ELEMENTS OF A DAILY QUIET TIME

ELEMENTS OF A DAILY QUIET TIME

A.    Praise God and Thank God

1.    Praise God for one or more of His characteristics/attributes.

2.    Thank Him for what He’s done and is going to do.

3.    Sing a praise song or hymn or read a Psalm of praise.

B.    Confess Sin

1.     Confess and ask for forgiveness of your sins. Ask God to bring up

any sins you need to confess. Thank Him for His forgiveness.

C.    Acknowledge God’s Sovereignty

1.     Verbally yield your will, your desires, and your plans to God.

2.     Ask Him to hold sway over your mind and heart.

D.    Ask for the Holy Spirit’s Filling and Guidance

1.     Ask for Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

2.     Believe that you are filled and thank Him.

3.     Ask God for His wisdom and guidance.

E.     Read a Devotional or Meditate on a Scripture Passage

1.     Choose a devotional book or choose a passage of Scripture to read/

meditate on.* Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.**

2.     Pray Scripture from daily reading back to God.

3.     Write any Scripture He’s impressed on your mind on a 3x5 card to

carry with you and review throughout your day.

F.     Sit in His Presence.

      1.  Rest in the knowledge of God’s love for you. “God is good to all and loving toward all He has made.” "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

G.    Intercessory Prayer

1.      Pray for those on your prayer list.

2.      Say a prayer for missionaries and saints all over the world.

H.    Prayer for Self—Petitions and Equipping for Service

1.      Bring your requests for yourself to God

2.      Ask Him to equip you for serving Him

3.      Ask Him to keep you aware of His presence in you as you go

 about your day.

*When facing difficult circumstances or fighting a spiritual stronghold, look up verses concerning your problems in a concordance or go to www.biblegateway.com & do a word search for verses that speak to your situation. Read & copy these verses to meditate on during your quiet time and pray them back to God. Review them during the day.

 **For a deeper quiet time, re-read the daily passage of Scripture slowly 3 or 4 times. Reflect on what you’ve read. Does a particular word, phrase, or verse repeatedly catch your eye as you read? God wants to speak to you through His Word. What is God inviting you to do? How does the passage apply to your life? Record your thoughts in your journal. Submit to God’s leading.  Submission allows transformation.

Confession and Forgiveness

Life has a way of beating us up, doesn't it? I know I've felt beat up a time or two this year. Difficult, stressful situations wear me down. They tend to bring out the worst in me. I'm forced to see things in me that I thought were dead and buried since I've begun walking with the Lord. It seems there are some things in me that just refuse to die. Then, when the dust has settled, I wonder, "How can I face the Lord after this?" But I go to the Lord anyway because He is everything to me. Without Him I have no hope of changing, no hope of surviving.

I thank God that He loves me so much that when I come to Him and confess my sins, He does not shame me or despise me. He welcomes me, forgives me, and loves me. I may get disciplined, but I would rather have the Lord's discipline than live without being reconciled to Him.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

Nothing is better fuel for the Enemy's fire than the discouragement that comes from sin, especially if we sin after we've made a fresh commitment to the Lord or have been walking in joyful fellowship with Him. But I've learned to immediately go to the Lord and confess so that "times of refreshing" can come...and the sooner the better! <smile>

Just look at how compassionate our God is:

"He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." Ps. 103:10-14 (ESV)

Thank you, Father, that you do not deal with us according to our sins. Thank you that you remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. Thank you for your compassion to those who stand in reverent awe of you. Thank you for remembering that I am dust. Help me to live each day in submission to your perfect will and authority. Help me align my mind, heart, and soul with your Word. Fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I may have the power to live as you want me to live. In Jesus' name. Amen.

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

New Pages, New Template

I just found out how to add pages to the top of my blog posts so that I can have the Scriptures I used to defeat my panic attacks just a click away for those who also want to use them! I also changed my template for Spring/Summer. I feel so tech-saavy now. :)

More On Anxiety

I found some information on Dr. John Piper's website and this is a somewhat condensed version. I love his quote so much. I underlined it below:

Dr. John Piper— John is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minn., an author of more than 30 books and more than 25 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org.    “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”

Anxiety is a form of unbelief. Finding out the connection between our anxiety and our unbelief is in fact very good news, because it is the only way to begin the battle with the real cause of our sin and get the victory that God can give us by the therapy of his Word and his Spirit. When anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God's glory and the greatness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faithless, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked. At first blow our belief in God's promises may sputter and swerve. But whether we stay on track and make it to the finish line depends on whether we set in motion a process of resistance. Whether we fight back against anxiety. It is a spiritual battle. We battle anxiety by meditating on God’s Word and asking for the help of His Holy Spirit. We believe the promises of God and we pray for the help of His Spirit.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

FIVE PILLARS OF FEARLESSNESS (from Isaiah 41:10 above)

                    1. God is with me.
                    2. God is my God.
                    3. God will strengthen me.
                    4. God will help me.
                    5. God will uphold me.

