It is natural to spend time as God’s child with the One from whom our blessings flow. He is the Source of strength and wisdom. If you love the Lord you will want to spend time with Him. It will not be a burden but a delight to your soul (Psalm 63:1). We need His fellowship daily. It is reasonable to set aside a time each day for personal, intimate fellowship with Him, sometimes called “Quiet Time.” This is a daily devotional period in which you pray and study God’s Word. Believers for hundreds of years have found this an essential element for a life of fellowship with God.
Great men of God in the Old Testament, such as Abraham, had a practice of building an altar, a sacred place for worshipping God (Genesis 12:7; 13:4). Meeting with God each day can be like establishing a spiritual altar.
You will need:
Time set aside daily
Place free from distraction
Plan to consecutively study the
Bible
Goal of obedience to Christ
1. What time did the holy men of God meet with God? (Isaiah 50:4)
2. Where did the Lord Jesus go to spend time with God the Father? (Mark 1:35)
We fellowship with God today by getting alone with Him for prayer and meditation on His Word. In prayer we speak to God. In reading God’s Word we seek to hear what God is saying to us. Here are some important things to remember when we study the Scriptures or holy writings:
3. What should be the prayer of the believer before reading God’s Word? (Psalm 119:18)
4. How should we respond to the Word of God? (Psalm 119:34,97)
5. What will be accomplished in my life through the Bible? Psalm 119:11
Psalm 119:50 Psalm 119:105
6. For what four purposes did God give us His Word? (2 Timothy 3:16)
7. How can we be successful in daily living? (Joshua 1:8)
8. What caused the disciples to ask the Lord to teach them to pray? (Luke 11:1)
9. List at least one thing we can pray for other than a personal request that the Lord Jesus gives in the pattern of prayer He gave to His disciples in Luke 11:2-4.
Ask yourself these questions:
When have you determined before God to spend time with Him each day in reading His Word and in prayer? For how long a period of time?
What plan do you have for consecutively reading the books of the Bible? (Begin with the Gospels, John and Mark first, then the letters of Paul, Peter and John, then the Psalms and Proverbs, then Genesis, the foundational book of the Old Testament. Seek to read through the entire Bible, but concentrate on knowing the New Testament first.)
Review Romans 10:9; 1 John 5:13; Acts 2:41; Matthew 28:19
Memorize Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”
Mark 1:35, “And in the early morning while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there.”