Seek first the Kingdom of God - tips for daily quiet time.

Seek first the Kingdom of God

This blog includes a few tips and tools useful to grow in your faith journey. It includes ideas for a quiet time routine and other practices.

Quiet time

Set aside time daily. My “ideal” quiet time routine includes personal prayer, lectio/app guided prayer, journaling and bible reading.

Personal prayer time

This is a tough discipline to build. I am working on quietening my thoughts to be more present with the Lord. I prefer early in the morning when it is quiet and there is a lower possibility of interruption (not always possible for young mothers!) .

This is an opportunity to have an honest heart to heart with God about what’s on your heart and mind, like meeting with a really close friend.

The Lord's Prayer

Sometimes my mind is racing and my thoughts are all over the place. In these situations, I lean on the Lord’s Prayer, which I have learnt off by heart. Using this structure. I pray each sentence, slowly, pausing, reflecting and adding onto it, making it relevant to me and what’s happening in my life. Some people find it easier to walk and pray and observe God in nature.

Guided prayer time

The next prayer activity is to follow a guided prayer. I have two applications “apps” options on my phone - Lectio 365

or Pray as you go. Both have a daily message for about 10 minutes which I find impactful. (By this time I have a cup of coffee – which is a major treat for me too!) Of course, you can stop and pray anytime , all day too!

Journalling

I have a structured approach to capture my thoughts, I grab my ipad and make notes in Onedrive. This allows me to reflect and be aware of where God is leading and blessing me.

An important part of the journalling is to identify things I am super grateful for. Being in a grateful mindset makes us more receptive to the gifts God has in store for us! I also reflect on questions I have about life and God. I think about areas of my life where I have challenges, room for improvement and growth. I also note ideas.

I create a new document for every month. Using a table, I capture each days thoughts on a new line – using a line a day to unpack thoughts across the following areas:

Journelling topics

I don’t get hung up if I miss a day of journalling. Sometimes I am not in the mood to write and that’s okay!

Journalling has helped me see how God has answered many prayers and guided me through situations. I find it a very useful activity to set my mind on the Lord.

I am aware this practise would be too restrictive for the more creative and free flowing folks. Capturing daily thoughts without a structure may feel more comfortable for them!

Bible reading plans

We have been told that the Bible is the way that God talks to us. So I am excited when I get messages that I can apply in my life. The Bible has every imaginable human story of suffering and struggle and how people did or didn’t manage to cope in these situations. It is so rich.

I do have printed Bibles; however I almost exclusively work on an online Bible. I am using youversion Bible application (app) and have selected reading plans of interest.

YouVersion Bible app

Within the app are quite a few features. The one is access to many different reading plans covering a multitude of topics. I enjoy doing reading plans with friends who are also on the app. We share our thoughts at the end of each reading.

I encourage you to choose a plan that interests you, if you have a question, a struggle or a topic that you need help with, search for a plan that specifically addresses this and then work through that. This is a great way to get into the habit of reading the bible. If you join - add me as a friend, please!

Lectio Bible reading

Currently I am reading the Bible, tackling a chapter a day, using a plan in the Youversion Bible app.

To gain deeper understanding, I have been applying the lectio approach to my reading, which allows you to absorb the text by re-reading it and reflect on it deeply.

These are the guidelines I loosely follow as part of the Lectio style of reading:

· Read out loud

· Meditate- read again finding words that jump out/catch my attention

· Pray - read again and pray on themes

· Contemplate -read and reflect, what do I take from this?

· Ask for Gods word for me today

· Where does this take my imagination?

· What do I see, hear, smell, taste or feel?

· What do I feel about this text?

· What’s happening for me as I read this text?

· What’s happening in my body

and of course - what do I find challenging and are there any puzzling aspects to this text?

After reading and reflecting on the Bible I start off my day. I have a few other techniques I practise during the day. These include affirmations, connecting with my identity in Christ and praise and worship.

Daily affirmations

Sometime during the day, if I manage to take a good coffee break, I’ll stop and read my resource cards reminding myself of my belief/declaration, how blessed I am, how to "Be", "to Seek" and "to Trust". I have set these cards up on the Sproetjies website under resources. Please enjoy these resources in a similar fashion.

My identity and purpose reflection

Some days I will use my coffee break to reflect on my identity statement and my purpose which I have stuck on my wall. I'll aim to create a future article on the importance of being clear of your identity and how to articulate it.

Worship

Sometimes I will head into nature, for a walk. On the walk I sometimes enjoy praise and worship music or pray as walk, thanking God for the beauty and my ability to walk.

When I am on the train, I find this a good time to enjoy worship music.

I hope that some of these practises may be fruitful for you too!

What are the ways that you like to connect with the Lord?