How to Have a Meaningful Quiet Time

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. It is my meditation all the day. Thou, through thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they, that is, my enemies, are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste!

Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Christianity is not a legal relationship.

It is a love relationship. And people who are legalists never have victory. Ten thousand don'ts will never make you one iota more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are some don'ts in the Christian life, and there are some do's. But, friend, it is Jesus himself who makes you like him.

You need to spend time with Jesus Christ. Christianity is a love relationship. Now, you cannot love someone that you do not know, and you cannot know someone that you don't spend quality time with. To know him is to love him. To love him is to trust him. To trust him is to obey him. And to obey him is to be blessed. To know him is to love him. You cannot know Jesus without loving him. And to love him is to trust him. You cannot trust someone you do not love. And to trust him is to obey him. The reason we don't obey is because we don't trust.

And to obey him is to be blessed, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey, and it begins with a quality, quiet time, a daily communication with the Lord. I want to give you what others have taught me and also some things I've learned in my own pilgrimage about having a quality, quiet time. First of all, you must have a proper period. That is the right time. When should you have your quiet time?

Here are two keys. Number one, it should be the very best time, and number two, it should be early in the day. Now, don't give the Lord the leftovers. Give him the very best time, and that best time should be some time in the morning. Now, I think that it takes at least a half an hour to have an effective quiet time, but some time is better than no time. So start out with some time. And by the way, you won't just find this time.

The devil will see to that. You have to make time. You study the life of the Lord Jesus, you find that Jesus made time to be alone with the Father.

He, in the midst of a very busy ministry, would withdraw himself and be alone. Now, this quiet time ought to be in the morning. Psalm chapter 5 verse 3 says, In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Why in the morning? Well, obviously in the morning, because you're getting ready to live the day. You don't take the trip and then read the map, do you? I mean, it's early in the morning that you take your time.

You don't get the car tuned after you've taken the trip. You don't pray for your bread, your daily bread, after the day is over. I mean, it's very obvious that this is a prayer that unlocks the key of the morning. It's a time to get started with God.

And any athlete knows that it's the start that ensures a good finish. Now, I dare say that most of us feel we don't have time in the morning. Well, obviously we do have time if we make time. It's just a matter of determining to make time. Now, it may seem to some of you who are efficiency experts to have a quiet time is a waste of time. But if you were chopping wood, would it be a waste of time to sharpen the axe? If you're going on a trip and you don't know where you're going, are you wasting time when you study the map? If you're trying to read a book, are you wasting time when you turn on the light? You see, God's word is a lamp to light the way. It's a map to show the way.

It is a tool that we work with along the way. And so it's very, very important that you make time. There must be the proper time. The best time for me is sometime after breakfast. Now, what I'm trying to say is it's got to be early, but it needs to be your best time. That is when you can bring all the mental acuity that you have.

So there must be the proper period. Ask God when that time is and don't try to find it. Make it. And you'll make it as a matter of priority.

Now, here's the second thing. Not only must you have the proper period, but you must have the proper preparation. And the three things that will prepare you for a quiet time. Number one, you must be physically alert. Find a time when the cobwebs are out of your mind, when you can think clearly, when your juices are flowing in your body, physically alert. Number two, and this is very important, you must be morally pure and clean to have a quiet time. Do you know what quiet time is? Quiet time is fellowship with a holy God.

The reason that some folks don't have a quiet time is they feel uncomfortable. And the reason they feel uncomfortable is they don't want to look God in the face. And the reason they don't want to look God in the face is there's sin in their life. What did Adam do after he had sinned and God came walking in the garden? Adam fled. Before that, Adam had a quiet time with God, didn't he? I mean, Adam and God walked in the garden, they had fellowship.

That was Adam's quiet time and walking in the garden in the cool of the day. But then when there was sin in Adam's life, he did not want to look God in the face. If you find in you sometimes a reluctance, maybe even a repugnance to what I'm talking about, is simply because there may be sin in your life. Now, you've got to have your heart clean and pure in order to have a quiet time. Now, it may be that a part of your quiet time will be to get your heart clean and pure, but you need to take yourself by the nap of the neck and do it through confession because you're foolish and wicked to pray from a wicked heart. Because Psalm 66, verse 18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now, we quote the prayer promises. That's a prayer promise. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Or again, the Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 and 24, Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift. Now, obviously, He's talking there about the temple worship.

