The term “quiet time” was coined in the late nineteenth century from the Christian and Missionary Alliance movement. By the 1940s, it replaced the Anglican concept of “the morning watch.” The morning watch focused on prayer requests while the new “quiet time” focused on Bible study and meditation.
InterVarsity’s 1945 booklet “Quiet Time” popularized the term among evangelical university students. The term went mainstream when Billy Graham started using it in the 1950s during his crusades.*
There are three main problems with the modern concept of a “quiet time” that I wish to address in this article. Let’s take them up one at a time (and please don’t skim lest you miss the nuance).
1) Quiet time has been the source of guilt in evangelical circles for decades.
Here’s how it works. Your pastor tells you that God wants you to have a daily “quiet time” — which essentially means praying and reading your Bible.
You’re inspired by his words, so you begin with zeal. After a week or two, you miss a day. Then another day. Then the guilt trip begins.
Here’s the narrative that replays in your head:
“God is upset with me. If I really loved Him, I wouldn’t miss my quiet time. Jesus died for my sins, and I can’t even spend 10 minutes with Him each morning? I’m a sad excuse for a Christian. In fact, God has just finished carving out a new 2 x 4 by which to beat me silly. And I deserve it.”
The guilt you feel over missing your quiet time is now an obstacle standing in the way between you and your Lord. And that obstacle leads to additional missed quiet times.
Months roll by and the pastor preaches another sermon on the importance of prayer and Bible reading. More guilt. But this time it motivates you.
So you try again. Things are great … for a week. Then you miss. And the guilt trip starts all over again.
After several months of living under three tons of “missed-quiet-time” condemnation, you are in need of a travel agent to handle all the guilt trips you’ve been on.
Years go by, and nothing changes with respect to your quiet time. It’s still hit and miss. You’ve just become accustomed to living under a pile of guilt, which ends up hurting your relationship to Jesus Christ — whether you realize it or not.
2) You leave Jesus Christ behind after your quiet time.
For those disciplined enough to have a daily quiet time without missing, something happens that you aren’t even aware of. You begin your day with the Lord, but you leave Him behind in your room when your quiet time is over.
In other words, you go about your day without ever considering Him again unless someone mentions Him or you turn on a Christian radio station (or worship CD) in your car.
So you get an A+ on keeping a consistent quiet time (yay!), but a D- on living in the Lord’s presence throughout the day.
Why? Because no one ever taught you how.
3) Your quiet time will eventually grow stale. Sooner than later.
I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again: Everything eventually wears out except for Jesus Christ. That includes every spiritual discipline that humans have ever imagined or experienced (be it reading your Bible, praying, singing, fasting, interceding, speaking in tongues, etc.).
You and I are in need of acquiring more tools in our spiritual toolbox so that whenever a spiritual practice runs dry, we can pick up another tool to take its place. In this way, everything stays fresh.
So what’s the solution to all this?
The antidote for number one — guilt — is simple. I’ve addressed it thoroughly in elsewhere, but the reason why you feel guilty about missing a quiet time is because you are unwittingly basing your worthiness before the Lord on your work instead of on His. And you’ve accepted a man-centered narrative that puts you at the center instead of God’s narrative.
If you get clear on the value of the blood of Christ and what makes you worthy in God’s eyes, and you’ll be forever freed from a guilty conscience when it comes to any religious or spiritual activity.
The fact is, God loves you exactly the same regardless of how often you pray or read your Bible. His love for you isn’t based on any of those activities.
Another important point to consider is this. Treating one’s failure to keep to a regular “quiet time” should never be treated like explicit sins described in the Bible (like lying, gossip, stealing, slander, etc). There’s no command saying, “Thou shalt have quiet time of reading your Bible and praying every day.”
The fact is, 90% of the first-century Christians couldn’t even read. And that’s been mostly true since around the 19th century. Even today, approximately 1 billion people are illiterate (about 16% of the total population). Shall we condemn them all?
As I explained in elsewhere, many evangelicals have merely updated Pharisaism with an ever-changing Mishnah of behavioral expectations that I’ve dubbed “The Christian Expectation” — and the famed “quiet time” is a part of it. Thankfully, Jesus Christ destroyed the entire code and gave us something higher.
