Text – Psalm 63:2- “To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary”
Spiritual growth is somewhat like a tripod; it stands on three legs – Communal Fellowship, Direct Discipleship and Personal Fellowship. No serious spiritual growth can occur in the life of a Christian if any of these three is lacking.
Of the three legs mentioned above, I count Personal Fellowship to be the most crucial because the ultimate goal of Communal Fellowship and Direct Discipleship is to strengthen an individual’s personal relationship with God. A Local Church has failed grossly if her members are not growing in their personal walk with God; so also has a Discipler who cannot successfully gear his disciples towards personal fellowship with God.
I know it takes serious efforts to find the time and energy to connect with God on a personal level and to spend time alone with Him on a regular basis but you must, like David in our text, strive to duplicate ‘Church’ in your personal closet daily. You must be able to bring down God’s power and glory at your bed side daily, just as you have seen in the Church on Sunday. How do you do this? – QUIET TIME!
Truly speaking, ours is a very ‘busy’ generation; virtually everyone has so much to catch up with – family, friends, mails, chats, job, studies, and so on. Many are plagued with the idea that there’s not enough time to do all that needs to be done; 24 hours seem not to be enough in the day anymore… we are that busy!
Again, ours is a very noisy generation; if there’s no traffic noise or a buzzling gadget around you, you’ll probably have earphones plugged in your ears or be in a kind of sonic environment. We have become so used to noise; almost passionate about it!
But in the midst of all these busyness and noisiness, you have to set aside some time daily when you shut out as much interference and distractions as possible to commune with God and to connect with Him on a personal level. That’s what Quiet time is all about.
Quiet time is like the basic unit of your relationship with God; it’s where you get to fellowship one-on-one with Him. The duration of the quiet time does not matter much, but it should be long enough to read a portion of scripture, meditate and pray on what was read, and express your heart to God.
For a lot of people, squeezing out 20 minutes in a day is really not a big deal; the real struggle comes after actually finding the time- fighting wandering thoughts! “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to roleplay before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (Matthew 6:6 MSG)
Another area of challenge is consistency. The best way to be consistent is to set a schedule and to stick to it no matter what… This takes discipline! See your Quiet Time as an important meeting and keep to it strictly. Think of it as though you're scheduling an appointment on your calendar to meet a friend.
Also, consider getting a mentor or an accountability partner; it helps a lot when you have someone to keep you accountable to your schedule. More importantly, depend on God’s grace not will power.
PRAYERS:
1. Lord Jesus, as I fellowship with you daily, help me to mature in the faith, grow in grace and come to a deeper knowledge of you.
2. Lord Jesus, grant me grace to shut out from my mind all forms of distraction and interference as I set aside time to fellowship with you daily.
3. Father, I ask in the Name of Jesus that you please give me the enablement to be consistent forthwith in my personal fellowship with you.
Image Credit: faithsmessenger.com
