by Kaye Johns

In the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus prepared to give His followers a pattern for their daily prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, He first taught them the importance of having a "quiet time." He didn’t call it that, but He described it clearly:

"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen." [Matt. 6:6]

Jesus didn’t mean this literally. He didn’t always go into a room and close the door to pray, but He did find a private place to get alone with the Father [Mark 1:35, 6:46; Luke 4:42, 5:16]. It was the pattern of His prayer life, and it is His instruction to us. We must find time to give God our undivided time and attention every day, if we want to build a personal relationship with the Lord.

Jesus didn’t say when we should have such a quiet time, but throughout Scripture we have examples of Jesus and others praying in the early morning hours. For many today, the early morning hours are still best, because we’re less likely to be interrupted.

That isn’t always easy, but we can count on the Lord to help us. At a recent prayer conference one of the men shared: "I had planned to get up 20 minutes earlier than usual to begin my quiet time, but I overslept. I decided to spend 20 minutes with the Lord anyway, and the amazing thing is--I still got everything done that I usually do." The Lord has a way of redeeming the time!