Is there a right or wrong way to spend time with God?

There can be a lot of pressure to make your devotional time “perfect”. With so many resources and Christian leaders providing instruction, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. How much time should you spend? During what time of day? How do you know what to read and where to start?

The bible is clear on two things:

1. We should seek God daily.

2. That we should have private time with Him, especially for prayer.

Everything else is pretty much up to us. If you’re new in your faith and you don’t know where to start or looking to get more out of your devotional time you should consider these five things:

1) Structure vs. Flexibility

It’s good (and important) to have a structure to your devotional time. Spending time should incorporate (at minimum) the Spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, and reading/studying the Bible. Without a plan you’ll rely on your feelings and that’s not wise. Personally, as much as I love scripture, I don’t always feel like reading the bible. Some days I rather just worship and sing or watch Netflix (just being honest). However, reading God’s word is of the upmost importance. It’s a non-negotiable if for growing in my faith and developing intimacy with God.

Although, you shouldn’t let your feelings lead you, you should allow the Holy Spirit to. There will be times when God wants to change up your routine. He may tell you to read something that’s not a part of your bible reading plan or pray for someone that you haven’t thought about in months. In those instances, follow God instead of your plan. If He’s leading you to do something different it’s for a reason. Trust Him.

2. Which Bible Translation Should You Use?

There are a lot of debates about which translation is the best one, but in my personal opinion the best translation is the one you can understand and hear God through. Try a different bible translation or read multiple when you study. Different translations can give you different insights. As your understanding grows you’ll find that what challenged you in one season may not challenge you in next.

There are some key differences between Bible versions with you can learn about here.

3. Resources vs. The Holy Spirit

By God’s grace, we have access to many resources - devotionals, concordances, google, etc…. It’s okay to use these resources (and I recommend doing so). However, I encourage you not to rely on them more than you do the Holy Spirit. I’ve found myself confused by scripture and googling questions I had BEFORE asking the Holy Spirit for clarity.

The Holy Spirit is our ultimate teacher. He will help you understand all scripture, if you ask. Talking to Him and listening for His response is one way to build intimacy with God and sharpen the ability to hear His voice. Moreover, the Holy Spirit can give you revelation that is personal to your situation because He knows exactly what’s going on in your mind and life at that moment. Google is good, but it can’t do that! Lastly, the Holy Spirit can give you a fresh revelation of scripture that you may not find anywhere else. God’s wisdom is infinite and it’s not reserved for those who work in ministry. It’s freely available to all who seek Him.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 14:26

4. Consider Your Learning Style

I started following Christ when I was 20 years old and had no biblical knowledge. As a new believer, watching Biblical movies helped the scriptures come alive to me, and made me more interested in reading the bible.

Many of us have access to God’s Word in multiple mediums - physical and audio Bibles, Biblical movies, devotionals, podcasts, study guides and more. Consider how you learn best and apply it to the way you study scripture. If you retain information better by taking notes, journal notes while you read the Bible. If you’re an audio or visual learner, listen to the an audio bible and then read the verses afterward. What matters is that you’re in the Word, whatever that looks like.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

5. Time of Day Isn’t as Important as Daily Time

As Christians, we should be communing with God every day. The bible doesn’t say that there is a right time to spend time with God. It does say that we should meditate of the scriptures day and night. That means your one-on-one time doesn’t have to happen first thing in the morning or at night. What works for someone else may not work for you and that’s okay. Your devotional time doesn’t even have to be at the same time every day. It’s preferable but there may be a couple days a week where you have to adjust, and that’s okay.

There will be seasons of life when you can spend can two hours with Him and seasons where you have to break up your time with Him by spending 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the afternoon, and 15 minutes at night. What matters is that you set aside time. God can work through any amount of time as long as he has our full attention and our whole heart.

I will say that starting your day focusing on God before anything else is a game changer. Again, this doesn’t mean you have to have your full devotion time right then. Listening to worship music while you get ready for work, read a bible verse before you turn on the TV, or pray for a few minutes before you talk to your spouse. It will really change the course of your day.

Start somewhere

If you don’t know where to start then I would say pick the time of day when you can spend the most time with God uninterrupted (30 to 60 minutes is a good start) and you are at your best. That may be early in the morning before your kids wake up, on your lunch break while you sit in your car, or before you go to bed.

Play some worship music, pick a devotional to read or a topic to study in the Bible. Pray and talk about what you’ve learned to the Holy Spirit and then also talk about what’s on your heart. Journal, write down what you learned and what God spoke to you.