Anxious about being too weak to do my work:

Deut. 33:25 As your days so shall your strength be. (NKJV)

2 Corin. 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Anxious about decisions:

Ps. 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Anxious about my ministry being useless and empty:

Is. 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Anxious about new business or meeting:

Is. 41:10 (see above)

Financial Anxiety:

Matt. 6:30-33 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Anxious about growing old:

Isa. 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Anxious I may fail God, fall away from God:

Ph. 1:6 Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

1 Thess. 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Heb. 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Footnotes:
a. Hebrews 7:25 Or forever

Anxious about all unknowns:

Deut. 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Anxious about victory/ facing opponents:

Pr. 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.

Ro. 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

According to the Scriptures

"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...." (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)  

God's Word, the Scriptures, are true. You can count on them, lean and rely on them. As Moses told the Israelites (and as God tells us whenever we read those verses), "These are not just idle words to you, they are your life!" (Deut. 32:47)

Whenever we pray Scriptures back to God (like the ones I listed in my last post), we are relying on them to be true. We are stepping out in faith and believing what we are speaking. This kind of faith pleases God. (See Hebrews 11:6) Reading, praying, memorizing Scripture feeds our soul and spirit. You won't find this food anywhere else. The world will not provide it for you. Your family and friends, as dear as they are, cannot provide what your soul and spirit needs most desperately--the forgiveness, fellowship, love and healing of your Creator, your Heavenly Father.

I've been reminded that only God knows my deepest needs because He made me, wired me, created my inmost being. Only He knows my every thought and desire. Only God knows how to heal my mind, my soul, and my spirit. As I submit to Him through Jesus Christ my Lord by daily confessing my sins and receiving His forgiveness, as I walk with Him by the leading of His Holy Spirit (which I ask for every day), I can be assured that He will meet and provide all of my needs.

Have you taken your stand today? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you committed yourself to believing God and following the Lord's leading each and every day? Have you committed yourself to having a daily quiet time with Him in prayer and Bible reading? To letting Him be the Potter and you be the clay so that He can mold and shape you to reflect His glory? This is our calling in Christ Jesus. He is our only hope. He is our only Way.

Otherwise, we will live each day of our lives in defeat to our sinful nature and at the mercy of an Enemy who is savage and relentless. We will live in darkness because only Jesus is the Light of the world. And if we have not accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we will not make it to heaven. God's Word is very clear. (If panic and depression are any indication of the kind of torment we will be in after death because we did not confess Jesus as Lord, it should make us run with all of our might to the One and Only for our salvation. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).)

Those seven words in bold font above, "Jesus is the Light of the world", are precious to me. Probably because I lived for a season in the darkness of depression. All light was snuffed out--there was no hope for me...or so I thought. I was deceived by my feelings and thoughts. My own mind had turned against me, and I hadn't even realized it. But Jesus came to my rescue. As a shining star illuminating the darkness of my mind, He became for me my Light.

One of the biggest joys I get out of reading the Bible is coming across words that I could've written myself. Here is just one example: "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. " (Micah 7:8).

Our enemy cannot stand against us when we stand firm in the Lord. Resist him by praying Scripture every time you are tempted to despair or panic. God's Word is your Sword of the Spirit! Jesus is your Deliverer! God is your Rear Guard!

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
(Refrain) 

Text: Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915
Music: Phoebe P. Knapp, 1839-1908
http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh369.sht

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

My Answer

I was just asked a question in a comment left on an old post. The question was if I still take medication. ( I do, .25mg of alprazolam, when needed. I can battle daily anxiety with God's Word and prayer, but whenever I'm in intensely stressful circumstances for a week or more and unable to get alone and pray--for example, when my mother was in the hospital for a week and then a rehab facility for a week and I had to stay with her 14 hours a day--I will feel the "vibrating" inside me or pain where I had shingles in 2008, and I will take the medication my doctor prescribed.)  I believe this precious one is also worried taking medication shows a lack of faith. Oh, how the Enemy can twist our thoughts. We must remember that man does not think like God thinks. If you had a child who was overwrought, overwhelmed, so broken and burned out that she/he couldn't cope or think or focus and were in mental torment, and you knew of a medicine that would relieve their suffering, wouldn't you give it to them? Would you despise them for their needing it? Would you stop loving them or caring for them? Those of us who are predisposed to panic, anxiety, and depression need to stop condemning ourselves and place ourselves in the hands of our loving God and in the hands of the physician He directs us toward. Let the medicine do what it can do and let God do what only He can do. Whether we take medication or we don't take medication, it is God Who does the healing work in us. It is on Him we rely.

Out of the Boat

I’ve been living out of my comfort zone since Easter. I put into action the words of John Ortberg: if you want to walk on water, you have to step out of the boat. I thought I was ready, but I’ve been on my knees a lot since then. Once again I’ve come to the realization that the weaknesses God allows me to have are to serve the purpose of keeping me clinging to Him. Only Jesus can equip me through His Holy Spirit so that I can live my life to His glory--not just to do godly activities but to make all my activities godly.