Many Christians know they should spend time with God every day. Far fewer have ever been shown how. Churches talk about prayer and Bible reading, but often the practice stays hidden behind a veil, and people end up depending on Sunday morning for all of their spiritual growth.
It does not have to be complicated. Here is a simple daily rhythm that takes 27 minutes: 15 minutes reading the Bible, 7 minutes praying and 5 minutes worshiping.
Why Daily Time with God Matters
Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). The Scriptures and the power of God, the Bible and the Holy Spirit, are not rivals to be balanced against each other. They work in concert.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would “bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). One of the main ways the Spirit guides believers is by bringing Scripture to mind. But the Bible never says He will download Scripture into a person who has never read it. The less Bible you take in, the less the Spirit has to draw on. The more you take in, the more He can use to speak into your life.
Daily time with God builds that library.
1. Read the Bible for 15 Minutes
It takes roughly 12 minutes a day to read the whole Bible in a year. Fifteen minutes gives you a little room.
You do not need to understand the Bible to read it. This misconception keeps more people out of Scripture than any other. No science teacher tells students to keep the textbook closed until they can pass the test. You read the Bible in order to understand it.
Expect good days and bad days. Not every reading will be a spectacular spiritual experience. Some days you will want to quit early. Some days will be ordinary. And some days a passage will open up in a way you never expected. Keep going. The Bible is a big book, and you eat an elephant one bite at a time.
Plan on three passes. Most people need to read the whole Bible about three times before it really starts to make sense. Moses is a fitting picture. He received the Ten Commandments three times: once spoken to the whole nation, once on tablets he later broke, and a third time on tablets he cut himself, and only after that third time did he come down with his face shining (Exodus 34:29-35).
A simple approach to those three passes works like a puzzle:
- First, read cover to cover. Lay out all the pieces and learn where things are.
- Second, read in chronological order. The Bible is not arranged in the order events happened. A chronological plan puts the edges of the puzzle together.
- Third, read it any way you like. The middle of the puzzle starts filling in.
A physical Bible helps many readers. If reading is hard for you or mornings are rough, add an audio Bible and read along. Free audio Bibles are available in apps like YouVersion.
2. Pray for 7 Minutes
Seven minutes may not sound like much, but it adds up to more than 42 hours of prayer a year. A short prayer list helps.
Thank God for one thing. Not a long list you do not mean. One thing you genuinely care about.
Ask God for three to five specific things. Keep them measurable and close to home: your children, your marriage, your work, your neighborhood. Pray in a way that God could let you down. Vague prayers let us say God answered no matter what happens. Specific prayers give God the opportunity to show His power, and when He answers, He receives the glory.
If seven minutes feels long, you are not alone. Two practices can help prayer grow:
- Pray the Scripture. Open to the Psalms and turn what you read into prayer. “My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king” (Psalm 45:1) can become thanksgiving that you can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16) because of what Jesus has done.
- Pray in the Spirit. Many believers, especially in Pentecostal churches, find that praying in tongues helps them partner with the Holy Spirit in prayer.
3. Worship for 5 Minutes
Most worship songs are about five minutes long, so end your time with one.
Ending with worship helps you finish strong. Early on, your reading may not make sense yet and your prayers may run short. Worship lets you close by lifting your eyes to Jesus, wherever you are. When you end well, you look forward to coming back the next day.
Choose songs that magnify Jesus rather than songs mostly about you. Worship is about making much of Him.
Power Built in the Secret Place
In Mark 9, Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration and finds His disciples unable to free a boy from an evil spirit. Jesus simply commands the spirit to leave, and it does. Later the disciples ask why they could not cast it out. Jesus answers, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29).
Notice that Jesus did not stop to pray in that moment. He spoke, and the spirit left. His answer points to something deeper: there is power that flows from a history of time with the Father. Jesus taught His followers to pray in secret (Matthew 6:6), and what is built in private shows up in public when it is needed.
Twenty-seven minutes a day adds up to more than 160 hours a year with the Lord. Bible reading, prayer and worship are not three separate chores. Together they make up one whole: time in the secret place with God.
Keep It Simple
Hearing from God is often far less dramatic than people expect. It usually happens in natural, ordinary ways: a verse that comes to mind, a quiet sense of direction, a prayer answered specifically. Like Mary, who “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19), you will find that God speaks to people who make room for Him day after day.
Jesus makes life better for anyone. Twenty-seven minutes a day is a simple place to start.