Quiet Time

Quiet Time is a term used to describe regular individual sessions of Christian spiritual activities, such as prayer, private meditation, worship of God or study of the Bible. The term "Quiet Time" is used by 20th-century Protestants, mostly evangelical Christians. It is also called "personal Bible study" or "personal devotions". Rick Warren points out that it has also been called "morning watch" and "appointment with God".

Practices vary according to denominational tradition: Anglican devotions, for example, will occasionally include the use of prayer beads, while Catholics may use a rosary. Billy Graham suggests that Quiet Times consists of three main elements: prayer, Bible reading, and meditation. He also mentions that many Christians accompany these three elements with journaling.

Proponents of the concept point out that Jesus often spent time alone in prayer: Luke 5:16 says that "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (NIV). Leslie Hardin suggests that this was Jesus' Quiet Time: spending time in prayer and fellowship with God.

The first mention of the quiet time (using that name) was in the late nineteenth century. By the 1940s, the quiet time had supplanted the Keswick concept of the morning watch as the most widely promoted pattern for private prayer among evangelical Protestants in England and North America. The concept of the morning watch had viewed prayer primarily as petitionary prayer or prayer requests. The quiet time, in contrast, brought Bible study and meditation into the practice and placed the emphasis on listening to God. There was still time for requests, but they now were accompanied by Bible reading, prayers of praise, confession of sin, prayers of thanksgiving and listening to God. The quiet time was therefore quieter; hence the name.

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