How to Structure Your Time With God

As we seek to grow in our personal devotion to God in the secret place, there are some practical steps we can take. One simple key is to have a basic structure for your time with the Lord. Below is an excerpt from Living From the Secret Place that teaches how to structure your time with God.

Another practical step to take is incorporating a basic structure into your times with God. Don’t think that everything has to be spontaneous. It is helpful to have a basic format for your times in the secret place while also remaining flexible and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. The structure is not meant to be legalistic or overbearing but to give you a basic track to follow. Here are a few examples.

Example 1:

• • Thanksgiving and praise: Start with coming into God’s presence by giving Him thanks and praising Him for who He is.
  • Time in the Word: Take time to read and meditate on a portion of Scripture, asking the Holy Spirit to give insight and to apply it to your own life.
  • Intercessory prayer: Begin to pray for people and situations that are on your heart.

Example 2:

• • Time in the Word: Start your time by opening up the Scriptures and taking time to read and meditate on them.
  • Journaling: Write down anything you sense that God is speaking to you, or write out specific prayer requests and things you are processing with the Lord.
  • Prayer time: Take some time for thanksgiving, praise, and intercession to finish.

These are two basic examples to give you an idea of what structuring your times with God can look like, but there are almost endless possibilities of variety and order in your secret place times. You can incorporate times of singing worship to God, waiting quietly in His presence, praying in tongues for extended amounts of time, and more.

I encourage you to develop the structure for your secret place times that works well for you. The purpose of the structure is to give you a basic track to follow, but you don’t need to be rigid about it. Always be open to how the Holy Spirit may lead during your prayer time. Also, be aware that the Lord may lead you into different structures in different seasons. Find the structure that is right for you at this time in your journey.

Just Take the Next Step

Perhaps you feel overwhelmed when you think of the call to grow in personal devotion. Perhaps you have tried before and have not been able to develop a consistent life in the secret place. Perhaps you feel intimidated by reading the Bible or feel that you don’t really know how to pray. All of this can be normal to wrestle through. Rather than losing heart or giving in to condemnation, think in terms of taking small steps. Ask the Lord, What is the next step for me to grow in the secret place? What should I focus on in this season?

The fact is, spiritual growth does not happen all at once. It happens daily, one step at a time. Maybe for you the next step is to block out twenty to thirty minutes each day for reading the Bible and praying. Maybe it is adding additional time to what you are already doing. Maybe it is determining what structure to use in your devotional times in this season. Maybe it is getting on an intentional Bible reading plan. Maybe it is adding a new spiritual discipline, such as fasting or waiting on the Lord. Regardless of where any of us are at in our walk with God, there is always room to continue to grow.

Don’t compare your journey with others. Instead, simply take the next step that is right for you. As you do, trust the Lord to meet you with His grace. Seek Him with diligence and persistence, and give yourself fully to Him. Enter the secret place by the blood of Jesus, believing that God will meet with you and lead you. He is worth the pursuit!

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Time alone with God was never intended to be a boring duty or empty ritual. It was meant to be a passionate pursuit of God that leads to encountering His presence and knowing Him more.

Living from the Secret Place is a call to personal devotion. With rich scriptural truths, personal examples, and practical teaching, this book will equip you to grow in the most important thing you can do—spend time alone with God!