Planted: How to Cultivate a Habit of Being with God

In Psalm 1, we encounter an awe-inspiring picture of a fruit-bearing tree thriving beside streams of flowing water. The psalmist puts this image before us to describe what our lives can be like if we strategically plant ourselves by the flowing streams of God’s Word. Like the tree, when we place ourselves before the life-giving Word of God, we become thriving, fruit-bearing followers of Jesus Christ.  However, this thriving, fruit-bearing life does not come passively. Instead, it is produced in the one who makes the choice to meditate on God’s Word day and night.

For many of us, when we see the happy one’s devotion to meditate on God’s Word day and night, we think, “I don’t know, fam. That sounds like homie’s doing too much.” Some of us even cringe at the psalmist’s morning and evening routine, deeming it legalistic. “Aren’t I saved by faith, not by the work of daily spending time in God’s Word?” Yes. You are. Completely and totally. Reading your Bible will not gain you entrance into heaven. This prescription to spend daily time in God’s Word is less about earning something from God and more about being with God.

It’s about being, not doing. However, in order to be with God, we have to do something. Being with God doesn’t happen organically. It happens strategically. Our hearts, minds, and days are far too distracting. We are constantly swimming against the current of a “here-today-gone-tomorrow” desire for God’s Word. Sin within and without daily tempts us to uproot ourselves from the soil soaked with the nutrients of God’s Word and plant ourselves by the streams of self-sufficiency, culture, or comfort.

Beloved, with all these things working against us, we must be strategic. If we desire to cultivate a meaningful relationship with God centered around His Word, we must intentionally set aside to be with Him. This is true with any relationship. If we want to have meaningful relationships with others, we have to send a text. We have to make the phone call. We have to free up time in our schedule. We have to prioritize. We have to make a plan to be present and connect.

However, though we all agree that intentionality is a necessary ingredient for cultivating a meaningful relationship with others, this truth is often counterintuitive to how many of us think about our relational life with God. We presuppose that our spiritual life with God will happen naturally. We believe that our desire for God and His Word will naturally arise or that we will bear the fruit of the Spirit apart from time spent in the words He inspired. But the psalmist’s tree naturally bears fruit in its season because it was first strategically planted by the streams of living water.

The same is true for our life in God.
 
Though God is everywhere and, as believers, we have access to Him at all times, cultivating a meaningful, abiding, and fruitful relationship with Him will not happen by osmosis or in-passing conversations. We must strategically and intentionally make space to be still before God in prayer and time in His Word.  

Here are five questions to help you cultivate a daily habit of being with God:

1. Why? When developing any new habit, the most important question you need to ask yourself is why. How you answer this question brings clarity to what you desire to gain or experience as a result of pursuing this rhythm. Answering this question also helps you maintain your rhythm of being with God on the days your to-do list is calling or your desire is waning, and you just want to take a break, quit, or plant your tree near the streams of Netflix or Instagram. Here are some questions to help you establish a clear why:

Why do I want to spend time in God’s Word daily?
Why do I believe spending time in God’s Word is essential in the life of a follower of Christ? (Matthew 7:24-29)
How might my life and relationships change if I spent time in God’s Word daily?

2. When and Where? Pick a time of the day and place when and where you will be least distracted, and protect it by silencing or putting away your phone and letting the people in your household know it is your designated time to be with the Lord.

3. What? Many struggle to consistently spend time in God’s Word because they don’t have a reading plan. They arrive at their designated place and time to spend with God, unsure what to do or where to start. An easy way to help with this is to pick a book of the Bible to read through or use a premade Bible reading plan. Of course, my suggestion is the One Story Bible Reading Plan.

4. How? In addition to using a Bible Reading Plan, you also need to pick a process to help you not only read Scripture but also experience it. Remember, the goal isn’t to connect, not to check the “I-read-my-Bible-today” box. Here are a few tools to consider to move beyond reading to experiencing God’s Word:  

SWORD Method
HEAR Journaling Method
Priscilla Shirer’s Five P’s

5. Who? As Pastor Ryan has often stated, “Though our relationship with the Lord is personal, it was never meant to be private.” Consider who you can invite to do a Bible reading plan with you or to be a source of encouragement and accountability when your desire begins to falter, or you read something you don’t readily understand. And as you know, your friendly Discipleship Director’s answer to this question is to join a group. Here’s a link to the current groups meeting together to spend time in God’s Word using the One Story Bible Reading Plan.
 https://verticalnc.org/current-mc-groups