fill you on a crowded bus, at a breakfast table with chattering kids, in a classroom or wherever you happen to be. Most of the time, however, He chooses to fill you when you have opened your heart to His Word, sought Him and confessed your sin. As a result of spending time with Him, you will be refreshed and renewed to face the dry desert around you.

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Two Simple Steps to Being Filled with the Spirit

• Confess all known sin. David says, “ If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18).

• Ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

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It’s All about Control

D. L. Moody, the famous preacher of the nineteenth century, was scheduled to conduct a crusade in a particular city. At one meeting of ministers a young man got up and asked, “Why do we have to have D. L. Moody anyway? After all, does he have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?” After a quiet pause a saintly pastor rose to his feet and replied, “Young man, Mr. Moody may not have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit, but those of us who know him recognize that the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on him” (note 46).

God is looking for men and women who desire above all else to be controlled, dominated and monopolized by the Holy Spirit. The issue of control is what Paul had in mind when he said: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery [wickedness, sin]. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

The comparison between alcohol and the Spirit of God has everything to do with control. Few people drink alcohol just because alcohol tastes good; rather, they like being controlled by it. It causes them to lose themselves in a state of happiness and ecstasy. They feel that the alcohol makes words flow more easily and relations easier to develop.

The Holy Spirit also controls. The difference between His control and alcohol’s control is not the activity but the essence. Alcohol is an ingredient, a substance, a thing. The Holy Spirit, in contrast, is a Person (note 47). The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Trinity. And as a Person He wants to control us, if we will let Him.

The quiet time is the right atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to control our lives. When we seek His face, prepare our hearts and ask Him to take over, He will respond. As with D. L. Moody, the Holy Spirit wants to have a monopoly in you.

In this chapter I have covered three aspects of the Holy Spirit: reception of living water, being filled continually and the control of the Holy Spirit over our lives. Do not face the spiritual wasteland around you without a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit. He desires to refresh, fill and control you today.

Chapter Summary

• God wants to refresh us with His living water in our quiet times.

• We must be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

• The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, wants to control our lives.

• The quiet time is the best time to receive God’s filling. Afterward, we can be controlled by Him for the rest of the day.

Practical Steps

• Express your desire to be controlled by the Spirit of God.

a. Confess your sin to God.

b. Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

• Repeat this process daily in your quiet time.

For Group Study

• Share with the group how you know you are filled with the Spirit. Relate a special experience with the Holy Spirit when you sensed that He filled you and began to control your life.

• If you are not sure that you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, ask the group to pray with you to be filled with the Spirit.

___________ Sixteen ___________

Fasting

We were desperate. We thought that God had called us to a lifetime of service in Africa. We had already committed lots of time and preparation to going to Africa, and now suddenly the candidate director of the Christian and Missionary Alliance was asking us to consider South America.

He challenged me with the fact that at 32 years of age, I would likely find it very difficult to learn the two required languages of Guinea, West Africa. But South America? This was not in our plans. “Lord, are You in this?” I asked.

We were crushed by our director’s advice but committed ourselves to praying about it. After all, he was the boss. We browsed the various Latin American countries in a world prayer guide, noting that Ecuador seemed particularly needy with a population of only 3.5 percent evangelicals. Yet we were not sure.

I extended my quiet time, deciding also to fast for God’s answer. On the second day of fasting, we received an unexpected letter from a missionary in Ecuador. This missionary knew nothing of our situation. We had not been in contact with him for two years. Dated March 24, 1988, here is what it said:

Are you still thinking of Africa for missionary work? It is great if you are. . . . But in all fairness to you, I think you should find out what God says to you when you ask Him specifically about Ecuador. We have so much opportunity here with several very “going” churches. With your experience, you would do well in a team ministry in the city of your choice. I would never want to influence you one way or another, but sure wouldn’t mind if the good Lord would head you in this direction.

“God, You are so awesome,” I whispered.

God does not always break through with the lightning and thunder, but it is wonderful when He does.

We noticed in an earlier chapter how Daniel’s quiet time was key to his success. But Daniel also supercharged his personal time with God through fasting. We read:

In the first year of Darius . . . I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures . . . that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:1–3

On another occasion Daniel says, “I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over” (Daniel 10:2–3). On both occasions, God answered in a miraculous way.

