When Jesus called Nathaniel to be an apostle, Philip had told Nathaniel about Jesus and brought Nathaniel to meet him. Jesus told him he knew him and had seen him under the fig tree before Philip had met him. Nathaniel was under the fig tree praying. That was his way of spending time with God, sitting under the fig tree and praying. (John 1:43-51)

Ask any Christian about the how to’s of the time they set aside as a quiet time with God and the answers will vary.  As will even the name they call it.

Devotion time, God time, prayer time, Bible study time, alone time, time under the fig tree — all names I have known people to use to describe that time set apart for communicating with the Father.

The bones of my own time are nothing radical.  I read my Bible, jotting down thoughts, questions, related scriptures.  I pray.  When I pray I almost always write out my prayers.  Doing so keeps me focused, open to the Holy Spirit and is a record of my faith journey.  I need this time, I crave this time and without it I weaken.

Sometimes it’s a time of glorious worship and I sing and praise God out loud without reservation.

Sometimes it’s a time of reflection or intercession.

Always it is a time of connection between my Creator and His creation.

This time I take to continue to work out my salvation with fear and trembling is the foundation of every relationship I have.  As a Daughter of the Abba Father, wife, mother, sibling, church member, friend, blogger, and so on.

Let me encourage you, if a time in your day isn’t set aside for God and you to come together, to make starting one a priority.  If it is part of your Christian life keep it up!

If you’d care to share your ways of having a devoted time with God I’d love to learn from you so please comment if you feel lead to.  If you want to know more about how to start such a quiet time I would love to encourage you, let me know!

Prayerfully,
-Faye