Weekend Resource: 7 Minutes with God
Resource: 7 Minutes with God: How to plan a daily quiet time, by Robert D. Foster (Navigators).
Great Resource for Discipling a New Believer
Take a moment and think of someone you know who has only been told why to have a quiet time, not how. This pamphlet is concise and effective in explaining the why’s and how’s of a quiet time. That makes it a great resource of discipling a new believer. Years ago, God used it to completely change how I approached my quiet times and to instill in me the importance of daily time with the Lord.
The Golden Thread that Ties Every Great Man of God Together…
As a section of the pamphlet explains,
“They sought an answer and came up with a scheme they called the morning watch — a plan to spend the first minutes of a new day alone with God, praying and reading the Bible. The morning watch sealed the crack. It enshrined a truth so often obscured by the pressure of ceaseless activity that it needs daily rediscovery: To know God, it is necessary to spend consistent time with Him…
“The intimacy of communion with Christ must be recaptured in the morning quiet time. Call it what you want — the quiet time, personal devotions, the morning watch, or individual worship — these holy minutes at the start of each day explain the inner secret of Christianity. It’s the golden thread that ties every great man of God together — from Moses to David Livingstone, the prophet Amos to Billy Graham — rich and poor, businessmen and military personnel. Every man who ever became somebody for God has this at the core of his priorities: time alone with God.”
Here is a PDF version of 7 Minutes with God.
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Deeper
Father, in Your faithfulness, teach me Your statues. Expand my narrow horizons so that I can filled with the all the fullness of God. Please give me a faith that is deeper, stronger, and battle tested. I ask that you bless me with a mind that constantly has an unanswered question, causing me to seek a deeper understanding when I would have otherwise settled for less.
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Teach Me – Part 2
I find it interesting that with everyone one of David’s requests for God to teach him is an accompanying praise, petition, or promise.
The overarching request for God to teach us His Word is sourced from our adoration of God, mingled with our physical and spiritual needs, and partnered with a vow to obey. We want God to teach us more about His praiseworthy character, because the more we know the more we see that only He can fill our every need, and when we see who He is and how He is everything we need, faithfully following is the enlightened heart’s response.
Practical application:
1. Make requests of God based on a knowledge of who He is and what He wills, not simply according to first-impulse self-oriented desires. How can God deny a request that is consistent with His character from a saint aligned with His will?
2. When you make your requests known to God, watch for Him to reveal more of His character to you in His answer. How often do we forfeit a deeper knowledge of God because we neglect to notice His character displayed in His actions?
3. Ask God to teach you and commit to following the truth He opens your eyes to, instead of following on the condition that it suits your fancy. Why would God honor a request from a heart with a noncommittal attitude?
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Teach Me
Psalm 119:12, 26, 29, 33, 64, 66, 68, 108, 123, 135, 171
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
29 Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes!
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
68 You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,
and teach me your rules.
124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
and teach me your statutes.
135 Make your face shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
171 My lips will pour forth praise,
for you teach me your statutes.
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” (Psalm 119:18). I don’t want to rely upon second hand learning. I love to hear your word preached, but I want even more to go before You in Your Word and see with my own eyes. What bride would be content to only hear of her lover described by her friends? I am in a covenant relationship with God and will not be satisfied with anything less than going to His Word to know Him personally. Teach me, O Lord.
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Strategy
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“What’s your strategy to learn the whole Bible?” That question caught me off guard, and I put my fork down to think a moment.
“I don’t think I have one.” Honesty was the best policy, and I couldn’t even think of a fabricated answer.
“Get one.” The man wasn’t shy about telling me that I needed a plan, and he wasn’t slow to offer me one either.
Words from that lunch with Jim Downing, the oldest living Navigator, still ring in my head now months down the road. I had been, like most of us, caught in the idea (whether by default or defeat), that the Bible, in its entirety, is unknowable. What. Mr. Downing was challenging me to do, however, was not to know the Bible exhaustively, but rather know it extensively. It is God’s Word, it is valuable, so it deserves my attention. My goal is to be familiar with the Bible as a whole, to know the flow if it, the stories, the people, and especially the revealed character of the three members of the Trinity.
What should be in your plan if you intend to become familiar with the Bible?
Read the whole book. We won’t be familiar with what we have not read.
Memorize scripture. Mr. Downing recommended learning the key verse for every book of the Bible. He said when you get done with that, learn the key verse for every chapter.
Study each book. This can take years, but diligent study of each book makes it come alive.
Sound daunting? Does to me too…steady learning is crucial. First steps can be things like reading the Bible every year, and memorizing a verse every week or so by putting it on a notecard and carrying it around in your pocket. Bible study groups aid with the study part.
How many of us want to die having never become familiar with all of God’s word? That goal is not unattainable, we just set our bar low. Am I the only one who was content to go without a plan to know the whole book?
Right now, I am already looking forward to the Christmas holidays and school is out. My first semester in college has been great, but a break would be great. I have recently committed to giving this Christmas break to the Lord. I will take advantage of the lack of college study burdens and give time to God’s Word. This is beyond just having extra-long quite times…this will be time set aside daily to study God’s word. I want to take one of Paul’s letters (not sure which yet) and read it multiple times, observe the text in depth, listen to some pastors I know who have podcasts of their preaching on the book, etc. I put this goal on my calendar so that I won’t get so busy with other things that I forget to apply myself.
The Bible is all God-breathed. It is all profitable. I want to know as much as I can. Will you join me and take this step over the Christmas holidays?
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