Fasting and the quiet time are not necessarily linked together. You are not going to fast every day in your quiet time. Yet because the goal of the quiet time is to know God, and the main purpose of fasting is to enhance your spiritual sensitivity to God, on occasion you will want to supercharge your quiet time through the discipline of fasting.

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Motivation for Fasting

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:16–18).

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The ABCs of Fasting

In simple terms, fasting is avoiding eating all or certain types of food for the purpose of concentrating on God. You might skip one meal or many meals. While it is more common to fast for one day, some fast longer.

Although there are various kinds of fasts, the most common one is to abstain from food, but not drink, for a given period of time. Water is the basic liquid, but some people drink coffee, tea and fruit juice. Here is a more complete listing of Bible fasts:

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Complete Fast

•Abstinence from eating food and drinking liquids

•Example of Moses (Deuteronomy 9:9; Exodus 34:28)

•Other examples: Esther 4:16; Acts 9:9 •

Normal Fast

•Abstinence from all food and liquid with the exception of drinking water

•Example of Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1–4). Jesus probably abstained from food but not drink in that He was hungry but not thirsty. The devil tempted him with food rather than with drink.

Partial fast

•A restricted diet rather than a complete abstinence from food

•Example of Daniel’s partial fast (Daniel 9:3; 10:3)

Group Fast

•Fasting in a group setting. All of God’s people come together to pray for a particular need.

•Other examples: Joel 1:14; 2:15; Esther 4:16

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There are many reasons for fasting. One of the key motivations is that self-denial draws us closer to God. Fasting helps us to concentrate on God, increase our victory over Satan, pray more fervently and overcome personal bondages. Mike Bickle says:

Fasting enables us to see spiritual things that we normally could not see. The increase will not happen overnight. In fact, it may not even happen much in the first months, but our level of intimacy with the Lord will grow over years and seasons. . . . Fasting increases the tenderizing of our hearts by removing the spirit of dullness and deadness off of us so that we feel the presence of God and His love in a more discernible way. I stress the word feel because, although feelings are not our primary concerns, they do make life far richer and make even difficult circumstances easier to handle. . . . Your spiritual commitment and intensity will also grow as a result of fasting (note 48).

Another reason for fasting is to petition God on behalf of someone else. When Haman influenced King Xerxes to kill the Jews in the land, Mordecai asked Esther to intercede on the Jews’ behalf. Esther replied to Mordecai:

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

Esther 4:16

We know that God heard the cries of Esther and the Jews, and responded in a miraculous way.

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Biblical Reasons for Fasting

• To receive God’s illumination and wisdom (Daniel 9:2, 3, 21, 22; 10:1–14)

• To overcome sin (Isaiah 58:6)

• To declare that God is the priority of our lives (Matthew 4:4)

• To increase personal holiness (Psalm 69:10)

• To have victory over Satan (Mark 9:29)

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And as I have indicated above, another great benefit of fasting is receiving God’s direction. Often we fast because we need guidance. The apostles waited before the Lord in prayer and fasting until the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). When we fast and pray we become more sensitive to His leading.

When we fast, we enter the presence of the living God in a more in-depth, personal way. Fasting helps us to hear God’s voice because we become more sensitive to Him. It clears up the cobwebs in our brains and helps us see with spiritual eyes.

Start Right

As you prepare to fast, it is always good to check with your doctor, especially for those with difficult medical histories. Some people are unable to fast because of diabetes or hypoglycemia. Susan, a friend of mind, regrets that she is unable to fast. If she misses even one meal, she will pass out because of her hypoglycemic condition.

It is also advisable to start small. Start out fasting by missing one meal. Then fast for two meals. Eventually try tackling a 24-hour fast. Feel the liberty to drink fresh fruit juices.

Eventually you might want to tackle a two- or three-day fast. My yearly three-day prayer and fasting retreat has helped me tremendously as I reflect on the past year and plan for the future. This is an idea I borrowed from other servants of God who make this a regular practice. You might decide to do something similar. Bill Bright offers several helpful hints to begin fasting (note 49):

• Set your objective (spiritual renewal, guidance, healing).

• Make your commitment (kind of fast).

• Prepare yourself spiritually (confess sin, receive filling of the Spirit).

• Prepare yourself physically (consult physician if you have any reservations).

