QUIET TIME TOOLS

Yesterday I noticed several loose doorknobs in our house. I am not particularly handy, but I do have several screwdrivers and a small can of oil. In no time the doorknobs were fixed. In the same way, a few tools can keep our quiet time in good working order. We don’t need to be very “spiritually handy” or have a large library of biblical and theological wisdom. If the doors to our quiet times aren’t swinging open smoothly or there seems to be a catch in the latch, we can bring out a few spiritual tools to tighten things up and smooth out the catches.

Fasting, journaling and Christian literature are tools that I have found especially helpful. Used wisely, these can bring depth, variety and inspiration into our lives. Fasting puts us in touch with our spiritual and physical appetites; keeping a journal sharpens our spiritual senses; reading Christian literature puts us in touch with like-minded companions who are experienced and articulate about meeting with God.

Fasting

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that is broader than our quiet times. We may set aside half an hour for a quiet time, but a fast goes through a day or more. It is a helpful tool, however, because as a spiritual discipline, fasting enhances our spiritual sensitivity. It is partially or completely abstaining from food for the purpose of seeking God. Fasting plays a significant role in the Scriptures. It was used as an emergency measure when things looked desperate. David fasted when he sought God for the life of his dying child (2 Sam 12:16–23). When Judah was invaded by an overwhelming army, king Jehoshaphat called a national fast (2 Chron 20:3). And when the Jews of Persia were to be massacred, Mordecai and Esther called a fast to seek God for deliverance (Esther 4:16).

Sometimes fasting expressed repentance, as when the exiled Jewish nation returned to the Promised Land under Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh 9:1). As Ezra read the Law, the exiles discovered how far they had departed from the ways of God. Fasting was their repentant response.

Fasting was also used as a means of dedication and preparation. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness prior to the beginning of his ministry (Mt 4:2). Paul and Barnabas fasted prior to their missionary journeys (Acts 13:1–3).
Fasting is one of the last spiritual disciplines I explored. I like to eat, and so I avoided it. But while meditating on Jesus’ teaching about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:16–18), I realized that it was for me.

As I began to fast, I saw that food is promoted endlessly. “Eat, eat, eat” is the insistent, incessant message. It tests my resolve to place God above my appetites each time I fast. Like no other discipline, fasting involves all of me, body and soul, in the pursuit of God. When my body is hungry, my appetite working overtime and my will wavering, I am reminded that I have chosen God above all other desires. Hunger actually becomes my friend. Every hunger pang I feel reminds me to lift my requests to God. Each food commercial is an opportunity to say no to food and yes to God.

I fast periodically, usually during times of special need. A couple of times I fasted when I needed God’s direction in my ministry and career. Once I fasted in regard to a fundraising deficit. There are times when I feel out of touch with God, ministry and family. Fasting in these situations lifts my spirit and strengthens my faith. For the past several years I have chosen to fast for Lent. Fasting at this time helps me enter into the pain of Christ’s work on the cross.

How do you actually go about fasting? On a twenty-four hour fast I eat nothing after the evening meal until the time of the evening meal on the following day. Actually that is only missing breakfast and lunch. A thirty-six hour fast means I eat nothing after the evening meal and skip all meals the following day. It’s also possible to do a selective fast, abstaining from certain types of food. You might skip meat for a period of time, or coffee or soft drinks. I find this type of fast harder than total abstinence.

Extended fasts require some thought. If you go longer than thirty-six hours, it’s wise to fast selectively. Nutritionists tell me that eliminating the amino acids that we get from protein for more than a day can alter our body chemistry and have negative effects on the heart. Going on an extended fast for me usually means restricting my intake to raw fruits and vegetables, with some milk or cheese for protein.

Fasting differs from dieting. There is a power to abstain from food on a fast that isn’t present in a diet. Once while finishing an extended fast, I was called on to work in the kitchen at a conference I was attending. Surprisingly, the temptation to eat was negligible, and I experienced an unaccustomed joy in serving others. If I had been dieting, I would not have responded with such goodwill or restraint.

Shortly after Jackie and I were married, we met an elderly neighbor named Mrs. Bibbs. She invited us to visit her later in the evening for what Jackie and I assumed would be dessert and coffee. However, that was not what Mrs. Bibbs served. It was clear that she had been cooking and baking all day, maybe for several days, and it was spread out grandly on the table for us to enjoy. But we had eaten a full meal just before we came. All that great food, prepared with much thoughtfulness, was not in the least appetizing.

