A Simple Quiet Time Plan

You Need a Plan by Rick Warren “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5 ESV) Having a quiet time is like many other activities you might do in life — in at least one respect. To be successful, it helps to have a plan. The Bible says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5, ESV). If you’ve never had a quiet time before, you may not have a good, simple plan for doing one. Simplicity is important with any plan you develop. If you make it complicated, you’re more likely to get off track. All you really need for an effective quiet time is a Bible, notebook, and maybe a hymn or songbook. So what does a daily quiet time look like? First, be quiet before the Lord. The Bible calls it waiting on God. You start by simply sitting down and shutting up. As you do this, you’ll find yourself revving your engine down and calming yourself.  Second, pray briefly. Start off with a short opening prayer. Ask God to open your mind and guide you. Ask him to cleanse your mind. Read a portion of Scripture slowly. This is where your conversation with God begins. He starts speaking to you through his Word, and then you speak back to him through prayer. Read the Bible slowly. Don’t try to read too quickly or too much. The more slowly you read Scripture, the more you’re forced to think about what you’re reading. Meditate on the Word. Spend some time chewing on what God is saying. Chew on the Word like cows chew on cud. Ponder and wrestle with it in your mind. There are lots of great methods for meditating on the Word. You can find specific ideas on how to meditate on the Bible in my bookRick Warren’s Bible Study Methods. Write down what you discover. When God speaks to you through his Word, care enough about what he is saying to write it down. Writing enables us to remember what God has said to us and record our discoveries. Pray again. Be quiet. Ask God to show you his Word. Talk to God about what he has said to you. Tell him what you’re thinking about what he is saying. Talk to him about anything else that’s on your mind. There’s not just one way to have a quiet time, but following a plan similar to this can get you started on a rewarding devotional journey. Talk About It Have you ever thought about your quiet time as an intimate conversation with God? What distractions do you need to eliminate in order to “be quiet”?

Is there any reason to get excited?

From they guys at The Youth Cartel…

Watch this video:

Bible:

1 Kings 9:3; 2 Chronicles 6:19

Discussion Starter:
We have a tendency to have a been there, done that attitude when it comes to God. Sometimes we read the Bible or pray and it isn’t all that exciting. We might even think of interacting with God as boring.

But have you ever stopped to think about how incredibly crazy it is that you can close your eyes and talk to God? The same God who spoke the universe into existence, the same God whose breath filled humanities lungs, the same God who inspired a person to create Cool Ranch Doritos… you can actually talk to Him and He hears you! You can actually open and read a book He inspired for you to read and meditate on.

That’s exciting!

3 Questions:

1. What would be something so exciting that you’d jump up and down right now?
2. Which would be more fun? Having a wish granted or granting the wish of your best friend?
3. What do you think gets God excited?

Chew on this:
Does this discussion change at all if you reverse the roles? Instead of the human being God and you being the dog, what if God were the dog in the video and you were the human? Do you think God gets that excited about you?

En Fuego

What is En Fuego?  Well, it is you and 10,000 of your closest friends occupying a cow pasture that is a natural amphitheater and rocking out to some great music.  It’s free to get in, but they do take a love offering.  You might want to consider a few dollars as a donation to help them cover costs.  They have vendors who sell all sorts of food and snacks.  Each of the bands has a booth to sell their CDs, shirts, and other trinkets they may have.  If you want more info directly from the source then check out http://enfuegoinfo.com.

Give It A Shot!

Welcome to the blog world. This blog will be used to give spiritual pointers, information on events, and maybe even help you have a laugh along the way.  Keep your blogosphere open and tune in to keep up with all the youth ministry stuff you need to know.

Bo