Nuance alert.
Unfortunately, some people have taken the above insight and washed their hands of the whole practice of spending time with the Lord in the name of “grace” and “freedom.” But this only reveals that their motivation for spending time with Him wasn’t love. It was guilt. Thus once the guilt is removed, they have no desire to know the Lord better.
Quick personal note: I spend time with the Lord virtually every morning. It looks nothing like the typical “quiet time,” however. And if I miss a day, I don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. In addition, I’ve discovered various ways of living in God’s presence throughout the day. And I’m not spiritually inclined nor disciplined by nature (which means there’s hope for all of you who are like me).
For problems two and three, I’ve just finished writing an essay called “Aware of His Presence” which will be a supplement to my upcoming book on the kingdom of God. Once the book comes out, you will have full access to the article, which is profoundly practical.
This blog post is long enough, so I will end with this point.
Living in the conscious presence of Jesus Christ is an essential aspect of living in God’s kingdom.
* Source: Morning Watch to Quiet Time: The Historical and Theological Development of Private Prayer in Anglo-Protestant Devotionalism, 1870-1950 by Gregory Johnson.
When People Dismiss (or Diss) You
After reading this article it makes me want to spend more time with the Lord for the right reasons. Very refreshing and insightful.
I was so surprised to hear you mention the Christian and Missionary Alliance!. My husband and I were raised in the Alliance and his father was an Alliance Pastor. We are well aware of the “doctrine of guilt” laid upon us concerning “quiet time.” When my husband first pastored in the Alliance, in my effort to become the best pastor’s wife ever, I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. Eventually I recognized I was maintaining “quiet time” as something to check off my daily to do list just in case my father-in-law asked. When I realized that, I decided not to ever do “quiet time” again, but do what I presume the first century Christians did, think on the Lord. I would recall any of the impacting verses that I had already “hid in my heart.” And think about His goodness and love. That was many years ago. And now I share my inner healing journey with others.
THANK. YOU. SO. MUCH for writing this… I am a missionary kid. If you have known any, enough said. Suffice it to say, I have been a Christian as long as I can remember, and I have also been beat over the head/beaten myself up for not having “quiet time” every day. Jesus is freeing me more and more, but I think I needed to see this topic specifically addressed. Thank you for spreading truth that frees people. Our quiet times aren’t enough. Jesus is.
I love this! Much needed. Wondering how you got the 26% statistic of illiteracy? 1 billion is much less than 26% of total population. Not counting youth? Don’t mean to be picky but I’d like to share this article and things like that bother me 🙂
Thx. That was a typo which has been fixed. It’s 16% of the population (the “2” should have been a “1”). The stats are readily available online. Here’s one that says 84% of the population can read = 775 million adults and 152 children (approx. 1 billion = 16% of the population) are illiterate: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/global-rate-of-adult-literacy-84-per-cent-but-775-million-people-still-cant-read/article4528932/
Follow-up to my earlier post. The other comment made by my brother is that Jesus set the example for quiet time with the Lord in his early rising to a quiet place for prayer.
Ah! But that’s a perfect case of reading a modern-concept that started in the 1940s into what Jesus did in the first century.
I am convinced that what He did was way beyond what most evangelicals have ever been taught or know when it comes to “prayer.” And unfortunately, what many of them even care to know.
Most never question their suppositions as to what the New Testament even means by the word “prayer.”
Recently a brother suggested that if I did not have a “set time with the Lord,” my spiritual life is lacking. He compared it to not having a date night with my wife. He said anything less is like just getting around to it when I get to it. My day is filled with prayer, reflection and writing about what I learn. I know he means well, but so much was lost and undiscovered in this conversation due to an insistence on having a set time with the Lord.
As I pointed out at the end of the article, I believe there’s tremendous value in beginning your morning with the Lord. But as I also pointed out, there’s something higher and beyond traditional “quiet time.” And it’s unrelated to guilt.
This is so liberating to read and a wonderful gift to share, thank you Frank.