But the principle is you can't worship God if there's a bad relationship in your heart that needs to be put right. So what you come, you come physically alert. You come morally pure. Well, how do you get morally pure? Does that mean you can't have a quiet time? No, it just simply means that you search your heart at the very beginning of the quiet time and say, Oh, God, search my heart.

Try me and see if there'd be some wicked way in me. And if God the Holy Spirit points that out, 1 John 1-9 says, If we confess our sin, He's what? Faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, there's no reason that any of us should not be as clean as pure as the driven snow because of that. 1 John 1-7, The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanseth us from what? All sin.

Not some, all. And don't you let the devil intimidate you by some failure in the past because you may, through the precious blood of Jesus and by the grace of God, be clean. So what is the proper preparation? You're physically alert. You're morally pure. You are thirdly, mentally aware.

And this is very important. You know, the Bible tells us often to gird up the loins of our mind. Now, what does that mean? Well, in Bible times, the men wore long, flowing robes. And if you go to Israel today, you'll still see the Bedouins and others wearing these long robes.

Now, when a man was going to work, to plow or to fight, he would take those robes and he would take the loose ends and gird them up and tie a rope around there, just taking those long, loose ends and bringing them all together and tying them up tight so it wouldn't trip over them. Now, your mind is like that. You've got a lot of loose ends. And in order to have a quiet time, you have to get mentally tough. I mean, it's hard for me. I have a kind of a peculiar type of mind.

My mind wants to run off on all kinds of ideas all the time. I have to gird up the loins of my mind and bring it. You see, when you come to a quiet time, you've got to be serious. Come with anticipation. Come eagerly. Come expecting to receive something. And don't just wait till you get all warm around the heart and wet around the lashes and just think, I've got to feel real mellow.

Be tough-minded. Say, I'm coming, Lord, and emotion doesn't really have all that much to do with it. It's good to feel juicy when you pray, but you don't have to. And I hear people say, well, you know, my prayers didn't get above the light bulbs.

Well, that's probably your problem because God is underneath the light bulbs as well. I mean, He's here. He's present. And your emotions don't bring Him near.

He is near by the blood of Jesus Christ. And what you need to do is to be physically alert, morally pure, and mentally aware. Now, we've said you have the proper period.

You have the proper preparation. Now, here's a third thing if you would have a good quiet time, a meaningful quiet time. There must be the proper place.

Now, what is the proper place? He said, when you pray, enter into your closet and pray. Now, He did not mean the closed closet.

I'm serious about that. Some people, the only thing we know about a closet is a closed closet. I went to school with a boy, a preacher boy, at Stetson University who took this so literally. His name was Judd. Judd, in the dormitory, went into the closed closet, shut the door to pray. And after a while, we said, where's Judd? Anybody seen Judd?

Has something happened to Judd? When we finally opened the closet door, he was in there sound asleep on his knees in that closet, had gone in there and shut the door and gotten quiet, no air in there. It's a wonder he didn't suffocate in there. He had just taken this so literally, he went into a little closet and shut the door. What did our Lord mean when He said, enter into your closet and pray? The word closet there simply means into a place of isolation, somewhere where you can shut the door on the world and open the windows to heaven.

As you study the life of Jesus, you find out that Jesus was not always in a literal closet, but you will find out that Jesus would seek to be alone. Sometimes He'd go out into a mountain. Sometimes He went into the wilderness.

Sometimes He went into a garden. You see, it is the secret place that is the sacred place. Now, when I say the secret place, I don't mean a place that no one else knows about. I simply mean a place where you are there alone with the Lord.

My suggestion is that it be well lighted and well ventilated. Why is the Lord saying, enter into your closet and pray? Well, number one, what you are when you're alone is really what you are. The mark of your prayer life is not where you pray in public, but in private, isn't it? Your Father who sees you in secret will reward you openly. Now, that's one reason, just to keep us from being hypocrites. But another reason that you go to the secret place is to avoid distractions, visual distractions and noises, audible distractions, and people who come in.

