How To Have A Faith-Filled Night Routine

When I started my walk with God almost two years ago now, I did not know the importance of having a solid night routine with Him. I in fact, didn’t have much of a routine at all. I would wake up, go through my day and catch myself after all the stress thinking “Oh crap! I forgot to talk to God today.” I keep wondering why my days were full of mess and I kept falling into bad habits I had been asking God to help me fix. My lack of communication with God meant I was operating in lack of faith. Life gets busy and we tend to get lost in the mess of it all. Whether it’s work, school, kids, or stress it’s important to remember that God wants to hear from us and without seeking the Lord we can not expect to grow or get closer to Him.

Time with God can be spent at any time of the day and if the mornings work best for you that is okay too. Spending time in prayer, thanking God, reading the Word, listening to a podcast, or reading a devotional can be done before the sun comes up, during lunch break, between classes, when the kids are down for a nap, and every thing in between. I personally find I am able to relax and connect with God better at the end of my night and I hope I can help you build a solid night routine with God as well.

Before we start, I want to provide some background on our “why.” If you are reading this, chances are you are wanting to build a routine with God, so it’s important to understand why it’s important!

What Is “Quiet Time”:

Quiet time with God is how we draw close to Him. This is done by finding a comfortable, secluded and quiet place to connect with Him. Quiet time should be a space where there is limited interruption, such as our cell phones, tv, interactions with others, loud noises outside etc. This is where we are able to speak with God, read the Word and really soak in wisdom.

Why Is Quiet Time So Important?:

Taking the time out of your day to speak with God and indulge in the Word is vital to growing

In your faith. God simply wants to hear from you, even if it’s for 5 minutes. It’s easy to get lost in the stresses of life but God created you and wants to have a relationship with you. If we can get lost scrolling on social media or talk on the phone with a friend for hours, why do we make the excuse we dont have time for God? We can't expect to spend eternity with Him if we don't make time for him on earth.

Having quiet time helps you stay focused and seek His help. When we are rushing through our days, we often miss what God is trying to tell/teach us. When we rush through prayer, we become ungrateful. When we rush through reading the Word, we aren’t able to soak in the message, leaving us empty.

It’s important to note that even Jesus had quiet time.

"Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Matthew 26:36

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Mark 1:35

How Reading The Word Helps Us:

Now that we understand the importance of having quiet time, how does reading the Word help us? Studying, meditating, and soaking in scripture helps us better understand who God is, our Creator. Scripture is full of wisdom, morals and values we should strive to live out in our lives. Any question we have can be answered through scripture. Every emotion we have, every experience we have gone through can be found in the Word. God does not change. It's easy to believe a 30-second clip on the internet, or to take advice from anyone who claims to be a pastor. A lot of modern day believers have not even read for themselves what scripture says, but rather lead with the first google post. This leads to a lot of misinformation out there and the many translations out there do not help either. If you are wanting to know what scripture says, It is best to read it for yourself! It's okay to watch youtube videos, listen to podcasts or read books, I do those things too. We must use discernment when it comes to what we hear out there.

Preparing For A Night Routine With God:

1.Start Now

When I started implementing a night routine with God, I felt like I had to be perfect and have a bunch of items but that’s not true at all. You don’t need to have fancy highlighters, a journal, books or anything else, just you. You can start by simply praying. If you don’t have a physical copy of the Bible, you can download the Bible app for free!

2. Pray & Ask God for Help

Before starting your routine with God, ask Him for help. Ask Him to help you stay committed to this new routine. Ask Him to help you understand what you are reading. Don’t be afraid to talk to Him, He is there to help you!

3. Where, When & How?

It’s important to figure out where you will be spending your time in the quiet place and how this can be possible when things like children, spouses, making dinner, chores etc come into play.

The best time for me is after I have eaten, and closed down the house. I like to start when I am settling in bed for the night, but not when I'm too tired right before actual bed, as this won’t allow for me to soak in anything.

Set a timer if needed to help you remember. Communicate with your spouse that you will be dedicating this time so they know to limit distraction, or help with the kids! Don't forget to silence your phone or even turn it off.

4. Set Up For Success:

When it comes to the end of the day, it’s easy to feel burnt out and exhausted. All we want to do is lay down, scroll on our phones and get to the next day. At night, I tend to be lazier than ever, especially once I actually get into bed.

I like to keep my supplies already set out on my nightstand that way I have no excuse. I have my Bible, sticky notes, a highlighter and pen. This ensures I won’t make any excuses and every thing is already prepared for me.

Steps For A Night Routine With God:

1.Start With Self-Care:

At the end of the day it can be hard to do the simple tasks. I find that taking a nice hot shower really helps me relax and start clearing my mind in preparation for my time with God.

Other forms of self care:

• Brushing your teeth

• Skin care routine

• Eat a healthy snack

2. Find Ways to Relax:

Now that you have done some self-care, find a way to wind down. Being relaxed helps release any stress so we can be ready to clearly hear from Him.

Ways to relax:

• Aromatherapy

• Journaling

• Listening to worship music

• Drinking tea

• Breathing exercises

3. Start With Prayer:

Before I indulge in the Word, I like to speak to God. I always make sure to thank Him first! I then am able to ask Him for help in any areas I am lacking. I am able to surrender the day and connect with Him. Sometimes I find that simply praying for others and taking the focus off me is important. I try to keep my prayers in gratitude rather than asking Him for a bunch of things. I then like to shift my focus to asking Him to help me understand the Word, this way I’m not just reading to read.

4. Leave Distraction

Now that I have prayed and asked God to help me understand the Word, I make sure to silence my phone or set it aside. I have found myself at times seeing a notification pop up on my screen beside me and completely interrupt my reading to respond to a text. We would never do this with a friend, so why would we do it to God?

5. Read & Soak In:

Reading the Word is intimidating as there is so much to learn. Don’t feel like you have to know it all the first time. If you read a passage and don’t understand, it’s okay to read it again, or come back to it the next day.

If you are struggling to understand on your own I always recommend Bibleref.com or 2belikechrist.com as you are able to get a summary chapter by chapter.

Don’t feel like you need to read multiple chapters in one night. Know your limits. I have started reading chronologically and will read one chapter a night. If a chapter is really short I’ll read two. I find though that reading one chapter, writing down the summary, and thinking about what it means is enough. This ensures I’m not mushing every thing together and forgetting it by the next day.

I hope this has encouraged you to start a night routine with God. Remember, the best time to start is now. God wants to hear from you.

If you would like to send a prayer or request a prayer: wonderfullymadefaith@gmail.com