A Time, A Place, And A Plan

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. – James 4:8

Let’s be honest with each other for a minute. Sometimes it’s hard to carve out intentional time to spend with the Lord. When we’re juggling what seems like a million responsibilities and trying to keep up with all that’s on our calendars, we can find ourselves looking back on the last week and realizing we’ve spent very little quality time with Jesus.

Trust me, friend. I get it. I’ve been there. And it’s because I know this reality all too well, I want to give you (and remind myself of) some practical steps we can take to prioritize our daily time with Jesus.

To put it simply, if you want to make your time with the Lord your top priority, you need to have a time, a place, and a plan. Let’s break down what this looks like in more detail.

First, you need to have a set time. The best thing you can do is carve out the same time every single day to spend with Jesus. But I also know that life is crazy and unpredictable, so this might not always be possible.

As much as you can, set aside the same time block every day to have your time with the Lord. But if you know something is going to interfere with that time, make sure you allocate a different block of time during the day.

If you’re a planner like me, look at your calendar at the beginning of the week and assess what your schedule looks like for the next seven days. Then determine if you need to make any adjustments so your time with Jesus isn’t interrupted or pushed aside entirely.

Second, you need to have a specific place. Depending on your season of life, this can be really easy or really difficult. If you live alone, your place could be your living room. If you live with a roommate, it could be your bedroom. If you live with your family and it’s hard to find privacy, you might need to go into your closet.

Regardless of where you go, just make sure you have a place where you know it will be quiet and you won’t be interrupted so you can have quality time with the Lord.

Third, you need to have a plan. The great thing about plans is that they incorporate structure and creativity at the same time. Because the plan is yours, you can be as creative as you want as you develop it. And then once your plan is developed, you can feel confident that the structure will keep you on track and focused.

A few examples of plans for your time with the Lord are reading through the Bible in a year, reading a Psalm or Proverb every day, going through a daily devotional book, or following a guided prayer journal. There are so many resources you can use to create a plan. The sky’s the limit. What matters is that you have a plan going into your time with Jesus, so it is fruitful and purposeful.

One caveat here is that just because you have a time, a place, and a plan doesn’t mean your quiet time has to be rigid and monotonous. After all, this is a relationship you have with your Heavenly Father. So treat it like one.

Let’s say the time you’ve chosen is in the morning when you first wake up. The place is in a comfy chair in your room. And the plan is to read a Psalm each day, journal about what you learned, and then close with prayer time.

Some days, depending on what’s going on in your life and how you feel like the Lord is leading you, you might spend the majority of your quiet time reading your Bible and taking notes. Other days, you might spend more time in prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit. And then some days, you might spend a good bit of time listening to worship music and journaling. Structure is important, yes. But so is being open-handed and sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His leading during your time with Him.

This doesn’t have to be this rigid process. It can still feel like a relationship. There can still be some fluidity. But having a time, a place, and a plan makes it easier for you to keep your priorities in line and make sure your time with Jesus is full of purpose, growth, and intimacy.  

If you don’t already have a time, a place, and a plan, my prayer is that you’ll begin to think through each of those aspects of your quiet time and figure out what your time, place, and plan can be. And as you do, I hope that your relationship with the Lord continues to grow and mature so that you experience all of the amazing things that come with being close to Jesus.