And so have the proper period. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and we'll look up. Have the proper preparation physically, morally, mentally. Be prepared. Find a proper place.

Get someplace that is the place that you're accustomed to, to going. My place I'm blessed in that I have my study at my house and I love that. It's a blessing to me.

Most people don't have that, but I have that. I do my work there. When I'm there, I can go into my study, my books are there, my desk is there.

I have my materials out there. And that's a blessing to me. And granted, many people don't have a place like that. My wife has a place where she gets up and goes around. There's a hallway that connects our garage to our living room and we have some books out there and there's a little nook out there. That's the place that she retires to, to be alone with God. And it's her special place. But find a place. Pray and ask God to give you a place. It just may be your bedroom.

It may be if you've got a lot of children in the house, you may have to go to the bathroom and lock the door, whatever, but find a special place to get alone with God. Now here's the fourth thing. Not only should there be a proper place, but you need to have the proper provisions. You need to have the right tools. And these are going to include, first of all, a readable Bible. Now don't get a small print Bible.

Invest in a Bible, a good Bible with good print and wide margins and good paper, something that you can write in and make notes in and don't be afraid to write in your Bible and make notes in your Bible. Wear it out and get another one. But don't throw the old one away. Save it and keep it and look back on it sometime.

Be like an old friend to you. I have Bibles that are decades old and sometime I go back and find things, that notes I made there and memories will spring back up of things that God taught, things that maybe I'd long since forgotten. But get a good, readable Bible. As a matter of fact, you need two or three Bibles, maybe a study Bible and then a Bible to bring to church.

But that's the best investment. Somebody has said the person who has a Bible falling apart probably has a life that's not. I mean, when you've read it and underlined it and wept over it and written in it, that's fine.

That's not irreverent to do that. But still treat the Bible with reverence. Now, not only should you have a readable Bible, but get also a loose leaf devotional journal. I have a journal and I don't write in the journal every morning, but I will write something when I study. If I don't put it in the journal, if I don't think it's worthy of the journal, I'll write it on a piece of paper and maybe discard it, maybe on a yellow legal pad. But get a journal. To me, it would be almost unthinkable to think that I would read without a pen in my hand.

Almost unthinkable. I mean, I instinctively, when I reach for the Bible, reach for a pen. Why? You expect God to give you something.

You say, well, that's all right, pastor. I've got a good memory. I'll remember it.

Who are you kidding? I have a fair memory, but I want to tell you folks that it is better to write it down. It impresses it in your mind and the weakest ink is better than the best memory. Write it down in your journal. You expect God to give you something. Not only should you have a journal where you keep thoughts, but you need a companion which is a prayer journal. I've kept a prayer journal for many years and I don't use it every morning, but I use it many mornings where I get down to remind myself of things that I'm praying about for myself and for my family and for my loved ones and for you and for this church.

And then a third thing that you need, and this doesn't need to be a piece of paper all the time, but just keep a little notepad there to write down things that you need to do during the day, just your daily assignment. And those things will come to your mind as you pray or come to your mind before you pray so you can pray for them. So if you have your devotional journal where God is giving you thoughts from His Word, you have your prayer journal of people that you're going to pray for. And by the way, when you have a prayer journal, that will help you to spread out your prayers very systematically for things and people that you might not pray for ordinarily. And then also have that notepad of things that God wants you to do during the day. What you're doing when you come to the prayer time is reporting for duty and asking God to show you what He wants you to do that particular day and also pleading for power to do what He wants you to do.

So they're the proper provisions. The Bible, the devotional journal, the prayer journal, and a note reminder of things to do. This is your quiet time. You're not even here preparing your Sunday school lesson.

You're not here preparing a sermon per se. You're just here to meet with the Lord. Now, number five, a proper procedure. What is the proper procedure? Now, you're walking into the place.