• Put yourself on a schedule (to make the most of your time before God).

• End your fast gradually.

• Expect results.

Some people are so excited about the benefits of fasting, they make it a weekly discipline. You might do the same.

Whether weekly or occasionally, fasting is a powerful tool that will enhance your relationship with God and supercharge your quiet time.

Chapter Summary

• The essence of fasting is to abstain from food to be more sensitive to God and His direction.

• It is best to start small (fasting one or two meals) and eventually lengthen the time frame (fasting for one to three days).

Practical Steps

• Skip one meal in the next week for the purpose of seeking God.

• Increase your fast to two meals and then three meals. Make sure you have concentrated time to seek God.

For Group Study

• Share with the group the kind(s) of fasting that you have done.

• Plan to fast before the next group meeting and share your experience with the group when you meet again.

__________ Seventeen __________

Journaling

In the midst of a heart-wrenching trial of some sort, perhaps a sickness or a rebellion in the kingdom, David wrote:

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.

Psalm 6:2–7

David found comfort in writing his thoughts down on paper. The book of Psalms, in fact, is David’s journal. While others contributed, David wrote the lion’s share.

Journaling is writing down our thoughts, illuminations from God, application of biblical truth, praise reports, accounts of struggles and whatever else we feel is important to write down.

Your quiet time is the perfect time for such journaling. You might feel the urge to write down your latest disappointment, promotion, conflict or victory. Here is an entry from one of my journals on February 8, 1997:

What a struggle today. I was having a great devotional time and really seeking Jesus. Suddenly the phone rang. [Name] was on the phone, and he just wanted to talk. Fifty minutes later, troubled, frustrated, etc., I hung up the phone. I didn’t feel listened to, I didn’t feel like I truly had a conversation, and yet worse, I tried to use the time to exhort him to treat [name] better and he seemed to resist my effort. In the end, there was no accord, and I ended up hanging up in frustration.

Lord, I pray our tumultuous conversation does not affect our relationship.

Only a few minutes later, Kevin Strong called. Lord, You often place the glorious alongside the difficult. Kevin shared a lot about his sickness and what has been happening in his life. I was more reserved. He probably noted that. I want to wait until we actually talk together before I really share more from my heart. Lord, thanks. Well, I’m just trying to get myself together now. It’s been a frustrating day. Lord, You know.

I write in my diary for a variety of reasons: insight, victory, defeat, lessons learned, to list a few. My only rule is an internal one: I write when I feel the need to do so. I have no other formula. I do not try to write a lot or a little—just whenever I feel the need. Over the years, I have discovered that I normally tend to journal when passing through a deep trial or period of confusion about God’s will in my own life.

Reasons for a Journal

To find comfort in times of trial. When everything is rosy and normal I do not feel the need to write. It is during times of conflict or defeat, or when I’m on the ground looking up, that my diary offers comfort.

I have had to keep this fact in mind when reviewing my diary from the previous year. I am more prone to write about a fight with my wife rather than the many peaceful evenings with her. Why? Because the conflict was an intense time when I felt the need to call out to God and find His wisdom. The clarifying balm of my journal helped me overcome the problem.

To clarify our own thinking. Writing down our thoughts helps us to see things from more than one perspective. Vague impressions or unclear thoughts begin to untangle themselves as we write them down. In some cases, we realize that we have knowledge we did not know we possessed.

To reflect on what God has done in our lives. During my quiet time, I will occasionally open my diary and look at pages of past entries. As I am reading, I will remember the past situation—the conflict, the victory or the longing. I often find myself thinking, Wow! Time has passed so quickly. I’m so grateful for God’s work in my life. He’s never let me down.

Soon, your diary will become a refuge. You will find yourself writing during times of pain, difficulty, confusion or joy. After a period of time elapses, this written record will become a source of encouragement as the promises of God are verified or as struggles finally end. You will love to look back at what God has accomplished in your life.

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Reasons for Keeping a Journal

• Express thoughts and feelings.

• Find a refuge in times of need.

• Clarify your thinking in times of difficulty.

• Reflect later on what God has done in your life.

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Growth Through Writing and Review

I consider journaling and reviewing my thoughts as part of the spiritual exercise of my quiet time, not as something “extra.” I write and review my diary in at least three ways.

