Week 5 - Reach the Summits

This week’s readings touched me deeply. I spent extra time on Days 20 and 21 pondering what it means to yield to God. I’ve come to points of yielding many times before but I have to admit, it’s been quite awhile since the last time. I really thought about some of the questions posed here such as, ” Are there dreams and desires that you need to give to the Lord now in order to continue on in this great adventure of knowing God?” I thought about my dreams and desires. I wrote several pages of reflection. I didn’t want to answer hastily. I asked myself is there anything holding me back from trusting God completely to handle my life? Do I want to yield myself 100% to him, even if uncontrollable tragedies occur? Which is the better place in which to be to handle tragedy? 1) myself and my own mental faculties alone? What I think? My wisdom? What I think I should do and to whom I should turn for advice? My own limited strength? OR 2) Rely on the great omnipotent God of the universe who has promised never to leave me or forsake me, who has promised to give me wisdom if I ask, who loves me immensely and who has power to help me?

It even seems a silly question to ask? Should I trust me or God? The answer is obvious: GOD!

Then I thought of what surrendering means and it occurred to me that by definition “surrender” can only be 100%. Only surrendering 70% couldn’t really be called surrendering.

After much thought I finally came to the point where I could say, “Yes Lord, whatever happens, I am yours. I yield myself to you. I give up all my desires and dreams. I will sign a blank page representing the rest of my life and allow you to fill it however you please. If I have to do things I don’t want to do, if I have to act in spite of fear, if I have to take your hand by faith and step off into the unknown of unemployment, uncertainty about the future, economic instability, family strife, my own pain or illness, or “the valley of the shadow of death,” Lord, I am yours no matter what.

Week 4 - Read and Study God’s Word

We were given many good Bible study tools this week. One of our members said this week really blessed her.

One of my thoughts was that it would be easy for us to say, “Good, now I know what are some good tools and some time I’ll come back to these pages and choose some of these tools to check out.” It gave me an idea for an object lesson.

Chelsea came up to the front and I said we would make her a world-class fisher-woman. I gave her the tools of the trade: a fishing pole, extra line, bobbers, hooks, a tackle box, a paddle to get out into the lake, and a copy of the Minnesota fishing regulations. With all of these tools Chelsea could become a great fisher-woman. But wait! Chelsea just decided to go back to her seat and put all these great new tools on the floor! She wasn’t going to use them at all!

I hope everyone got the point that it’s not enough to have good tools, or know where to find them. We won’t find the treasures in the word of God if we leave all the Bible study tools on the shelf.

I used Catherine’s devotional method of responding to a Biblical passage this week. I am reading through Jeremiah and I thought it might be hard to find some application there for me. However, using Catherine’s method I have to say I was surprised at what I found. I was reading Jeremiah 14-17 one day and came across Jer. 17:7, 8. I wrote these verses down as my significant observation. Then I looked up some cross references and came to the conclusion that the best place for a tree to grow is by a river. It keeps the tree alive, growing and fruitful. So the best place for a person to dwell is near God, our river of living water. The tree is an object lesson to us that if we want to be healthy, vibrant, nourished and useful we will stay near God and draw our life from him.

The small group I sat with this week discussed the testimony of George Mueller given on page 144. After reading that, I guess none of us can really say we don’t have time to spend with God. None of us are nearly as busy as he was, and quiet time in the word was his top priority. What an eye-opener for us!

Week 3 - Taste and See That the Lord is Good

Hello everyone,

As Bible studiers arrived this week they were greeted by a table of chocolate-dipped strawberries and the verse: Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

As we enjoyed our delectable treat I asked everyone to imagine their favorite breakfast; what they would like to wake up to in the morning. We can think of our Quiet Time as this delectable treat. This will help us change our attitude toward a Quiet Time from thinking of it as something we “should” do to something we “get to” do. Yes, it’s a mind game at first, but as we grow in spending time with the Lord and learn to know him better and share our heart with him, this time will actually become as “delicious” to us as physical treats.

We talked about preparing our hearts this week. I enjoyed sitting in on one small group’s discussion and hearing all the comments regarding journaling. One person shared that she often begins writing to the Lord in a complaining tone but usually by the end, she has changed to an attitude of thanksgiving and praise. Interesting how many of the Psalms are this way, too!

