Daily Christian Devotions: Enhancing Your Quiet Time With God
Daily Christian devotions with God is essential to spiritual growth and maintaining an intimate relationship with Christ. You can find many websites that provide daily nuggets of spiritual truth and encouragement, but in addition to these, you can also develop your own quiet time with God. Often times Christians will be unsure of how to incorporate daily Christian devotions into their life. Below are some suggestions to creating a powerful quiet time with God, thus enhancing your daily Christian devotional time with Him.
1. Make Space for God James 4:8 declares, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Your desire in wanting a daily Christian devotional time with the Father of heaven and earth is the first step in making space for God. Too often Christians can be pre-occupied with the necessities and urgencies of life and neglect to spend quality time with God. Going to church is good, but it cannot replace the one-on-one time in fellowship with Jesus. In making space for God, you carve out time for just you and God. Whether it is in the morning or evening, you make an effort to spend quiet time with God as often as possible. Jesus said that we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts.
2. Preparing Your Heart Have you ever went into a meeting or were talking with a friend but your thoughts were somewhere else? You were there in body, but your mind could have been on another planet. This can happen during your daily Christian devotions with God as well. You can sit down with Bible in hand all ready to abide with God, but instead you think about all the activities you need to complete during the coming day. Preparing Your Heart before God means clearing your heart and mind of everything that interferes with you giving your full attention to the Father. Jesus said that when we "seek first the kingdom of God" everything we need will be added unto us. Therefore, giving our fully attention to God is really an insurance policy that all things will work out for our highest good.
3. Getting Still Before the Lord Andrew Murray the great Christian theologian wrote regarding quieting our heart before God, "It is in such a calm and restful soul that the life of faith can strike deep root, that the Holy Spirit can give His blessed teaching, that the Holy Father can accomplish His glorious work." What Murray was saying is that too often our restless mind and thoughts get in the way of hearing the still, small voice of the Spirit. He wrote, "It is a soul silent unto God that is the best preparation for knowing Jesus, and for holding fast the blessings He bestows. It is when the soul is hushed in silent awe and worship before the Holy Presence that reveals itself within, that the still small voice of the blessed Spirit will be heard."
4. Meditating on the Lord One way to quiet our minds and hush our soul is practicing Christ-centered meditation. For many Christians, red flags go up when they hear the word meditation, however, meditating on God just means shutting out all other thoughts, ideas, worries, and concerns so that your full attention is on Christ. Joshua 1:8 tells us to meditate on God day and night so that we will have good success in life. There are also many ways to meditate on God. Some believers meditate on the word of God allowing a word or phrase to penetrate their heart. Others, just enjoy abiding in God's presence and letting go of all mental distractions that come to take their attention away from God. Playing instrumental worship music in the background while you bask in God's love will transform your spirit. The Bible says "in God's presence is fullness of joy."
5. Spiritual Journaling Another practice that will enhance your daily Christian devotions is to journal. Journaling comes in many forms, but basically it is God's love letters to you and your love letters to God. Through journaling you can record your inspirations and holy messages that God gives to you during your devotional time or throughout the day. It also allows you to share your heart with God and give your troubles and worries to Him in a tangible way. It in essence is your written spiritual journey with God.
These are five tips to enhance your daily Christian devotions with God. These practices will help you to grow in greater intimacy with Christ as you learn to abide, surrender, and get quiet before Him.
1. Make Space for God James 4:8 declares, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Your desire in wanting a daily Christian devotional time with the Father of heaven and earth is the first step in making space for God. Too often Christians can be pre-occupied with the necessities and urgencies of life and neglect to spend quality time with God. Going to church is good, but it cannot replace the one-on-one time in fellowship with Jesus. In making space for God, you carve out time for just you and God. Whether it is in the morning or evening, you make an effort to spend quiet time with God as often as possible. Jesus said that we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts.
2. Preparing Your Heart Have you ever went into a meeting or were talking with a friend but your thoughts were somewhere else? You were there in body, but your mind could have been on another planet. This can happen during your daily Christian devotions with God as well. You can sit down with Bible in hand all ready to abide with God, but instead you think about all the activities you need to complete during the coming day. Preparing Your Heart before God means clearing your heart and mind of everything that interferes with you giving your full attention to the Father. Jesus said that when we "seek first the kingdom of God" everything we need will be added unto us. Therefore, giving our fully attention to God is really an insurance policy that all things will work out for our highest good.
3. Getting Still Before the Lord Andrew Murray the great Christian theologian wrote regarding quieting our heart before God, "It is in such a calm and restful soul that the life of faith can strike deep root, that the Holy Spirit can give His blessed teaching, that the Holy Father can accomplish His glorious work." What Murray was saying is that too often our restless mind and thoughts get in the way of hearing the still, small voice of the Spirit. He wrote, "It is a soul silent unto God that is the best preparation for knowing Jesus, and for holding fast the blessings He bestows. It is when the soul is hushed in silent awe and worship before the Holy Presence that reveals itself within, that the still small voice of the blessed Spirit will be heard."
4. Meditating on the Lord One way to quiet our minds and hush our soul is practicing Christ-centered meditation. For many Christians, red flags go up when they hear the word meditation, however, meditating on God just means shutting out all other thoughts, ideas, worries, and concerns so that your full attention is on Christ. Joshua 1:8 tells us to meditate on God day and night so that we will have good success in life. There are also many ways to meditate on God. Some believers meditate on the word of God allowing a word or phrase to penetrate their heart. Others, just enjoy abiding in God's presence and letting go of all mental distractions that come to take their attention away from God. Playing instrumental worship music in the background while you bask in God's love will transform your spirit. The Bible says "in God's presence is fullness of joy."
5. Spiritual Journaling Another practice that will enhance your daily Christian devotions is to journal. Journaling comes in many forms, but basically it is God's love letters to you and your love letters to God. Through journaling you can record your inspirations and holy messages that God gives to you during your devotional time or throughout the day. It also allows you to share your heart with God and give your troubles and worries to Him in a tangible way. It in essence is your written spiritual journey with God.
These are five tips to enhance your daily Christian devotions with God. These practices will help you to grow in greater intimacy with Christ as you learn to abide, surrender, and get quiet before Him.
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