Randomly during my quiet time. I do not write in my journal during every quiet time—only when I feel the urge. Nor do I review past journal entries during each quiet time. When I do feel led to review my diary, for example, I pick one of my diary files that I have numbered consecutively (diary.1, diary.2, etc.) and review it.

Approximately every seven days. Every week I write down a summary of what happened on each day of the past week. I then write down a few goals for the upcoming week. This writing process normally takes me twenty minutes. I write quickly without giving it a lot of thought. This practice helps me to clarify lessons I learned during the week, to gain perspective on any trials I am going through, and to see God’s faithfulness in my life. I want to remember the themes God has taught me. Knowing what has happened in the past helps me project into the future.

A yearly review of the past year’s diary entries. I review my entire journal annually during a two- to three-day personal prayer and planning retreat (note 50). I then summarize every month of my diary. Next, I discover and list the themes of each month. I begin to notice the specific lessons that God has taught me during each month. Sometimes I notice a similar theme over a period of two or three months. After meditating on each monthly summary, I try to detect what God has shown me throughout the year.

The reason why this process excites me is because I do not want to repeat the same mistakes of the previous year. I want to learn from them. Meditating on the past year also helps me to plan more effectively for the upcoming year. I am able to see patterns of God’s work in my life that help me discern God’s future leading.

I then write down in my journal what I envision for the upcoming year. I write down what I believe God is leading me to do in the areas of family, relationships and job/ministry.

You do not have to write and review your journal this way. If some of these principles work for you, great; if not, another method may work better for you. The most important thing is to express yourself to the living God through writing in your journal.

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Reasons to Review Your Journal

• Learn from your mistakes.

• Discover what God has being doing in your life.

• Prepare yourself better for the future.

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Practical Points

Maintain secrecy and privacy. You will not write with the same fervor unless you know that what you write is yours and yours alone. Your diary is between you and the living God. He sees what you have written: your hurts, fears, tears and groaning. The exercise of writing is to deepen your transparency before the Almighty.

Direct your thoughts to God. Your diary should be directed to the triune God. This does not mean you have to use God’s name on every page; just remember that you are expressing your thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes and prayer requests to God.

Use a computer. If at all possible, it is a good idea to use a computer for journal writing. Many years ago I wrote my diary with pencil and pen. Perhaps the advantage was the flexibility of carrying my diary anywhere. However, it is much harder to write quickly in a paperbound diary and much harder to store. (In addition, if you are planning on journaling your entire life, remember that paperbound diaries have a tendency to fade.) I now place all of my diary files in one folder named “Diary.” This way, I can quickly open any file in that folder and look back at God’s goodness and mercy in my own life.

Granted, if you decide to journal on computer, you must be extraordinarily careful to back up all computer diary entries. Today’s devices (movable hard drives, CD rewriteables) are relatively cheap. You might also want to make a hard copy just to be safe. I also recommend that you hide at least one of your back-ups for protection in case of theft.

Chapter Summary

• Writing our thoughts down on paper clarifies our thinking.

• The purpose of a journal is to record and express our thoughts to God and then reflect later on how God has worked in our lives.

Practical Steps

• If you do not have a journal, begin now to record your feelings on paper. Direct your thoughts to God.

• Write for a few minutes each day this week and review your journal at the end of the week.

For Group Study

• Share how journaling has helped your life.

• If you do not have a journal yet, do you think you need one? Why or why not?

__________ Eighteen __________

Farewell, Farewell, Sweet Hour of Prayer

It was a million-dollar baseball. Tim Forneris, a groundskeeper working the left-field stands, grabbed it. Police were on hand to protect whoever got it. Published reports said the ball could be worth as much as two million dollars to collectors.

What was so special about this baseball? Mark McGwire hit it. With his sixty-second home run, McGwire toppled the 37-year-old home-run record held by Roger Maris. Babe Ruth had previously held the record for 34 years.

“It was a sweet, sweet run around the bases,” McGwire said after the game. “I will tell you the last week and a half my stomach has been turning, my heart has been beating a million miles a minute.”

Mark McGwire, like the rest of us, started small. He did not become a home-run king overnight. He started his training in Little League, where he learned to swing a bat and run the bases. But as he persevered and followed time-tested principles, McGwire finally hit seventy home runs in one season and thus broke baseball’s most cherished record.