It's your best time. You are physically alert, you're morally pure, you're mentally aware, you've come, you've shut out distractions, you're in there with God, you're ready. All right, now what do you do?

What procedure do you take? May I recommend that the very first thing you do is just to get still and get quiet. You know the Bible says, be still and know that I am the Lord.

Just fix and focus your mind on Him. Calm down. Relax. Recognize His presence. Be still and know that I am God. If you think about what's happening, you are having a private interview with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, you need to think about that. Let your mind dwell on the fact that Jesus is there with you. I mean, to be alone with the Lord Jesus Christ, to sup with Him and He with me. That's what He has invited us to do. And we need to fix our minds and focus our minds on the gift, the privilege.

For the Lord Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. So, number one, just get quiet. Take a deep breath. Focus your thoughts on the Lord. Now, you don't have to do this, but I want to tell you something. They're one of the sweetest things to me personally that I've learned to do.

I want you to try it sometime. Get along with the Lord. When you're getting ready to have that time with Him, look up and lift your hands to Him. When you lift your hands, first of all, lift your hands in praise and say, Lord, I praise you.

Just praise Him. Then, lift your hands again and say, Lord, I surrender. You know, when you lift your hands, you surrender. Just say, Lord, I surrender. I am under your control. And then lift your hands a third time and say, Lord, I receive, as you're expecting to receive something. Just try it.

Just try those three things. Just get along and just, before God, just lift your hands and say, Lord, I praise you. Lord, I surrender.

Lord, I receive. And that just will tune your heart to think about the presence of God. Now, I think those kind of things are a lot better done in private than in public. And I feel even a little embarrassed talking about those kind of things alone in private with the Lord.

But it's such a blessing to me to do that. Now, next, get into the Word of God. It's better to start reading the Bible than to start in prayer. Don't pray first and then read the Word. Read the Word first and then pray. It is more important for you to hear from God even than for God to hear from you because God already knows all about you, but you need to know a lot more about Him. So you start, first of all, reading the Word of God. That will tune your heart and get your heart ready to pray. You hear God and then talk to God in prayer.

A quiet time is a time alone with God where you hear from God and God hears from you. Now, when you read the Bible, read for quality and not quantity. Don't see how much of the Bible you can read. Now, a lot of people have a goal to read the Bible through in a year, read the Bible through in six months. That's wonderful.

Do that. But that's not your quiet time. I mean, if you're not careful, you'll be pushing ahead when you ought not to be pushing ahead. Sometimes you might spend a morning on one verse. Stop and think as you're reading the Word of God, what is God telling me? Not, what does this say? Of course it says something. Of course it's the Word of God. But what is God saying to me?

To me. Not, what does God want me to tell somebody? Not, what am I going to teach in Sunday school?

What is God saying to me? So read it very thoughtfully. Now, of course, read the Bible like you would read any other book in one sense of the word. You don't just pick up a book and just open it up at random and start reading in the middle of a paragraph and then say, well, this book doesn't make sense to me. That's the way a lot of people read the Bible, just kind of a lucky dip.

I mean, there it is. No, read it sequentially and read it in paragraphs or units. I mean, use some common sense when you read the Bible and keep your Bible reading balanced. Read from the Old Testament and read from the New Testament. Read regularly from the Psalms because when you read the Psalms, you'll learn to worship and you'll get encouragement.

Read regularly from the book of Proverbs because from the book of Proverbs, you'll get wisdom. And then read balanced reading in the rest of the Bible. Now, what about having devotional books? Well, devotional books are wonderful.

But even now, this is not the place for this. This is a place where you just open the Bible and read intelligently, sequentially, with an open mind, a readable Bible to let God speak to you. All right, so get quiet, focus your mind on the Lord, begin to read the Word of God, and then meditate on it. Meditate on it.

Think about it. I don't mean mystical meditation. Those people assume that the answer is within them.

But the answer is not. You focus on the Word of God and you meditate on the Word of God and let the Word of God permeate you. Just think about it, meditate on it. Now, I've given you many times these questions to ask as you meditate on the Word of God. And if you're a teacher or a preacher or anybody else and you're trying to get up a sermon, or you just simply are a lesson, or you want a blessing out of the Word of God, you can ask these questions with a clean heart and the Bible will burst a flame. Here they are.

