This past week in my college lifegroup, we talked a bit about having a specific time set apart in your day for God. Lately I've been really good about this but as much as I hate to admit it, I'm usually not. When I ask myself why I don't give five or ten minutes for God time, I have no good answer. I constantly make up excuses, like "oh it's been a long day" "I'm too tired to give God the devotion he needs" or "I want to have quiet time but I could be doing ___________ instead". One of my lifegroup leaders brought up something striking that I've been thinking about all week- what if at the end of the day, God said "I'm going to bed; I'm too tired for you"? Whoa.

     Often we make up these excuses but we don't really think about the reason why we need to spend time with God every day. I've noticed in these past few weeks of devoting just a few minutes to God each day, my life has improved. I have a better relationship with those around me, my patience has grown, I find joy in the smallest things, and I'm more appreciative of the things I have. We spend time with God because it strengthens our faith. God gave his son's life for us; what is five or ten minutes in the span of things, really? And you'll find that once you start reading and analyzing His Word, your heart will be on fire and you won't want to stop reading it. You'll start to get excited to spend time with Him instead of making excuses.

     Something that I hear people say a lot is they get distracted while reading the Bible. This is something that is hard to get past in our day and age. Put your phone in a different room, turn off the TV, and listen to what God is telling you.

     Something else I hear people say is that they don't understand the Bible. Personally I've struggled with this myself; not that I don't understand it but how to apply it to my own life thousands of years later. I have The Message, which is a rendition of the Bible by Eugene H. Peterson. The Message words the scripture in such a way is written in every day language, but has a poetic tone and relates things sort of to present day. Some people may not agree with the rewording of original scripture, but the ideas are the same. I realize this is not meant to be used as a primary translation of the bible; it just helps me realize how the stories and words are applicable today.
   
     In my quiet time every day, I pick out a book of the bible and go to a chapter. Usually this is completely random; sometimes it comes from a cool verse that I saw or something that was in my devotion. It's really awesome to see how relevant the chapter I randomly pick out is to what I'm dealing with at the time. Then in my notebook I simply write what I'm studying down. For example, here is a book I studied this past week (Psalm 16)

And here are my notes. I just write down whatever stands out to me from the verses.

This keeps me focused and helps me to retain the information better. I know that some people are audio or visual learners, so what you can do is look up sermons or devotions to keep your quiet time grounded. You just have to try different things and find your own way to spend time with God. You'll see the difference it makes in your life!