How to plan a daily Quiet Time

It is important to spend a regular time in Gods Word and in prayer

each day. I have had some struggles in maintaining a daily Quiet
Time throughout my life. However, as I have developed a
consistent morning devotion for several years now, I can attest that
this one activity is the best habit for a Christian to cultivate.

Perhaps part of the problem of maintaining a consistent devotional

life is because we think this time with God has to be a monumental,
mystical experience. But what I have discovered is you can begin
developing this spiritual discipline in as little as seven minutes a day.

Robert D. Foster developed a simple outline, called Seven Minutes

with God, to help deepen a Christians daily relationship with God.

Want a deeper walk with God? Begin by giving Him just seven
minutes and see what happens! Heres an abbreviated outline you
can use

Minute: Preparing Your Heart (Psalm 143:8)

Invest the first 30 seconds preparing your heart. You might pray,
Lord, cleanse my heart so You can speak to me through the
Scriptures. Make my mind alert, my soul active, and my heart
responsive. Surround me with the knowledge of Your presence
during this time.

4 Minutes: Listening to God (Scripture Reading) (Psalm 119:18)

Take the next four minutes to read the Bible. Your greatest need is to
hear from God. Allow the Word to strike fire in your heart. Meet
the Author! [Your counselor uses a daily devotional like The Heart of the
Matter.]

2 Minutes: Talking to God (Prayer)

After God has spoken through His Book, then speak to Him in prayer.
One method is to incorporate four areas of prayer that you can
remember with the word ACTS.
A - Adoration. (1 Chronicles 29:11). This is the purest kind of prayer because it's all for God -
there's nothing in it for you. You don't barge into the presence of royalty. You begin with the
proper salutation. So worship Him. Tell the Lord that you love Him. Reflect on His greatness,
His power, His majesty, and sovereignty! Talk to Him about his attributes and character that
you have read in your Scripture reading.

C - Confession follows. (1 John 1:9). Having seen Him, you now want to be sure every sin is
cleansed and forsaken. Confession comes from a root word meaning "to agree together with."
When we apply this to prayer, it means we agree with Gods estimation of what we have done.
Something happened yesterday you called a slight exaggeration - God calls it a lie! You call it
strong language - God calls it swearing. You call it telling the truth about somebody in the
church - God calls it gossip. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm
66:18).

T - Thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:20). Express your gratitude to God. Think of several specific
things to thank Him for: your family, your work and business, your church and ministry
responsibilities - even thank Him for trials and hardships. Thank Him for answered prayer! "In
everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1
Thessalonians 5:18).

S - Supplication. (Matthew 7:7) This means to "ask for, earnestly and humbly." This is the
part of your prayer life where you make your petitions known to Him. Ask for others, then for
yourself. Include other people in your community, state, nation, and around the world. Pray for
missionaries, college students, people you know in the military, and above all, pray for the lost
you know personally and for those of many lands who have yet to hear about Jesus Christ.

There you go. It only takes 7 minutes a day.

This is simply a guide, Bob Foster emphasized. Very soon you
will discover that it is impossible to spend only seven minutes with
the Lord. An amazing thing happensseven minutes become 20, and
its not long before youre spending 30 precious minutes with
Him. If you havent already done so, one goal you may want to
make is to read the Bible throughbut that will come! You just may
soon find yourself fulfilling this Scripture:

Psalm 55:17. "Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the
LORD hears my voice."

Bob also offered additional words of wisdom: Do not become

devoted to the habit or pattern itself, but be devoted to your
Savior. Do it not because other [people] are doing it, or you were
told to do it, of you need to check it off your to-do-list as though
it is a spiritless duty every morning, not merely as an end in itself, but
because God has granted you the priceless privilege of fellowship
with Himself.
 History of 7 Minutes with God
HOW TO PLAN A DAILY QUIET TIME
by Robert D. Foster

It was in 1882 on the campus of Cambridge University that the world was first given the slogan:
"Remember the morning watch."

Students like Hooper and Thornton found their days "loaded" with studies, lectures, games and
bull sessions. Enthusiasm and activity were the order of the day. These dedicated men soon
discovered a flaw in their spiritual armor - a small crack which if not soon closed, would bring
disaster.