To develop a dynamic quiet time, you must start in the minor leagues. Set a specific time, find a place and be consistent. You will face those dark nights of the soul when you will want to quit, but do not give up.

As you continue, the Word of God will become your delight. You will receive answers to your prayers and supernatural guidance as you hear God’s voice. Your journal will broaden the perspective of your life. In fact, everything you do will prosper.

Someone has said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Start that step now.

In a short time, your quiet time will be in His presence. As you depart from this life into the next one, with longing you will remember the words of William H. Bradbury:

This robe of flesh

I’ll drop, and rise

To seize the everlasting prize

And shout, while passing through the air

Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.

You will see the One who has been preparing a place for you. You will no longer need to “close the door” of your private room. Instead of looking in a faint mirror here on earth, you will see Him “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The intimacy developed now will prepare you for your eternal appointment with the King.

__________ Afterword __________

A Great Cloud

of Witnesses

Those who changed the course of history prioritized their time with God as the most important event in each day. Leroy Eims said,

People who have been used of God are those who have met with God on a daily basis. They have so ordered their lives that they have found time to pray and read the Word of God. Quite often they do this in the early morning before work presses in, before the phone rings, and before the demands of the day are upon them (note 51).

They realized that success in life required utter dependence on God. Below are a few examples of those who changed the course of history. Obviously there are many more that could be included.

• Martin Luther declared, “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer” (note 52).

• George Mueller, the famous man of faith, not only developed his own personal quiet time, but also asked all workers in his orphanage to spend an hour in prayer during regular work hours. Mueller knew that he would get far more out of his workers if they were spending time with the Master.

• Juan Montt, the leader of the modern missions movement in the twentieth century, said, “After receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and claiming by faith the fullness of the Spirit of God, I don’t know of any other discipline that produces more spiritual blessing than spending daily quiet time of at least one-half hour with the living God” (note 53).

• Catherine Martin, founder and president of Quiet Time Ministries and author of Pilgrimage of the Heart and the Enriching Your Quiet Time Notebook, has dedicated her life to help others enjoy God more intimately in the quiet time.

• A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, said, “I’m nothing without spending time alone with God” (note 54).

• David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest church in the history of Christianity, awakes every morning to commune with the living God. He believes that the reason his church has grown so large is a result of his quiet time.

• Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez, discovered that he had lost a measure of his satisfaction with Jesus and was spending more time in ministry. He writes, “I made three simple commitments to the Lord for the next year. I would

1. Get up at 5 a.m. every day to read my Bible;

2. Write a full page in a daily spiritual journal; and

3. Learn to pray and seek Him until I found Him” (note 55).

The writer of Hebrews describes running the race in the light of those who have run before us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

The men and women who made an impact on the world were first impacted by God. They paid the price in secret and God mightily rewarded their lives. By their example we are reminded that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Notes

Chapter 1

1. A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, Inc., MCMXLVIII), 11.

2. As quoted in Woodrow Michael Kroll, Early in the Morning (Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux Brothers, 1990), 35.

3. Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King, Experiencing God (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 80.

4. James Lardner, “World-class Workaholics,” U.S. News & World Report (December 20, 1999).

5. “Study: Americans Work Longest Hours,” Infobeat Morning Coffee Edition (September 7, 1999), e-mail news. The report was based on figures covering the years 1980–1997. On average, U.S. workers clocked 1,966 hours at work in the most recent year, the study said. In 1980 the average was 1,883 hours.

6. Paul Cedar, A Life of Prayer (Nashville: Word, 1998), 78.

Chapter 2

7. Cecil B. Murphey, Prayererobics (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1979), 30–32.

8. Frank C. Laubach, Channels of Spiritual Power (Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1954), 95.

9. Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King, Experiencing God, 2.

10. As quoted in Bruce Wilkinson, Secrets of the Vine (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah, 2001), 106.

