How to Have an Effective Quiet Time

If you clicked on this post, it probably means that you have a heart for the Word of God and know how transforming it can be.  You probably desire the space in your day to get still and let God’s words become flesh in  your skin.  You know that God’s spirit living inside you has power, and you want it to be effective in bringing glory to Him.

But SO MANY of us struggle to get into the Bible on our own. I’ve done many Bible studies, lots of which were fabulous at the time, but afterwards, left me feeling inadequate to delve into Scripture on my own.  If you identify with what I’ve just said, than you don’t need another Bible study. You need to learn HOW TO HAVE AN EFFECTIVE QUIET TIME.

I’m going to let Lara Williams who writes To Overflowing tell you the rest. (Two short tidbits about her before I let her talk. 1. I met her last year at Relevant and she is really precious.  2. She is one of an elite group of about 8 bloggers to whom I actually subscribe, which is saying something because I’m super snobbish about who is invited to my inbox.)

Really looking at what’s going on in the world at large can make me…uncomfortable. It’s much easier to just sit in my cozy house with my iTechnology while eating all my favorite foods that I picked up at the choice-satiated grocery store rather than really looking at the world.

But I’m glad that’s not what Jesus did.

I’m so thankful our God didn’t leave us in our selfish mess, but rather bent down and clothed Himself with humanity to make a way for us to truly live. It’s radical grace.

But if I’m not purposeful, I can get comfortable in plentiful. I can forget what it’s like to be separated from God — in the dark.

So today I’m going to remind us. Well, not just remind us and leave us in a pit of guilt, I have something we can tangibly *do* in an effort to help bring light and life to those who have never read of their Maker.

Katie Orr and I wrote a little book called Savoring Living Water: How to Have an Effective Quiet Time. In the process of writing that book, God reminded us of the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who do not have a single verse of Scripture in their language. The realization floored us. So we asked Him what we could do to help. And He led us to OneVerse.

To make a long story short, He led us to give $2 from the sale of every copy of Savoring Living Water to OneVerse, specifically for the translation of the Bible in the Vidunda language. Every $26 funded another verse for the Vidunda people.

We’re excited to report that we are SO close to reaching our original goal of funding 104 verses. In fact since the launch of the book last Fall we’ve raised almost $2300 towards the Vidunda project — that’s over 88 verses!

With the goal being within arm’s reach, we want to have a final push TODAY. So for today only, $5 from the sale of every e-copy will go directly to this Vidunda project. That means if we can sell 82 e-copies of the book today, we will reach our goal!

You or I may not be able to leave our homes or families to go study languages and translate the Bible for a people that’s never read the name “Jesus.” But we can buy a book. And we can pray that God would bring His Word to the nations.

(If you’ve already purchased a book but would like to donate more towards our goal, visit our OneVerse giving page to find out how.)

Okay back to Katrina.  I love OneVerse and what Katie and Lara are doing SO MUCH that I’ve decided that TODAY, October 4th, I will personally buy this e-book for the first 10 of you who tell me that you will really read it in the comments below.   (Hooray, I gave away 10 copies in less than 4 hours, BUT you can still buy one on Kindle, Nook, or PDF for only $5.49.  I know! Crazy Cheap!! What I HOPE to hear is that you are also going to buy a copy to encourage a friend because GIVING GOD’S WORD is awesome.  If you buy it, tell me in the comments.  C’mon folks. Let’s do this thing!