Do You Have a Private Time with the Lord?

How can we expect to live the Christian life if we don’t spend some private time with the Lord each day?

In fact, when the Lord Jesus was living on this earth, he set forth the pattern of making private time to fellowship with His Father.

In Matthew 14:23 it says,

“And after He sent the crowds away, He went up to the mountain privately to pray. And when night fell, He was there alone.”

Make a private time with the Lord each day

“Send the crowds away”

I especially like the phrase in verse 23, “He sent the crowds away.” In our digital age, the “crowds” come to us 24/7.  Our feed of texts, social media and notifications bombard us incessantly. So it is hard to give the Lord our undivided attention.  We can’t have quality time with the Lord and multi-task. So what I practice is to put my cell on airplane mode before trying to have a private time.

“Up to the mountain privately”

Then “He [Jesus] went up the mountain privately to pray.” Do you have your “mountain,” your private place free from distractions? Often I feel the need to go out for a walk. Its good to find an atmosphere where you are not weighed down with care, where you can go “up to mountain” in your spirit to pray (Rev. 21:10a).

“Shut your door”

The Lord told us to pray privately in Matthew 6:6. There He said,

“But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

So whether it is “up to the mountain privately” or “enter into your private room and shut your door” the principle is consistent.  It is impossible to live the Christian life without contacting our Lord as our source of divine supply.

“Rising up very early in the morning”

So possibly you’ve been touched with your need to spend private time with the Lord each day. But when do you do it? The Lord Jesus also set forth a pattern in Mark 1:35,

“And rising up very early in the morning, while it was still night, He went out and went away to a deserted place, and there He prayed.”

From experience I’ve discovered that the best time to have a private time with the Lord is first thing in the morning. In my situation, the six to seven o’clock hour is the best time.

For you it might be different. You have to consider what works for your schedule. But, I believe, in principle, we can make time for what is most important to us.

If having “a date” with our lovely Lord Jesus is our priority, we’ll find time for it. And we won’t give Him the last place. We’ll give Him the first place.

Regarding the point about “early rising” I strongly recommend Chapter 11 of Watchman Nee‘s book Messages for Building Up New Believers, volume 1. You can read it freely online at ministrybooks.org.

Four things to do in your morning private time

In his chapter on early rising Watchman Nee also mentions four things to do in your morning private time:

1. Fellowship with God – S.S. 7:12; Psa. 5:3
2. Praise and Sing – Psa. 59:16
3. Read the Bible – Psa. 119:147
4. Pray – Psa. 88:13

A concern for younger believers

I believe that experienced believers who have been in the Lord for many years realize the importance of having a daily private time. However, many younger believers may not yet have discovered the crucial practice of spending a daily time with the Lord especially in the morning.

This is one of the basic lessons of our Christian life. A private time with the Lord is a spiritual life practice that will reap tremendous benefits throughout the course of our Christian life. So we should not wait.

A private time – make the decision to build up the habit

I hope that this post would foster your seeking to have a daily private time with the Lord and bring you to a point of decision.

First consider, how much time you would like to spend with the Lord each day. If you have never had such a time, don’t make your goal too high.  Even ten minutes is a good start. If your capacity is greater, thirty minutes is even better. But start with what you can sustain.

For example, if you decide to have ten minutes of private time with the Lord at the beginning of each day, you’ll need to plan for it. Plan to go to bed ten minutes earlier. Then set your alarm to get up ten minutes earlier as well.

Decide where you will have your private time. Get your Bible ready as well.

We’ll plan to develop on a time with the Lord further in coming posts.  Please leave a confirming comment or ask a question. It might even help us to know what to include in later posts.  

References and Further Reading

• You may also enjoy reading my posts on how to build up A Time with the Lord and  12 Tips on How to Pray-read the Word to be Spiritually Nourished.
• Here is a hymn to strengthen the point of this post:  Take Time to Behold Him.