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Deeper Intimacy With The Holy Spirit
10
Small Steps to Deeper Intimacy With Holy Spirit in Your Quiet Times
Rosilind Jukic
Are you satisfied with your quiet time?
Do you look forward to meeting with Jesus each morning, or do
you walk away feeling like something was missing?
Many people I talk to feel like their quiet times are bland and
boring. They don't feel they are exciting and effective for their Christian
walk.
In fact, many Christians I
speak with feel like they are not growing at all. They may have gotten saved
years ago, but they have failed to mature.
When a baby fails to thrive, it can be life-threatening; and the
same is true for our spiritual lives!
In
the Christian walk, there is no such thing as standing still. You either
progress or regress, but if you fail to mature you will eventually die
spiritually.
And one of the most essential elements to Christian maturity is
spiritual discipline, and one of the most elementary spiritual disciplines is establishing an effective quiet time.
A quiet time is something that needs to happen on
a daily basis, because just as healthy food is essential for our physical
growth so is a quiet time essential for our spiritual growth. Without an
effective quiet time, we will quite literally fail to thrive as believers!
Here Are the 10 Steps to an
Essential Quiet Time
1.
Just
do it. Making the decision can be half the battle. Don't wait until you
"have time," because you'll never have time.
You need to make time,
whether that means getting up earlier or going to bed later, turning off the
T.V. or adjusting your schedule in some other way.
You need to make the decision
that a quiet time is going to be an important part of your schedule, but not
just an important part of your
schedule, but the most important thing
you do each day. Weekends included!
2.
Don't
get caught up in too many details. So many times we get
caught up in all of the logistics of a thing that we never actually take the
first step to do it.
When I sent out my survey
earlier this year, I discovered that many women felt bogged down by all the
things they could have to make their quiet time better.
There are a million reading
plans and printables out there, and while many of the things we can buy and
download can supplement out quiet time or recharge one that has grown too routine,
we can also allow all of the possibilities to overwhelm us.
In my post "5 Things You Need for a Quiet Time," I
give you the five basic things you need to get started. They are simple and
easy to collect in just five minutes!
3. Pick
a spot. I have found that it helps tremendously to have a set spot
for my quiet time. I have a spot for my morning cup of tea, my Bible, my
journal and all of the essentials I need for my daily quiet time.
4. Pick
a time. Going back to point No. 1, part of making your quiet time a
priority in your life is adjusting your schedule to include it as a part of
your daily life.
Make a date with God, set a
time each day that is dedicated to your quiet time and then don't stand God up.
5. Make
a plan. If you're like me, you like to go into a project with a
clear plan of action.
Take a sheet of paper and
write down where you'll meet, when you'll meet, what your prayer time will
include and where you plan to read each day. Having this plan will help you
stay on target!
6. Turn
off the noise. There is one thing I don't do in the mornings until my
quiet time is over. I don't turn on my computer or tablet and I don't look at
my cellphone. I just don't.
I know that if I do this I
will get sucked in, and I will be distracted during my quiet time with all of
the notifications and emails.
Turn off all technology
around you: TV, radio, computers, tables and phones and embrace the solitude of
a quiet time in the presence of the King of kings!
7.
Pray. Start your quiet time with prayer.
If you feel like you
don't know how to pray, I have put together a seven-day series on prayer called 7 Days to a Better
Prayer Life that each day explains each element
of prayer, using the Lord's Prayer as a guide.
Prayer helps us focus our
thoughts on Christ and prepare our hearts to receive His Word.
8. Read
until three things stand out. There are reading plans
that take you through the Bible in a year or the New Testament in a month.
While these are not bad
things (in
fact, I'd argue that for a mature Christian they can be very good), reading
the Bible is not a race to the finish line.
Read until three things stand
out to you and then stop. Even if you've only read three verses. In my post "How to Read Your Bible and Get the Most Out of It,"
I explain why this is important.
9.
Write those three things down. Take a slip of paper
and write down the three things that stood out to you while you were reading
the Bible and put them in your pocket.
The combination of reading
the Word and writing down key verses helps to make those things stick in your
heart and mind.
10.
Review them throughout the day. This is a part of
biblical meditation.
In my post "How
Eastern Meditation Differs From Biblical Meditation,"
I share about why biblical meditation is important to our daily Christian
lives.
Throughout the day take out
that slip of paper and review the verses that stood out to you that day and ask
yourself how you can apply them to your daily life.
If you do these 10 things, I guarantee that you will have an
effective quiet time and that you'll grow and mature as you should as a
Christian and child of God! 
Rosilind Jukic, a
Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her
Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys
fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall
evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The
Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find
contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for
local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can
follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +.
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