Of course we ate, profusely thanking our hostess for the wonderful meal. After each serving, she insisted that we have another serving and then another. Not wanting to disappoint her, we ate and ate. By the time we got up from the table, I was in considerable pain.

In the world we are surrounded by people who are saying, “Have some more, have some more, have some more.” However, when we fast we are saying, “No, thank you. I’m saving room in my life for Someone else.”

Journaling

Reading and writing have always played an important role in the Christian faith. From Moses’ account of the Exodus, to the disciples’ record of Jesus ministry, to the apostle John’s vision of the new heaven and earth, God’s people have been directed by the Spirit to write down their experiences with him. Although we aren’t writing inspired Scripture when we journal, we do enter into an experience of God through the written word.

When we journal, we write down what we think, feel and learn as we meet with God. We describe on paper what is going on inside our hearts. We can also record our prayers and our questions for God. This enhances our spiritual discernment of God’s presence and work in our lives.

You may find it hard to express thoughts on paper initially. I have found that writing in a journal functions as a siphon. As I write down a word or two, new words and insights come. Suddenly doors open, the logjam breaks and the words begin to flow.

Writing in a journal helps me to pray. Sometimes I have a sense of communication with God just by going over my concerns mentally, saying my prayers in my heart. But sometimes I seem to be talking only to myself. My remedy for that is to write out my prayers. Once I write down what I want to say to God, I usually sense that a real dialogue is taking place.

Develop your own style of journaling. When I write out my prayers, I seldom use complete sentences. A word or a phrase on the page is usually enough to bring before the Lord. I also write down my questions for God. “God, what do you want me to do about?” Or, “God, what are you going to do about?”

Writing down general thoughts and ideas that come to mind during my quiet time has proven useful. This can stimulate insights that answer questions from previous days. However, these insights often raise other questions. So I write them out in the form of prayer.

One day I was reading through several months’ worth of journal entries. It became clear that I was reading a conversation, a dialogue between two people. Someone was asking questions, and someone else was answering! It dawned on me that I couldn’t claim credit for my brilliant insights. God had been answering my questions all along.

A couple of months ago I struggled with anger. A thoughtless word from a close friend set off a powder keg inside me. I tried to give my anger over the Lord and let it go, but I couldn’t. So I went off to a back booth at a local McDonald’s and began to write. Surprisingly, my anger came out as poetry. Expressing my feeling on paper enabled me to identify the roots of my anger. I also found the Lord waiting for me in the depths of the pain. As I let the anger go, it let go of me. I became free to respond to the situation reasonably rather than emotionally.

Try recording your reflections at the end of your quiet time. You will deepen your spiritual insights as you reflect back on your interaction with God. We “re-cognize”—think again—about our time with him. This will reward us with new insights into the ways that God is working within us.

Practical Details

Keeping a journal notebook to review in later years can be helpful because it provides a written record of your pilgrimage with God. On the other hand, throwing away your notes at the end of your quiet time can be very freeing. Your interaction with God is the important thing, not the writing itself. Once you have expressed yourself to God on paper, your purpose has been served.

If you do keep your journal sheets, be sure to include the date and place of each entry. We have done a fair amount of moving, and it is interesting to look back on thoughts recorded in Atlanta, Jackson, Nashville or London.

Don’t be legalistic about keeping a journal. If you want to keep it daily, that’s great. But writing in it a couple of times a week or a couple of times a month is great too. Both offer opportunities to reflect and record the work of God in your heart.

Christian Literature

Christians throughout the ages have written about their thoughts and experiences with God. Their writings can enrich our quiet times. Some books were written to be used as devotionals—aids to worship. The most famous is probably The Imitation of Christ. It was written just before the Reformation by Thomas à Kempis. Protestants as well as Catholics have used it ever since. For each day there is a bite-sized thought filled with practical spiritual wisdom. Passing references to purgatory and a fourth section of meditations on the Lord’s Supper (the Mass) have been omitted from most Protestant versions. The fact that Puritans, Pietists and Protestants of every generation have found this book worth “sanitizing” is a testimony to its continuing value.