Chapter 3

11. Woodrow Michael Kroll, Early in the Morning, 34.

12. Paul Cedar, A Life of Prayer, 180.

13. Everett Lewis Cattell, The Spirit of Holiness (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill, 1963), 64.

Chapter 4

14. Ralph Neighbour, Where Do We Go from Here (Houston: Touch Publications, 1992), 48.

15. As quoted in C. Peter Wagner, Prayer Shield (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1992), 81.

16. As quoted in C. Peter Wagner, Warfare Prayer (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1992), 86.

17. Wagner, Prayer Shield, 86.

Chapter 5

18. Charles R. Swindoll, Intimacy with the Almighty (Dallas: Word, 1996), 17–18.

19. Paul Cedar, A Life of Prayer, 180.

Chapter 6

20. Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 19.

21. Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer (Los Angeles: Fleming H. Revell, 1953), 16–23.

22. Kevin Strong, e-mail on Tuesday, May 22, 2001.

23. Bruce Wilkinson, Secrets of the Vine, 108.

24. Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Beaumont, Tex.: The SeedSowers Christian Book Publishing House, 1975), 28.

Part 2

25. Marjorie J. Thompson, Soul Feast (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 10.

Chapter 7

26. Leroy Eims, What Every Christian Should Know About Growing (Wheaton: Victor, 1984), 31.

27. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), 60.

Chapter 8

28. Encarta® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

29. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 15.

30. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 17.

Chapter 9

31. Used by permission from Kingsway Thankyou Music (Dir), License #924151.

32. Paul Cedar, A Life of Prayer, 191.

Chapter 10

33. Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, 73.

Chapter 11

34. Tommy Tenney, The God Chasers (Shippensburg, Pa.: Destiny Image, 2000), 76.

35. Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King, Experiencing God, 138.

36. Everett Lewis Cattell, The Spirit of Holiness, 54–55.

Chapter 12

37. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. copyright ©1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution restricted in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved

38. George Mueller, The Autobiography of George Mueller, Diana L. Matisko, ed. (Springdale, Pa.: Whitaker House, 1984), 140.

39. Quoted in Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (Rockville, Md.: Assurance, 1979), 1045.

40. Charles Finney, Revival Messages, 49.

Chapter 13

41. David Wells, “Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, Ralph Winter and Steve Hawthorne, eds. (Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library, 1981), 123–26.

42. Ibid., 124.

Chapter 14

43. Information obtained from Miguel Robles, a well-respected pastor in Buenos Aires who researched Omar’s church.

44. Ibid, 66.

Chapter 15

45. Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, 96.

46. As quoted in Stephen F. Olford, The Way of Holiness (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1998), 90.

47. The Holy Spirit is a Person who has knowledge (1 Corinthians 2:11); a will (1 Corinthians 12:11); a mind (Romans 8:27); and affections (Romans 15:30). You can lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3–4), insult Him (Hebrews 10:29) and even grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30). You cannot grieve a rock or a force, but you can grieve a person.

Chapter 16

48. Mike Bickle, The Pleasures of Loving God (Lake Mary, Fla.: Creation House, 2000), 142.

49. Bill Bright, Basic 7 Steps to Successful Fasting and Prayer (Orlando, Fla.: NewLife Publications, 1995), 7–12.

Chapter 17

50. I normally take this personal prayer retreat in the summer (often in June or July). If I take my retreat in July, I review a whole year’s worth of diary entries up until June.

Afterword

51. Leroy Eims, What Every Christian Should Know About Growing, 26.

52. As quoted in Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 31.

53. As quoted in Osvaldo Cruzado, manual on personal devotions. Originally distributed by the Spanish District of the C&MA in greater New York area.

54. Ibid.

55. Bruce Wilkinsonm, Secrets of the Vine, 101.

www.joelcomiskeygroup.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Comiskey, Joel, 1956–

An appointment with the King : ideas for jump-starting your devotional life / Joel Comiskey.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8007-9304-8

1. Spiritual life—Christianity. I. Title.

BV4501.3 .C655 2002

248.4´6—dc21 2002000368

Table of Contents

Practical Steps toward a Daily Quiet Time

Why Should I?

What Is It All About?

When Is My Appointment?

Does It Really Matter How Much Time?

Did He Really Say, “Close the Door”?

Hide-and-Seek?

The Disciplines of a Quiet Time

Reading God’s Word

Meditation

Worship

Confession

Listening

Prayer

Intercession

Spiritual Warfare

The Filling of the Spirit

Fasting

Journaling

Farewell, Farewell, Sweet Hour of Prayer

A Great Cloud of Witnesses

Notes