They sought an answer and came up with a scheme they called the morning watch - a plan to
spend the first minutes of a new day alone with God, praying and reading the Bible.

The morning watch sealed the crack. It enshrined a truth so often obscured by the pressure of
ceaseless activity that it needs daily rediscovery: To know God, it is necessary to spend
consistent time with Him.

The idea caught fire. "A remarkable period of religious blessing" followed, and culminated in
the departure of the Cambridge Seven, a band of prominent athletes and men of wealth and
education, for missionary service. They gave up everything to go out to China for Christ.

But these men found that getting out of bed in time for the morning watch was as difficult as it
was vital. Thornton was determined to turn indolence into discipline. He invented an
automatic, foolproof cure for laziness. It was a contraption set up by his bed: "The vibration of
an alarm clock set fishing tackle in motion, and the sheets, clipped to the line, moved swiftly into
the air off the sleeper's body."

Thornton wanted to get up to meet his God!

The intimacy of communion with Christ must be recaptured in the morning quiet time. Call it
what you want - the quiet time, personal devotions, the morning watch, or individual worship -
these holy minutes at the start of each day explain the inner secret of Christianity. It's the
golden thread that ties every great man of God together - from Moses to David Livingstone, the
prophet Amos to Billy Graham - rich and poor, businessmen and military personnel. Every man
who ever became somebody for God has this at the core of his priorities: time alone with God!

David says in Psalm 57:7, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." A fixed and established
heart produces stability in life. Few men in the Christian community have this heart and life.
One of the missing links has been a workable plan on how to begin and maintain a morning
watch.

I want to suggest that in order to get under way, you start with seven minutes. Perhaps you
could call it a daily "Seven-Up." Five minutes may be too short, and ten minutes for some is a
little too long at first.

Are you willing to take seven minutes every morning? Not five mornings out of seven, not six
days out of seven - but seven days out of seven! Ask God to help you: "Lord, I want to meet You
the first thing in the morning for at least seven minutes. Tomorrow when the alarm clock goes
off at 6:15 a.m., I have an appointment with You."

Your prayer might be, "Morning by morning, 0 Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I
lay my requests before You and wait in expectation" (Psalm 5:3).
How do you spend these seven minutes? After getting out of bed and taking care of your
personal needs, you will want to find a quiet place and there with your Bible enjoy the solitude of
seven minutes with God.

Invest the first 30 seconds preparing your heart. Thank Him for the good night of sleep and the
opportunities of this new day. "Lord, cleanse my heart so You can speak to me through the
Scriptures. Open my heart. Fill my heart. Make my mind alert, my soul active, and my heart
responsive. Lord, surround me with Your presence during this time. Amen."

Now take four minutes to read the Bible. Your greatest need is to hear some word from God.
Allow the Word to strike fire in your heart. Meet the Author!

One of the Gospels is a good place to begin reading. Start with the Book of Mark. Read
consecutively - verse after verse, chapter after chapter. Don't race, but avoid stopping to do a
Bible study on some word, thought, or theological problem which presents itself. Read for the
pure joy of reading and allowing God to speak - perhaps just 20 verses, or maybe a complete
chapter. When you have finished Mark, start the Gospel of John. Soon you'll want to go ahead
and read the entire New Testament.

After God has spoken through His Book, then speak to Him - in prayer. You now have two and a
half minutes left for fellowship with Him in four areas of prayer that you can remember by the
word ACTS.

See ACTS above for description.

Let's put these seven minutes together:

1/2 min Prayer for guidance (Psalm 143:8)

4 min Reading the Bible (Psalm 119:18)
Prayer
Adoration (I Chronicles 29:11)

2 1/2 min Confession (I John 1:9)

Thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:20)

Supplication (Matthew 7:7)

7 min total

This is simply a guide. Very soon you will discover that it is impossible to spend only seven
minutes with the Lord. An amazing thing happens - seven minutes become 20, and it's not long
before you're spending 30 precious minutes with Him. Do not become devoted to the habit, but
to the Savior.

Do it not because other men are doing it - not as a spiritless duty every morning, nor merely as
an end in itself, but because God has granted the priceless privilege of fellowship with Himself.
Covenant with Him now to guard, nourish, and maintain your morning watch of seven minutes.