3 Simple Ways To Plan Your Quiet Time

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An exciting and effective quiet time starts with a plan.

If you don’t have a plan for your quiet time…

If you don’t know

Where you want to read in your Bible
What you plan to study
What you need to pray for

There is a great chance that your quiet time will get derailed, you’ll find it boring and unproductive, and you’ll quickly find reasons to avoid it.

person sitting at a table writing in a journal

A while ago, I communicated with my readers, because I felt that my posts in recent months were not speaking to their lives or meeting their needs.

So, I asked them what their greatest spiritual needs are.

Overwhelmingly, I heard back that their greatest need is to develop a consistent time in God’s Word: a plan, a strategy, and resources for Bible study.

Have you ever sat down with your Bible, with no clear idea where you wanted to read, with no Bible study tools, and no prayer list, and just decided to launch in?

There are 66 books of the Bible to choose from. That alone is intimidating!

I have done this, and it did not go well.

After thumbing through the thousands of pages for a while, and landing on an obscure verse, I suddenly remembered a whole list of urgent things I needed to get done today, put my Bible down and started tackling my list.

Do you see what happened there?

I didn’t have a plan for my quiet time, but I did have a plan for my day. And the plan for my day superseded my unstructured quiet time because it was already more important to me, given the fact that I took the time to plan my day and not my quiet time.

If your quiet time is important to you, you’ll take time to answer the following questions.

3 Fabulous Ways to Plan Your Quiet Time

When approaching any project, you must start with a plan.

If you just set out to complete a project without a series of steps to get from the starting point to the finish line, you’ll likely never get to the finish line.

In fact, you may never get off of “start”.

It is the same way with our quiet times.

1. Why?

The why of anything is always the most important question. When you answer the “why”, you are already 95% there, because you have settled 95% of the arguments against the matter.

Why do you have your quiet time?

The answer to that question really does settle the nature of your relationship with God and how you perceive Him.

Do you have your quiet time because it is just what Christians do? Sort of like a list of requirements to be in this “Christian club”?

Do you have your quiet time because you’re afraid if you don’t something bad might happen to you or your family?

Like, God will send lightening to strike your house…or some other bad thing: your washing machine will break, your car will have a flat tire….because you didn’t have your quiet time?

Do you have your quiet time so that God will love and accept you?

If any of these reasons somehow resonate in your heart, your “why” is wrong from the start.

If the answer to “why” isn’t because I love Jesus more deeply than I love anyone or anything on this earth, and I simply enjoy spending time with Him, I want to get to know Him more deeply and intimately…

If the answer to “why” isn’t because I love the Word passionately… “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97

then we need to go back to the essentials of salvation and do our first works over again. We need to find out First Love.

2. What?

What kind of study do you want to do?

Do you want to read through a book of the Bible? I mostly read through and study books of the Bible, like the book of Galatians or Ephesians.
Do you want to do a topical study? You can use Blue Letter Bible to help you find all the verses in the Bible on a word or topic.
Do you want to do a character study? Perhaps you want to study the life of Mary, Ruth, Paul or David.

Plan the kind of study you would like to do and then gather the materials you need for that study.

Besides you’re Bible, you may need a notebook, pen, highlighters, a concordance, and some commentaries by trusted Biblical scholars.

I personally love this these Women’s Bible Study Templates from Faith Along the Way. They are perfect for creating a simple yet exciting study journal that leads you into a deeper study of God’s Word

3. When and Where?

These are essential questions to answer.

If you don’t know when you plan to have your quiet time, then chances are it wont happen.

You will never just “find time” in your day for a quiet time. There will always be something more important to do.

Set a time of day that you will have your quiet time and stick to it; and don’t get hung up on feeling like you must have your quiet time in the mornings.

If you’re not a morning person, then set your quiet time for the evening. It isn’t “biblical” to have a morning quiet time.

Also, set a place? I prefer to have my quiet time at the kitchen table. My dad has his “special easy chair” with a magazine rack next to him filled with his Bible and resources crammed in.

For as long as I can remember, he has had an easy chair as his “prayer closet”.

Now that we have answered these three important questions, we can start to dive in!

NKJV, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, Hardcover: Kingdom Equipping Through the Power of the Word ESV Study Bible Accu-Gel Bible Highlighter Study Kit (Pack of 6)Sakura 30062 6-Piece Pigma Micron Ink Pen Set, Black Five Star Spiral Notebooks, 1 Subject, 100 College Ruled Sheets, Assorted Basic Colors, 6-Pack (38052)Post-it Notes, 1 3/8 in x 1 7/8 in, Cape Town Collection, 18 Pads/Pack, 100 Sheets/Pad (653-18AU)

Find more content on Quiet Times below:

Quiet Time Resources:

My Quiet Time Journal

Free Bible Study Journal + Tracker

5 Tools You Need for a Quiet Time

Quiet Time Posts:

What is a Quiet Time

How Do I Build a Habit of Daily Devotions?

May I Have Permission to Open my Bible and Just Start Reading?

3 Reasons Why You Should Read the Bible Every Day

4 Simple Bible Reading Tips For Beginners

How Do I Put Quiet Time Into My Schedule?

How Can I Have My Quiet Time Without Sacrificing Sleep?

10 Steps to an Effective Quiet Time

How Do I Know Which Bible Teachers to Follow?

How Do I Find Time to Read Without Falling Asleep

3 Simple Ways to Plan Your Quiet Time

4 Fabulous Quiet Time Tips for the Easily Distracted

How Do I Study My Bible and Apply It To My Life

5 5 Practical Quiet Time Tips for Busy Women

7 Quiet Time Ideas for Busy Moms

4 Ways to Help Your Teens Have a Quiet Time

7 Ways to Revive Your Quiet Time

6 Tools I Use for Quiet Time and How I Use Them

4 Ways To Get the Most Out of Daily Bible Reading

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Rosilind

Owner at A Little R & R

Rosilind, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live in the country with their 2 active boys where she enjoys fruity candles and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. She holds an Associates of Practical Theology and is passionate about discipling and encouraging women. Her passion for writing led her to author a number of Bible studies. She is the author of A Little R & R where she encourages women to live for the glory ofGod. She is also host of the weekly A Little R & R Podcast. You can find her on MeWe, Gracebook, and YouTube.