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** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week. These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. **

How do you pick a passage of Scripture to read in your quiet time? Some people are so stymied by this question that they actually find their quiet times difficult. These folks may get to the place and time of quiet time, but then find themselves stumped by what passage to choose.

The problem here, I would suggest, is that too many of us are given to a desire for mystical leading. We want to hear the voice of God speak to us about which book and chapter and verses to read. But God just is not going to work that way for us. Instead, God has given us a rational, reasonable, logical mind to thoughtfully, and yes prayerfully, decide what to read.

So, here are some tips about choosing a passage to read through and pray over through your quiet time:

· Stay in context. Far too many people try to randomly choose a passage to read from day-to-day. The problem here is that the books of the Bible were written intentionally with an order and flow. If we read random verses or random chapters out of the Bible, we are very likely to miss the big picture of the book that the Author intended us to see. We will do better picking up a passage that we read the day before in order to better understand the author’s point.

· Judge passage length wisely. If you choose to read only 1 or 2 verses, they had better be pretty rich. While sometimes I am greatly blessed by meditating on one verse over and over and over for twenty minutes, this is not always the case. I often find it more helpful to at least read several paragraphs of Scripture. Again, the point here is to catch the big picture flow of the passage as well as the smaller sections.

· Focus on what stands out. Once you have read a paragraph or two or twelve, then you can allow your mind to focus on one key point for meditation. For example, you might read the entirety of Matthew 22 in one sitting, but then pray through verses 11-14 asking God to reveal to you whether or not you are rightly dressed in the grace of Christ.

· Use a plan. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you are going to wisely read through the Scriptures, I would implore you to find a plan that will work for you and stick to it. I use this plan from Discipleship Journal, because it helps me to read passages from 4 parts of Scripture each day. It will allow me to read through the Bible in 1 year, and it only has 25 readings per month, thus allowing for catch-up days when I miss for some reason. You might like my plan, or you might want to check out this article which will show you several other plans. Pick a Bible-in-a-year, do it on-line or off-line, read several sections or just the NT—honestly, do whatever you need to do, just pick a plan and follow it logically. (I would personally not recommend students start at Genesis and try to read straight through the Bible, as this will keep them out of the New Testament for too long and will often bog them down at Leviticus, Numbers, or for sure by 1 Chronicles.)

· Read aware of the kind of book you are reading. If you take just a moment to look at a Bible dictionary or a study Bible’s introduction to the biblical book you are studying, you will find out valuable information about the book that will help you to better understand it. For example, you might learn that Haggai was written after the Jews returned from their Babylonian captivity, which will make all that language about rebuilding the temple make sense. Such introductions as well as the helpful charts and study notes is why I am so fond of the ESV Study Bible.

· Read with accountability. If you can find someone else who is committed to reading Scripture daily, perhaps you can use the same plan. Knowing that a friend or family member is reading what you are reading will encourage you to be more faithful and more thoughtful in your reading. Plan to talk with each other about the readings, and you will find that you are more apt not to blow a day off.

By the way, most of the devotionals that I write on my blog are my own thoughts from my daily reading. If you choose the plan that I proposed above for your daily reading (or even part of that plan), you will find that I am often writing about something you will be reading. If that helps you to read more regularly, great.

Again, comments here would be welcome. How do you choose your passages of Scripture for daily reading? Any helpful ideas for others?

** This series of posts is designed to help Super Summer Students transition back into normal life after a glorious week.  These posts should be helpful to any Christian wanting to grow and work through basic issues of Christian living. ** 

 

            One of the reasons that Super Summer is so powerful an event for students is the fact that, for a set of five straight days, students find themselves actively involved in worship, Bible study, and prayer.  This is combined with the fact that students are also totally removed from the distracting influence of outside media.  The experience is sort of like a spiritual detox, where you intensely connect with God while not allowing Internet, texting, radio, movies, TV, or other unhelpful things to direct your focus away from the Lord.

 

            It is nearly impossible to return home and not have outside media influence you.  If you are a Super Summer student who is reading this, you obviously are Internet connected.  Thus, you will not be able to hide yourself from the distractions completely.  However, if you will do a little work, you can make sure that, for a portion of your day, you are quiet and connected to your God.

 

            The common term that Christians use to talk about shutting out the distractions and focusing on the Lord is “quiet time.”  You will often hear Christians talking about what they learned in their quiet times or how their day did not go right after missing their quiet times.  Know right up front that there is no biblical pattern for what is contained in a quiet time, but there are some helpful things that we can suggest.

 

            First, schedule your quiet time.  This can be early morning, middle afternoon, or evening.  Whatever time you pick, stick to it.  make this an appointment that you will not miss.  I personally recommend mornings because these times are usually the easiest to get away from others, your phone is less likely to ring or beep or play a tune, and you will be able to think about what you learn in this time for the rest of the day.  If you pick evenings, you have less time to meditate on your study before you fall asleep and your mind is cleared for the next day.  But, there is no command here, just a suggestion.

 

            Once you pick your time, pick a place.  You are foolish to pick the living room, in front of the TV, for your quiet time.  You will not be able to focus.  Find a spot where you can have some privacy.  Commit yourself to being in that spot at the time you decide to be there.  Pick a place with enough light to read, enough privacy to keep you from being interrupted every 30 seconds, and not so comfortable that you fall asleep too easily.