A popular devotional guide of the twentieth century is My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I know people who work through it and then begin all over again. And there are any number of devotional magazines. I especially like the material produced by Scripture Union. It seeks to be contemporary, biblical and practical.

The danger of using a devotional guide is treating it like spiritual fast food. We read the bite-sized thought, glance at the Scripture reference and then we are off to take on the day. What happened to meeting with God?
The benefit of using a guide is that we share another Christian’s insight and experience with God. This can enhance our own personal spiritual encounter with God.

Some books teach us how to cultivate a devotional life. The earliest devotional manual ever written was the Conferences of Cassian. In the fifth century Cassian traveled around the Egyptian desert and Palestine interviewing monks. He put together a record of those conversations and in so doing created a model for all spiritual instruction manuals to follow.

Since Cassian, thousands of instructional manuals have been written. Twentieth-century authors whose instructional books have helped me tap into the wisdom of early spiritual guides are A. W. Tozer, Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen, Joyce Huggett and Eugene Peterson. Reading these and other instructional works can enhance a quiet time, not just because they give information on how to have a quiet time but also because they impart a spirit of devotion. In reading about how to pray, we are drawn to God in a way that inspires and encourages prayer.

Some books not written as devotionals can be aids to worship. Right now I am reading a book by a contemporary theologian that many would find dry and boring. It’s not to me. I feel the pull of God as I read it. In the morning, with a cup of coffee and my journal, I read a couple of pages on my back porch. As I read, I am inspired to think about God, to appreciate God and to grow in my thought life about God. Every few sentences I stop to savor a thought in the freshness of the morning. My own thoughts of God are stretched as I appreciate a brother in Christ who loves God.

Don’t pass up classic works that have been studied through the ages: The Confessions of St. Augustine, The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, The Works of Luther, The Journals of Wesley and Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards, to mention a few. These people and others like them had great thoughts about great experiences with God. When we read them, we are taken deeper into the knowledge of God than we could ever go on our own. Standing on their shoulders gives us a better glimpse of heaven than we get standing on our own two feet.

Guided Quiet Time

The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1–3)
Frankly, I’m surprised at the widespread positive attitude toward the Bible. A large number of people still believe that the Bible is more than a merely human book. Even those who are not regular churchgoers or diligent Bible students believe that there is something special about it.

Graham, a friend of ours in England, would gather a crowd by pointing to a piece of cloth he dropped on the sidewalk and shouting, “It’s alive!” When people came running to see what he was pointing to, he would lift up the cloth to reveal a Bible. Taking up the Bible and waving it in the air above his head, he would begin to preach to his listeners about the virtues of the Bible.

The Bible is alive. Something happens when you read it. Something reaches up from the page to address the mind and the heart. Something (Someone) challenges, provokes, stimulates and entices. This effect was experienced by the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after they met the Lord: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32).

Approach

In Revelation 1:3, a blessing is offered to those who read, hear and take to heart the book of Revelation. Read it silently and then out loud. Determine to think about it during your day. Read it out loud now and write a prayer asking the Lord to allow you to take it to heart.

Study

1. Read Revelation 1:1–3. What various means of communication are used in the verses?
2. Who are the people involved in sending and receiving the revelation?
3. What assurance are we given that the messages about the future are trustworthy?
4. The revelation is about “what must soon take place.” There are different interpretations of this. Some think it refers to the first century, while others think it refers to what will happen throughout the unfolding history of the church. Still others hold that it refers to what will happen at the end of time, and a few include all of the preceding. What do you think?

Reflect

1. The word revelation means “uncovering.” The book of Revelation is about the revealing of Jesus Christ. Imagine that there is a veil on your heart. Ask the Lord to remove it so that you may see his presence in your life. Sit for a while and allow him to work. Write down your impressions and emotions.
2. The time frame of Revelation is the impending future. Jesus wants us to know what is going to happen. How would your behavior be affected if you knew what Jesus was going to do in your life within the next week? Consider your work, your family, your friends, your time and your money.

Pray

Ask the Lord to come back soon.

Ask the Lord to give a sense of anticipation for his return.
Pray for several fellow believers, that they would grow in a love for God’s Word.

[Taken from day 1 of Anticipating Christ’s Return by Stephen D. and Jacalyn Eyre, InterVarsity Press, 1994.]

Eyre, S. D.