WHAT IS A QUIET TIME? The Quiet Time (QT) is the most important appointment in your day. When you establish a daily set time to worship the Lord and draw closer to Him, you will discover that every phase of your life and thinking will be changed. Your prayer life will be motivated and your reading of God's Word will take on new meaning. Your goals and motives will be lifted; you will find a solid rock in the time of trouble; your hunger for the lost will be increased and awakened. If we do not spend time cultivating that one-on-one relationship with Him, we will eventually feel spiritually disconnected from Him, out of touch, restless, dissatisfied and unfulfilled. After a while we will begin drifting away and are no longer influenced by His presence in our lives. To keep that from happening, we must get to intimately know God. To know God is to know the WORD of God (the Bible).
STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL QT:
1. Make an appointment. Set aside a regular time daily. If your QT is scheduled, you are much more likely to
keep it.
2. Find a good place. Find a place that is quiet, with minimal distractions, comfortable and readily available.
3. Basic materials: your Bible, your QT Journal, and a pen (or computer). Journaling helps focus your mind on
the Lord and solidify what He is showing you. Remember there is no substitute for the Bible. Let God speak
directly to you. Click here to use Bible Gateway which has numerous Bible translations available.
4. Begin with prayer. Confess any sins the Holy Spirit reveals to you. (Psalm 139:23-24; Psalm 66:18;
1 John1:9). Ask God to help you understand the passage and discern its meaning, and to help you apply it to
your life.
5. Read the Bible passage for the day. Record what the writer is saying under the section Outstanding
Thought - write your own paraphrase or summary. Then, under Application - record what the passage is
saying to you personally. Use "I" to make it specific to you.
6. End with prayer. Respond back to God with adoration - expressing honor to God for who He is, His character
and His attributes (Col 3:1-2), and thanksgiving - expressing appreciation for what He's done in your life,
use songs (Psalm 28:7), or pray back Scripture to Him (Psalm 92:1-5; 95:1-4; Psalm 103:1-12). Ask for God's guidance throughout the day, and prayerfully commit to obey what He taught you.
7. Use variety. Strike a balance between structure and flexibility. If your QT becomes dry or difficult, try reading from a different Bible translation, change your location, or listen to an audio Bible - perhaps one that is dramatized.
WHAT IF I MISS A DAY OR MORE? Don't beat yourself up over it. Realize that you got distracted or chose not to have that time that day. Just start again. The longer you wait to start again, the harder it becomes to make it a regular habit.
HOW TO USE THE PDF JOURNAL:
1. Using the list from the table below, choose a book of the Bible you'd like to start with, click on it to automatically open it up to your computer's PDF Reader. If it doesn't download, you can download Adobe Reader for free.
For beginners, a good place to start would be the Gospel of John or Paul's letters: Galatians, Ephesians or
Philippians.
2. Under "File" - choose "Save As" and save it to your computer with a new name such as: "My QT - Eph Wk 1." Create a file called: "Quiet Time Journal" in your "Documents" file in which to store your weekly PDFs.
TIP: Storing the current week on your desktop makes it readily accessible each day.
3. Fill in today's date on the column on the left.
4. After reading the passage listed for the day, type in a description of what the author was saying. NOTE: when
you come to the end of a line, you will need to hit "Tab" as it does not automatically move to the next line.
If you can't see it on the screen, it won't print out or be seen, so until you're familiar with the process, pay
attention to the length of your lines. Follow this same procedure for "Application."
5. At the bottom of the page, is a place you can list the things you are praying about that week.
6. At the end of each QT - SAVE!! If you followed the instructions above, you've already named it, so all you need
do is click the "Save" icon or under "File," click "Save."
OPTIONS FOR SHARING/PRINTING YOUR WEEKLY QT: In this age of social networking and sharing, you may choose to link your PDF file to your blog, Facebook etc. You can always keep it private by storing it as suggested above on your computer.
Each weekly PDF form can be printed after completion each Saturday and stored in a 3-ring binder. You will need to familiarize (or experiment) with how your printer works with double-sided documents. Most can be printed by just printing side one (Sun - the prayer list) only. Then reinsert side one so that side two will print correctly on the back. When you are done printing, punch holes and place binder.
We've also provided a "Blank QT Form" that you can use however you wish. You can print out the QT forms and fill them in by hand as well.
WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE? Please be patient with us. This is a work in progress. You will find new books available weekly, until all the books of the Bible are completed. We encourage you to check back with us often for revisions and updates.
WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! If this has ministered to you, please let us know via email. You also can share your suggestions for improvement, or point out a correction that needs to be made. Take a moment to share your story of how you heard about our site, and how you’ve grown in the Lord by keeping your daily appointments with Him through your Quiet Time.