Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. (2Chron. 26:1, 5).
Quite time can be succinctly defined as a specific time that the individual believer devotes to
communing with God through prayer and meditation on the word of God. It has been an old practice among the children of God from time immemorial to observe this quiet time in order to achieve steady and sustained spiritual growth and development. Just like the athlete would normally maintain steady physical exercise and practice to keep physically fit, so also the believer, who is, figuratively, described as an athlete in 1 Cor.9:24, has to maintain spiritual exercise of reading the word of God and praying constantly, that is quite time, in order to keep fit spiritually.
Meanwhile, immediately a man or woman becomes born again, there will be an automatic crave and urge in him or her to be in constant communion with God. Just like a newly married wife would want to always be with the newly wedded husband, so would the newly converted Christian would develop an insatiable desire and craving to always commune and communicate with the Lord who has redeemed him or her. This communion is what we mean by quite time. A time of quietness of prayer and meditation on the Holy Scriptures.
That is what I want us to discuss in this piece. We see three points:
1. SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLE OF REGULAR QUIET TIME: …men ought always to pray, and not to faint ;( Luke 18:1).
Regular quiet time has been instituted for true children of God who want to retain their spiritual experiences, sustain their spiritual steam and strength and also maintain their Christian conviction. There is no way any man or woman who does not take regular quiet time seriously that can experience sustained, sustainable spiritual growth. The Lord Jesus Christ himself has laid the principle of regular quiet time in the Holy Scripture. And, this principle pre dates that statement of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is due to the fact that in Genesis the Bible mentioned that Adam and Eve, at some point at the Garden of Eden, were communing with God before their fall.
2. SAINTS’ PRACTICE OF RICH QUIET TIME: The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. (Isa. 50:4; Psalm 5:3; 55:16).
If one wants to discover the secret of the success of people like David, Isaiah, etc., let him or her study their prayer lives. There secret lay on their regular quiet time habit. They were men and women who took regular quiet time very seriously. They never any time disengaged their communication line with the LORD. They have this unflagging and unrelenting commitment to secret prayers. Always seeking the face of God in all things and at all times. They practiced rich and rewarding quiet time.
3. SPIRITUAL PROGRESS THROUGH REVIVING QUIET TIME: Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. (Isa.40:28-31; 2Chron. 26:1, 5).
The reward of regular quiet time is, by no means, quantifiable. Nothing brings renewal of spiritual strength and revival of the human spirit as regular, rich and reviving quiet time. Ask the Prophet of power and fire Elijah in 1Kings 19:1-8, and he will tell you that. Accost David after Amalek invaded Ziklag and abducted his family members in 1Sam. 30:1-8, and he will attest to that fact that regular quiet time is still the panacea to distress and disorientation. Then meet Isaiah, the Prophet of woe in Isaiah 40 and inquire from him the secret of his unflagging zeal and zest in his evangelistic enterprise and he will point to this all-important and multi-purpose weapon of regular, rich and reviving quiet time. Have you heard of Uzziah’s intimidating exploits in technology and warfare? And, are you interested in knowing his secret? Well, it was his commitment to this activity of regular, rewarding quiet time.
When our Lord Jesus Christ came to the world, being divine, one would have thought, he would not take regular quiet time seriously. No Sir. In Mark 1:35, the Bible tells us that in the morning, he will rise up a great while before day, and go into a solitary(quiet) place to pray. Now, what fact are we establishing, it is that of the indispensability and imperatives of regular quiet time for the children of God if they are going to succeed in their walk with God.
In conclusion, friend, I want us to bring this topic home. How is it with you? Are you a child of God, to begin with? If you are, how is your quiet time? Is regular or irregular? Is it rich, reviving and rewarding?
Does it bring you back to your feet, spiritually?
Or is it just for formality?
Then, for you that have not known Christ, there is no way you cannot enjoy the privilege of communing with God when you are still rebelling against his word and will. That is why it is an absolute imperative that you give your life to Christ through sincere repentance and sustainable righteousness. May the good Lord help you in Jesus name.
Chidebere Dennis Owah
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