Do you get emails from me?
If not, you totally need to start getting emails from me, because I get really chatty in my emails. *grin* I share a lot about my personal life…my struggles, my victories…
Plus, every so often I get an idea for a freebie, and send it to my email list first.
I share this, because in an email I send out to new subscribers, I ask them to give me feedback on their quiet times, and one of the most comment replies I receive is either women don’t know how to get started with a quiet time or they feel bogged down by all the tools.
I get that.
Personally, I have to keep things very simple.
I am easily overwhelmed, and when I’m overwhelmed by something I’ll avoid it. I’ve found this to be the case with most quiet time journals I’ve tried.
I need something that helps me to just focus on what’s written in the Bible, but let’s me take down notes….but in a place where they wont get lost later.
I don’t have a lot of storage space in my house, so if I have a bunch of old journals, they’ll end up packed in a box somewhere stuffed way behind the tons of clothes my son is waiting to grow in to….
Totally inaccessible…and impractical.
So, over the years I’ve developed a very simple system that seems to work wonderfully for me – it helps to keep me on track and consistent in my quiet times, plus it helps keep my daily time with Jesus exciting and fresh.
6 Tools I Use for Quiet Time and How I Use Them
1. A Bible
This is a given, but I wanted to throw this in because a) we may be tempted to read a good Christian book and call it a quiet time. I’ve done this a time or two, and have felt convicted because while a book may be a good addition to our quiet time, we can’t really say we’ve spent time with Jesus when we’ve not really heard HIS voice.
The Bible I use is the Spirit-Filled Life Study Bible NKJV. I’ve used it for 20 years now and am on my 2nd copy of this Bible because I wore the first one out.
But I don’t just read my Bible. I write in it, I color it in, I take notes in it….until it looks like this:
I find this so useful, because when I go back to re-read my Bible over again, I am reminded of what God spoke to me before in this passage, and He can continue building on it.
2. A Pen
I always have a pen when I do my quiet times. For a couple of reasons:
- I always remember something during my quiet time that I need to do or didn’t do. I can jot that down and save it for later.
- When God speaks something to my heart, I write it down. It’s folly for me to think I’ll remember it later! Because I wont.
- As you can see, I love to take notes in my Bible – I wont remember later to write down something that stood out…or circle it, or underline it.
I have pens everywhere in my house, they are an essential item.
3. Colored Pencils
In addition to writing, underlining, circling, drawing boxes and squillies all over my Bible, I also like to use colored pencils to make certain verses stand out.
It helps draw my attention back to an important verse or passage.
I don’t get expensive ones….jut the basic ones my kids use for school.
4. A Notebook
So, while I don’t journal for my Bible study, I do journal for prayer. I have used many different kinds of prayer journaling, and until recently used prayer cards.
But just recently I turned to bullet journaling for prayer and find it even more useful than my previous prayer-card method.
I use the Lord’s Prayer as a guide to my own prayer life, so things like: Worship, praying for ministries, lost souls, etc – those are part of my daily prayer life. So, for those I use a tracker.
Then I have a list of needs either I’m praying for over my family or that I’ve promised family and friends to pray for. I take those needs and divide them up Monday-Sunday so that every week each need is carefully prayed over.
Beside each need I place a dot, then I can cross it off as I’ve prayed over it.
Each week I create a new tracker and bullet list for the prayer needs, and underneath the needs I have a “Notes” section where I can either write down things God has spoken to me in prayer, or add new needs to my list.
When God answers a prayer, I highlight it with a colored pencil.
5. Post-it Notes
I love Post-its.
They are so great to use for quiet time, because I can jot down a quote by a great pastor or speaker and put it next to a verse that really speaks to me….
I can also use them as cross-references, jotting down verses that compliment one another, so that I don’t have to go hunting all through my Bible to find them later.
They are a great resource for sermon notes as well.
I’ve used them for years in my Bible and use them still.
6. Tablet
I don’t use this everyday, but I do occasionally use my tablet during my quiet time, especially if I’m studying through a particular passage or book of the Bible.
There are a few teachers and pastors that I like to listen to and turn to for deeper study.
YouTube and podcasts are a great resource in Bible study, so I find it useful to have my tablet nearby.
I will add that it doesn’t tempt me to get on social media, as I don’t like using the touch screen to type. *grin*
I hope you find this post useful in finding simple tools to make your quiet time more meaningful. Below are a list of posts I’ve written about quiet times, if you’re looking for more information on how to get started on a quiet time, or just refresh it.
10 Steps to an Effective Quiet Time
5 Tools You Need for a Quiet Time
3 Fabulous Ways to Plan Your Quiet Time
4 Fabulous Quiet Time Tips for the Easily Distracted
5 Quiet Time Tips for Busy Moms
7 Quiet Time Ideas for Busy Moms
monarchshorestz says
Quiet time can be helpful for calming one’s mind after a busy and crazy day.
Rosilind says
I agree.