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How to Spend Time with God

What if you guarded 15 minutes per day to meet alone with God to enjoy His presence and receive His Word? That doesn’t sound like much, but it can be life changing. Here’s how that time could be used:

Pray.

Talk to God.  You approach Him as your loving Father, with both awe and confidence.  He has invited you to pray at all times for all things.  You can be certain that He is listening and is glad to meet with you.  

Some have recommended this acrostic to help guide your praying: ACTS

A – Adoration – spend time praising God for His great attributes

C— Confess – Spend time confessing and turning from sin in your life.

T – Thanksgiving – Give thanks to God for His love and blessings.

S – Supplication – That simply means to bring your needs and requests to Him. He knows you need His help and He wants you to ask. You are not bothering Him! He loves you and offers to help!

Another helpful acrostic is: PRAY

P – Praise (Praise and thank Him – for His love, grace, power, blessings, etc.)

R – Repent (Acknowledge your sin and ask for strength to overcome it)

A – Ask (Bring your needs and the needs of the world to God, seeking help)

Y – Yield (Give Him full control, letting Him lead every aspect of your life)

Read for relationship.

Take the Bible and choose a book within it to read. The books of the Bible are arranged in chapters and verses. Start with chapter one and read one or two chapters per day until you finish that book. Then pick another book to start and finish. Highlight verses that are particularly powerful to you that day. We suggest you begin reading in New Testament books like: The Gospel of John, Ephesians, Philippians, James, 1&2 Peter, etc. Old Testament books like Proverbs and Psalms are also good. Eventually, you will read all of the Bible, but we recommend these books to start.    

Respond.

Pray about what you have just read. Ask God to help you put it into practice.

  • Sometimes you will see a sin to avoid
  • Sometimes you will see an action you need to take.
  • Sometimes you will see an attribute of God that adds to your knowledge and amazement of Him.
  • Sometimes you may read a passage that you don’t yet understand. You can talk to God about that too.  

Share.

Consider who would benefit from hearing what you experienced in your time with God today. You can start with: “I read the coolest thing in the Bible this morning...”