 

            Gather the right materials to have a quiet time.  You need a Bible that you can read and study well.  I’d suggest a notebook to write down thoughts, questions, and observations that you make.  Have a place to sit and a surface to write on if you can. 

 

            Have a plan.  What will you do in your quiet time?  At minimum, you should pray for God to help you, read some Scripture, think about what you have read, and spend more time in prayer.  (How to pick a passage will be the subject of a future post.)

 

            So, imagine that you are ready for your quiet time.  You go to your place with your Bible, notebook, and pen (coffee is an optional treat).  When you sit down, you pray a short prayer (1 to 2 minutes) asking God to open your eyes to his word.  Then you read through a passage like Psalm 139.  As you read, write down things that catch your attention.  You might notice things like the following:

 

v4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

 

You might write:  Wow.  God knows my words before I even speak them.  He knows me more than anyone else.  What an amazing God!  What a frightening thought.

 

v7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

 

You might write:  God is everywhere.  I cannot run away from him.  He is always with me.  This comforts me.

 

            Once you have read what you intend to read, take time to pray through what you have seen.  Praise God for his knowledge.  Praise God for his being ever present.  Thank God for being with you.  Confess how sinful you know that he must know you are because he knows your thoughts.  Pray that he will be with you as you go to a hard place.  Thank him that he does not leave his people alone.  (This reading and praying might only take you 5 minutes, but could grow to lasting a long time.)

 

            You can add to your prayers over the passage prayers that you pray daily.  Perhaps you have prayer requests that you are committed to lifting up such as the ISalt Bulgaria team or your friend’s salvation.  (Prayer topics will be the focus of a future post.)

 

            There is much more that you can do with a daily quiet time.  You might work on memorizing Scripture.  You might read through a part of a good book or devotional.  You might listen to a sermon or podcast.  You might sing alone or along with some good Christian worship music.  There is great freedom here.

 

            While it is hard to come home from a powerful week of worship and study, it will be much easier if you integrate the discipline of a good quiet time into your life.  Prayer and bible reading are crucial to your health as a Christian.  Your strength will grow as you intentionally make time to spend with your Lord in his word and in his presence.

 

            I’d love to hear your comments and questions here.  What are you doing in your quiet times that I did not mention?  What questions do you have about a quiet time?

This post and several to follow will speak to our Super Summer students, but there will be things here that can help any believer in his or her walk. So, don’t turn away from this if you didn’t attend Super Summer this last week.

**

Super Summer was a great week. There were around one-hundred-eighty students who gathered together to worship God and grow in their discipleship. Though there were certainly a few moments that were a disappointment—Twinkies are at the top of the list here—a vast many more moments showed us the power of God, the joy of worship, and the life-impacting glory of his word.

Now, for the most part, students are back home. They are no longer studying together for six lessons per day. There are no longer three small group discussions for students to talk and pray together about the working of God in their lives. There are no longer guys strumming guitars and leading in worship songs all over the place. And, perhaps hardest of all, the homes of the students did not change simply because they went away for a week.

In Luke 9:28-50, we see a picture of Jesus and some of his disciples going through a great, spiritual high-point. Jesus led three of his disciples up a mountain. While there, the three saw Jesus in his unveiled glory. They saw the beautiful majesty of Christ and his position of supremacy over the Old Testament saints. They even heard the voice of God the Father declaring the glory and authority of Christ. They did not want to go home.

But, they had to come down from the mountain. They had to step back into normal life. And when they stepped into normal life, they walked right back into the middle of a fallen, sin-filled, devil-attacked world. They saw spiritual warfare that they could not conquer on their own. They found themselves fighting for social position. They heard Jesus talking about the fact that he was going to die, though they did not totally understand this plan. They found the ugliness of life again crashing down around them.

Super Summer students are experiencing some of this right now. Students have left the campus of the college, and they have walked back into conflicted homes, petty squabbles, youth group popularity contests, sinful friends, and all the rest. This is no surprise to God. God has a mission for us that involves us being salt and light in a fallen world. God has a mission for us that involves us being workers to build his kingdom in the middle of a world that does not want to respond to him. God will be the victor, but the victory will not be simple and easy for our lives right away.

So, students, what do you do? First, don’t let the disciplines that you learned fall away. If you learned to read your Bible, to pray, to worship God, continue to do those things. You don’t need a big worship band or gifted teacher to worship God and learn from his word. Make the time. Turn off the TV, IPod, cel phone, Xbox, DVD player, etc., and sit down with your Bible. Maybe you have to go outside. Maybe you have to hide in your room. Maybe you have to hide in the closet. Do what you have to do to have time to read God’s word, pray, and sing or just speak to God how wonderful he is.

Over the next few posts, I will be sharing some ideas of things that students and others might do regularly to help keep their spiritual lives moving forward. If you have questions or ideas, feel free to send them my way. For today, why not read that Luke passage I linked above and thank God that he understands what it is like to come down from the mountain into the thick of a messed up world. Thank him that he will not leave you alone in yours. Ask him to help you to serve him right now, right where you are.