![]() ![]() Robert Murray M'Cheyne also designed a system for reading through the Bible in one year. Such schedules take people systematically through the entire Bible, reading approximately four chapters per day (in the case of the Bible Companion), which allows the reader to keep context in their studies through the different books of the Bible, and ensures different areas are not neglected. ![]() ![]() Christadelphians) have Bible reading schedules, like the one suggested in the Bible Companion, for example, as one tool to help them with their study of the Bible. ![]() Many Christian stores dedicate an entire section to these types of books, but in some countries they are available at secular stores as well, often shelved in the "inspirational" section. A notable example is My Utmost for His Highest, written by Oswald Chambers. These books contain directed Bible studies, often incorporating stories or anecdotes that convey Biblical principles, similar to the parables used by Jesus in his ministry. Many devotional books, or "devotionals", are available in shops today. Rick Warren argues that there is a difference between reading the Bible during quiet time and Bible study. Keith Newman suggests that as well as including conscious study and expressive prayer, a quiet time is a time of open-minded listening and waiting for guidance. They suggest that it is a "time of complete focus on God" that "continues throughout a person’s entire life." Jerry and Becky Evans argue that the quiet time is a time of encouragement, strengthening, and insight to the Christian, and "spiritual food" for a person's soul. From Morning Watch to Quiet Time: The Historical and Theological Development of Private Prayer in Anglo-Protestant Devotionalism, 1870–1950. Adopted by Billy Graham in the 1950s, the quiet time became the most popularized evangelical Protestant devotional practice from the middle of the twentieth century to the present. Popularized by InterVarsity among evangelical university students, other neo-evangelical campus ministries also adopted the practice, including The Navigators and Campus Crusade for Christ. But the real rise of the quiet time began with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's 1945 publication of the booklet Quiet Time. The quiet time was therefore quieter, hence the name.įirst developed in Christian and Missionary Alliance circles, the quiet time (also called the quiet hour) was promoted by modernist Protestants like Harry Fosdick, as well as by the Oxford Group and Samuel Shoemaker, an instrumental figure in the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. 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, in contrast, brought Bible study and meditation into the practice and placed the emphasis on listening to God. The concept of the morning watch had viewed prayer primarily as petitionary prayer or prayer requests. 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 first mention of the term "quiet time" was in the late nineteenth century. Leslie Hardin suggests that this was Jesus' Quiet Time: spending time in prayer and fellowship with God. 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). He also mentioned that many Christians accompany these three elements with journaling. Billy Graham suggested that quiet time consists of three main elements: prayer, Bible reading, and meditation. Practices vary according to denominational tradition: Anglican devotions, for example, will occasionally include the use of prayer beads, while Catholics use the term mental prayer and the practice was discussed in the works of John Cassian in the 5th century. Rick Warren points out that it has also been called "morning watch" and "appointment with God". It is also called "personal Bible study" or "personal devotions". The term "quiet time" or "sacred time" is used by 20th-century Protestants, mostly evangelical Christians. Quiet time, also stated as heart-to-heart time, or one-on-one time with the creator, is a regular individual session of Christian spiritual activities, such as prayer, private meditation, contemplation, worship of God or study of the Bible. ![]()
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