Another shared how she has not been much of a journaler in the past but she’s been trying it by responding to a different Bible verse each day which is printed on each page of her journal.

Some said they’re beginning to enjoy this time with the Lord so much that they want to spend more and more with Him and find their time runs out.

Another shared how beginning to spend personal time with God is changing her life! She is hearing God speak to her and she is so thrilled!

All of these comments blessed my heart! Preparing our hearts is truly valuable! It helps us focus on God, lay aside the distractions and really commune with him.

One suggestion I really liked is adding music to one’s Quiet Time. I’ve found playing soft music in the background is soothing and focusing for me. I’ve even set up a keyboard in my office and dug up my songbooks and hymnbook to have ready when I want. Singing to God really connects me with him.

I would love you to leave your comment here sharing what it now means to you to Prepare Your Heart for Quiet Time!

nancy

Week Two-Prepare Your Heart

This idea of Preparing Your Heart as you enter Quiet Time was new to me. I never really did this before. I’ve always just opened my Bible and started reading. Sometimes you get bogged down in a part that doesn’t seem to make any sense or doesn’t seem relevant or my mind would just wander away as the mechanical part of my mind simply decodes all the words. Preparing My Heart really adds value to my Quiet Time as it helps me focus on God and changes this activity from simply “going through the motions” of so-called “being a Christian” to really making this time a meeting with God.

There is a song I hear quite frequently on the radio now which constantly reminds me of my goal in incorporating a Quiet Time in my life. The chorus goes as follows:

I don’t wanna go through the motions,
I don’t wanna go one more day,
Without your all-consuming
Passion inside of me.
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?”

Catherine recommended journaling to us this week. I can see how writing things down will help solidify and clarify my thoughts. I’ll be able to go back over them at a later time to remember what I learned and felt in the past. It’s a place to write Bible verses that are meaningful to me and how God impressed them upon my heart.

I don’t like to slow down in my activities but I know it can only be beneficial. I am not simply a machine going through the motions of life. I need to stop. And consider things. And be able to remember them and return to them later or I will be “like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1: 23-25

Week 1

In Week 1 we are introduced to God’s invitation to us to become radically intimate with him. This is an idea which certainly seems radical! We learned that God wants to spend time with us. As one person in my discussion group exclaimed, “Why would he want to know us?” It is an amazing thought, but Catherine shows us many places in the Bible where the invitation is extended. One of these places is Isaiah 65:1-2, God said to the people of Israel, “Here am I, Here am I… I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people” What he seemed to be saying to them was, “Where are you? I want you with Me. I want to share life with you. I have much to give you. I want you to know Me.” Catherine states on page 22, “This firsthand experience with God is incomparable, and once you have enjoyed His presence,nothing else will come close to satisfying the need of your heart and soul.” This is so true!

On page 31 Catherine asks us readers, ” Where are you in the great adventure of knowing God?” My response was, “Well, at least I’ve begun. I began as a child of ten when I put my faith in Christ. I talked with him, read his word back then, shared with him the desires of my heart, prayed for those desires, and God gave them to me. But something happened when I became an adult. The time-responsibilities crept in and stole my time away. I’ve always had a hard time getting up in the morning early enough to spend time with God and the evenings were always filled with things I had to do or I was just plain tired. Now on the downside half of my life I finally feel like I have the time to spend in Quiet Time with the Lord but how many many blessings I”ve missed out on by not following him more closely all these years. I have regrets that I didn’t give the Lord first priority in my life but I don’t want to sit around regretting the past. It’s never too late to start. I can get to know God better now. The greatest adventure is ahead of me. I’m not at the end of life yet. Hopefully, there are many more years to live. Many more years to walk with my Lord.

At our Bible study meeting this week I read aloud a chapter in a booklet entitled, “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” It’s an allegory comparing inviting Christ into one’s life to inviting him into a physical home to live as a permanent guest. I read the chapter about the living room, where the author agreed to meet Christ every morning for intimate heart-sharing and reading the Bible together. This booklet does a great job of making us all feel enticed to meet with the Lord every day. It makes the point, also, that it’s not just for our benefit, but that Christ longs to meet with us! The same point that Catherine made in “Six Secrets.” I pray that everyone going through this study will begin to experience this for themselves!

Welcome to Quiet Time!

Dear friends,