I want to thank you so much for writing this article. This has tremendously helped me. May God continue to pour more and more of his wisdom into you to help the brothers and sisters in Christ.
God bless you
Shirley
I purposefully chose time with the Lord the other day.
Over something else.
And although a choir of Angelic host didn’t follow me, and serenade me all day, nor did my work pressures disappear,
I understood His pleasure, in my spirit.
I cannot explain that, in words.
I guess, it is tapping into spiritual instincts which are operating beyond the “flesh”
veil.
Outside this realm.
God said to Cain: Choose good.
(But Cain didn’t)
Abel obviously had to consciously choose good and go against a sinful nature.
Thankyou Frank.
Powerful insights.
Thank you, Frank, for this article. It really helps me to be more free. God bless you.
Thank you for this word, I can relate to so much of it. And the guilt is so subtle and it does drive a wedge in the relationship, poisons it really. And it seemed like when I was good (disciplined) it fed a subtle pride which was just as bad.
You raise an excellent point. There is a “pride” that comes with a perfect quiet time. I think of the Pharisee who prayed to God that he wasn’t like those poor miserable sinners. But the real results, as with every spiritual practice, is not merely in the doing of it. It’s what kind of person it makes you.
If having a perfect quiet time makes an individual proud, then it’s completely failed.
Better to learn how to live in God’s presence, both in the mornings and throughout the entire day. That is what transforms a person. Unfortunately, many (if not most) Christians are never taught how to do this.
Thank you this was refreshing, but i have a question ,I love your books but can t understand why you still call him jesus ,,im sure your know that this name jesus just appeared 500 years ago ,,,so what was was his name before that ,,,,im checking it out and its very interesting how we have been decived,,,,thanks again,,,and YAHWEH BLESS YOU
It’s because the NT authors called Him “Jesus” — the fuller answer is on my FAQ. https://www.frankviola.org/faq
I’m afraid you’ve been mistaught about this. Most every NT scholar agrees with what I wrote in the FAQ on this question.
Glad you found the article to be refreshing.
This is the best article I have read on this topic ever and I appreciate it so much! Thank you. It really resonated.
Thanks Frank for sharing this. That brough a smile on my face as I read it.
You are right about the guilt of a works based “quiet time”. I’ve experienced the same myself. One of the times I got hooked into this guilt and shame was when I took a class from [name removed] which he developed.
In the very first session, he wooed us into making a vow to spend at least 5 minutes reading the Bible every day. On my way home, the Lord corrected me and reminded me of the scriptures to not make any vows. The course lasted 4 days.
Every one of my classmates suffered guilt before they even finished the course. Inner vows, though well meaning are hooks. By repenting at the very beginning and refusing to take any more of the many vows he led us in, I was free from guilt and shame.
Thanks be to God who Himself has lead me into a wonderful relationship which has grown deeper and richer. He still teaches me today about my “formulas” for a great communication between us. The enemy subtly uses good intentions but by God’s grace we can be set free from this kind of bondage through the blood of Jesus.
Thank you! I totally agree. This is so true! Being conscious of His presence all day long is the REAL deal! And quiet time is something we desire to experience His love in His word and His revelations. Not something to bring us guilt and shame. I love your writings!!!
It’s takes time to recover from the guilt and get to a place where you desire HIm and know his presence with you always!!! It is so wonderful to be FREE!!!
Thank you, Frank, for being spot on (though you hate the phrase). I knew and believed everything you wrote, but put together in this format took it to a whole other level in my mind and soul.
On week 2 of the Indwelling Class, I was getting a sense of this, and these words locked it in.
Reminds me a lot of Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God.
Thanks, again!
Lawrence is a classic, but there’s nothing practical in it. He describes the “what” but not the “how.”
That’s where the real need lies. The upcoming article will address that aspect.
Can’t wait for that article. I want to know the how!!!!
That is unfortunatly what I see in most all of the “normal” Christian circles that surround me: much to do about the “what” but not very much to do with the “how”; how to live by the Life of Christ. We seem to be quite good at “ever learning” about the “what” but not so much when it comes to experiencing and passing on the truth of the “how”…