Model Quiet Times For Your Kids

I began meeting one-on-one with one of my school's most committed Christians. He's been in Young Life for 4 years and is a Wyld Life Leader, too.

We started meeting before school every Thursday morning to do some mentoring/discipleship. About the third week into our meetings, we talked about quiet times. Turns out, he has a really difficult time knowing what to do when he sits down to spend some time with God. It actually has made him not make them a priority, because (these are my words) it almost seems like a waste of time to him.

That got me thinking about our other kids. How are we leading our Campaigner kids in the most basic Christian discipline, spending some alone time with God? They don't know how to pray, they don't know what to read, and I realized I haven't done a good job of leading them.

I decided to model quiet times for him, so that's what we did for the next few weeks. We sat at Denny's and had quiet times together. I also told him what I had done in my quiet time that morning, what I had read and what I had prayed about.

I think it's also important to give them some sort of structure for their quiet time. Let them know God is not interested in the structure, but that it gives them a starting place from which to build their own quiet time routine.

Think about how uncomfortable it is to just sit next to someone with nothing to say, especially if you just met that person. It's the same with our relationship with Christ. We need to have something to do together, at least at the beginning. There is of course something to be said of those who reach a point in a relationship where just being together is bliss, but for those in a new relationship, we need to teach them some structure.

Here's what I taught my friend.

1. Pray that God would teach you something while you read the Bible.
2. Pick a book of the Bible you will read consistently. I talked to my friend about books that appeal more to the heart and books that appeal more to the head. For instance, I love Proverbs, because I like thinking about wisdom and how to live. My friend is more sensitive and prefers to read Psalms. It would be a good idea to lead new Christians to one of the gospels, but don't shy away from the chance to explain different books of the Bible.
3. Read a chapter.
4. Ask. What is God trying to teach? Why did He put this passage in the Bible? How should this affect my relationship with God? How should it affect the way I live?
5. Pray the scripture back to God.
6. Spend time praying for others.
7. Pray for yourself.

Incidently, I know a lot of leaders don't have consistent quiet time, either. So let me encourage you to do that. It's impossible to lead our kids in their relationship if we are not spending time getting to know Christ better ourselves.

Resources...

Gocampus.org - Quiet Times
All About God - Quiet Times - An Appointment
Myquiettimes.com - Ideas for Your Devotional Times
Time With Jesus - A little corny (and centered), but an example of someone who really values their time with Christ.

My Utmost for His Highest: Orange Cover (My Utmost for His Highest)