Jot them down. Number one, is there a command to obey? Number two, is there a promise to claim? Number three, is there a sin to avoid? Four, is there a lesson to learn? Five, is there a new truth to carry with me? Now, just simply take those questions. There may be others. I used to have those questions recorded in the fly leaf of a Bible, and I would refer to them often.

It's amazing. Let me give them to you again in case you did not get them all. Is there a command to obey, a promise to claim, a sin to avoid, a lesson to learn, a new truth to carry with me? So prepare your heart, get into the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God, and then record what God has given you. This is where the prayer journal comes in. Write it down.

It doesn't have to be flowery. You're not writing it for publication. You're not writing it to impress other people.

Make it intensely personal. But once you do this, you'll find yourself sharing it with other people. I mean, when you do this, you will be wanting to share the nuggets that God has given you, and that will make you a blessing to be around. You'll have a wealth of material for lessons and devotions, though that's not even your purpose in doing it. At the same time, take that notepad and write down the things that you need to do, action points.

This is the one that may be just for the day, obligations and goals and decisions that come out of that time. Now you're ready to pray. Pray it in. And when you pray, pour out your soul. Be natural. Don't try to use flowery language when you pray. Jesus said don't use vain repetition.

You're not heard for your much speaking. Be honest with God. Tell Him how you feel. He already knows. Tell Him.

Be honest. This is a time from time to time you refer to your prayer journal, continuing burdens in prayer, people that you're praying for, answers to prayer. Pray out loud. Pray audibly. If you just try to pray silently, and you have to pray silently sometimes if you're in a crowd, but when you're alone, pray audibly.

Why? It keeps your mind on track. It enables you to stay focused. Try to make complete sentences. Try to use good English when you pray.

I'm not talking about King James English. I'm just simply saying that you're speaking to God. Speak clearly. Speak plainly. Think about what you are saying when you pray, and don't rush your prayer, but don't draw it out. I mean, when you finish, quit. Pray as long as you have a concern on your heart. Don't just keep repeating things like you're going to impress God with the number of words that you say. What about when you pray and your mind wanders? Why?

Well, two reasons. Number one, it may be an attack of the devil, and if you sense it's an attack of the devil, rebuke the devil, but number two, it may be that something is coming to your heart. You're praying over here, but your real need and your real desire and your subconscious is saying, this is what I'm concerned about, my meeting this afternoon, and your mind goes to that.

How do you deal with that? Just leave this thing and go over there and pray about that thing. That thing that's caused your mind to wander, well, then pray about it. Tell God about it.

Talk to God about it, and then you're done with it, but until you deal with it, it'll just keep coming back again. Have that time where you tell God the concern of your heart and then go back to the other praying. Now, after you've done this, begin to share out of your quiet time with one another. We ought to meet people and exhort one another. You see, God did not make us to be reservoirs.

God made us to be conduits. All right, now what have we said? Number one, get still and know He's God. Number two, get into the Word of God. Number three, meditate on the Word of God and ask those questions. Number four, write down what we've learned. Then number five, pray it in, be natural, pray our hearts out to God. Number six, share what we've learned, and now listen. Obey what God tells you.

That's the seventh thing we're talking now about this proper procedure. Obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way. Now, your spiritual train is going to run on two rails. One is revelation, and the other is obedience. One is revelation and obedience.

And if either rail stops, your train stops. Learn to obey the Word of God, and when you fail, confess it. Now, you say, pastor, if I begin to do this, how soon will it be before I'll see a change in my life?

Well, I don't know. You'll see some change, I believe, right away. You can expect anything radical and dramatic, but if you get on a regimen of obeying the Word of God, getting into the Word of God, and feeding your soul, the change will not be spasmodic, and it may not be dramatic, but on the long run, it will change you for eternity. We need to have a quality, quiet time. Father, seal the message to our hearts, and help us to learn, dear Lord, how to have a quality, quiet time. In Jesus' wonderful name, amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.