5 Ways To Connect With God Beyond Quiet Times
Growing in our ways of connecting with God.
You hear it mentioned often in Christian circles: “How’s your quiet time going?” The term is a staple in our vocabulary. While definitions may vary, most agree that it refers to personal time spent in prayer and Bible reading as a means of connecting with God.
Perhaps more than anything else, these two practices have shaped the heart, soul, and mind of Christians for years.
While the practice of a quiet time is necessary and a beautiful rhythm of life, I fear that we’ve boxed in fellowship with God to sitting in a quiet room reading our Bibles.
In this article, I hope to help expand our vision for what it means to spend time with God.
Unhelpful Weight
I’m not against quiet times, I try to read my Bible and pray daily! But we often expect too much from them. We want to read for ten minutes and walk away with perfect understanding, fresh insight, deep emotional connection, and a spiritual breakthrough every day. That’s a lot to ask of one tool. It’s like expecting a hammer to also be a screwdriver, washcloth, and knife. One tool can’t do everything.
Maybe you are in a season of life where your “quiet time” feels unhelpful, stale, or hard to do because of busyness at work or mental depletion from being a new mother? Or maybe you just want to explore new ways to encounter and fellowship with God? What other spiritual tools might there be to connect with God? (A great resource is Donald Whitneys, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.)
5 Spiritual Tools
Scripture Meditation - Choose a verse or two to write down or memorize. Revisit it throughout the day, praying it back to God and reflecting on how it shapes your heart and actions. (Want more insight on meditation? Read my article here.)
Fasting - Giving up something you love for a specific period of time to replace that with Spiritual practices. (A great Desiring God resource can be found here.)
Serving – Using your gifts and time to serve God and others. We don’t often think of this as a spiritual discipline, but Christ was the ultimate servant, so does it not make sense that we could fellowship with Him in moments of service ourselves?
Prayer Walks - Finding a place in nature to walk and pray/talk to God about your life. You could listen to worship music or you could just look at the trees and thank God for the weather. This has been a particularly helpful practice for me lately.
Journaling - Writing to reflect on spiritual growth, Scripture, and prayer.
These are just a few spiritual tools we can use to connect with God in new ways. Is there a different tool you should include in your approach to following Jesus during this season of your life?
Helpful Reminders
Two helpful thoughts on the Christian practice of spiritual disciplines:
1- The word discipline is helpful in the spiritual disciplines phrasing because it highlights that almost none of these come naturally to us. Sure, some may be easier than others. But they all require some effort. Some work. Some grit. Some, well, discipline. I encourage you to ramp up your work ethic in your faith. No, we do not want to be legalistic. No, you are not loved more if you read more of your bible. But Jesus is clear: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” - Matthew 16:24
2- Be grace-oriented. If you miss a day of the spiritual practices, life is not over. Jesus does not hate you. While your spiritual maturity might be determined by the fruit of the Spirit exhibited in your life, God’s love for you is not.
We work to be faithful to God in the disciplines because of His great love for us, not to earn His great love. There is a huge difference between the two.
Growing with you,
Josh.
*This is an adapted version of my article posted here: https://www.weaponsofgrace.com/content/5-powerful-ways-to-connect-with-god-beyond-quiet-time
Be Faithful In The Small Things
What does it mean to be faithful in the small things?
We all want to do “great” things for God. To preach to hundreds. To give a great sum of money to a cause. To lead a lot of people to the Lord.
And while we should have a spiritual zeal for getting out of our comfort zones. I wonder if in our desire to “do big things” for God, we miss the more normal “small things” we actually are able to do.
What if the small things are the big things?
That small text of encouragement, that prayer lifted up in the night.
That $20 in the offering plate given with a pure heart.
The saying no to sin and yes to obedience when no one sees.
The working to be more patient with your spouse.
The faithful reading of the Word when you feel spiritually dry.
The wrestle to be gentle with your child.
What if those are the “big things” God has asked us to be faithful in?
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” - Luke 16:10.
The Mundane
Everyone wants to do big things for God, but most of life is small things. Normal things. Mundane things. Ordinary things. Was Jesus’ life all “big things”? Certainly, there were a few, but it seems like a lot of his life was pure faithfulness in the small.
Dinners with sinners and skeptics. Stopping to talk to people amidst a busy/hectic schedule. Quiet mornings alone with God on the lake. Before His public ministry, he was a carpenter. (Mark 6:3) Lots of mornings, wiping sleep from His eyes, he probably walked to the shop and began quietly making things. And who knows of the untold small conversations that changed people’s lives.
The encouragements. The challenges. The teachings.
Learn from Jesus
Yes, when the rare big things come, be faithful. But our lives will be marked by how we do the small things that we encounter every day. Even those of us who do “big things” will not be remembered for the big things, but for the small.
Your life is an accumulation of small things.
Working to do the small things well,
Josh.