I’m willing to bet that if you are reading this post, then you, like me, have struggled at one point or another to establish the spiritual discipline of daily Bible reading and prayer. Whether you refer to this daily practice as your quiet time, morning worship, personal devotions, or time with the Lord, if you’ve ever struggled to make this habit stick, you are in good company! Cultivating the habit of meeting with the Lord each day in devotional prayer and Bible reading has been a struggle for Christians in all walks of life since the Church began.

Several years ago, I read a blog post on the topic of having a daily quiet time.¹

“You don’t have to read the Bible every day,” the author asserted. “Those who insist on doing so are being legalistic.”²

This was the first (but not the last) time I had ever heard such an audacious statement made by a professing believer.

Was she right? Was I being legalistic by attempting (and so often failing) to have a daily quiet time? Or is daily Bible reading and prayer an act of obedience—an expression of love and faithfulness to God?

Should I stop trying so hard to make a daily quiet time work when, quite honestly, it never seems to work?

Do I really have to read the Bible and pray every day?

After several years of prayerfully cultivating my own Bible reading and study habits, I’ve come to a conclusion about this author’s philosophy.

She was right. And she was wrong.

You don’t have to…

Picture this for a moment. Let’s say, through a series of fortuitous circumstances, you acquire a world-famous chef to prepare all of your meals for the rest of your life. Not only is every meal the chef makes perfectly nutritious, but he somehow manages to make each culinary experience utterly decadent. Each time you eat at his table, you walk away full, content, and completely satisfied.

Now imagine, for one reason or another, you decide to skip one of the meals the chef has prepared. Maybe you have a lot of work you’re eager to finish, perhaps you’re really busy, or maybe you just can’t be bothered to make the trek to the dining room table. So, you decide to skip the delectable feast awaiting you and opt for a Big Mac instead.

The fine print on your chef’s contract states that you are never required to eat the meals he prepares. Contractually speaking, you can eat whatever you want on any given day.

But to habitually give up sitting at a table of pure culinary delights to scarf down a greasy cheeseburger is the epitome of foolishness. It’s the active forsaking of joy and abundance for that which can never fully satisfy.

You don’t have to join the feast that awaits you, but what a privilege it is that you get to!

Having a daily quiet time works much the same way.

…You Get To

For those who belong to Jesus, who long to become more like him, we get to participate in the privilege of communing with God in his Word and in prayer on a daily basis.

The discipline of daily meeting with the Lord is akin to partaking in a rich, nutritious feast. Forgoing your quiet time is like trading the feast for a far less satisfying meal. It won’t destroy you, but you’re missing out!

If you belong to Christ, neglecting to read your Bible and pray will not diminish God’s affection for you. Jesus made certain of that.

But neglecting daily quiet times could diminish your affection for God. And growing in our affection for God is the key to enjoying an abundant, joyful, flourishing life in this broken world—the life God created us for.

So, the author of that blog post was both right and wrong. Cultivating the spiritual practice of having a daily quiet time isn’t a Biblical mandate, but neither is it a legalistic practice.

It’s a daily battle for your joy.

Rethinking Quiet Times

What would prompt a professing Christian to claim that daily Bible reading and prayer aren’t necessary practices for Christ followers?

I can’t be certain, but I have some theories.

First, Bible reading and prayer can be challenging. Not only is building a habit in any area of life hard, but building the habit of reading a book that wasn’t originally written for our modern culture and pouring out our hearts to a God we cannot see is even harder. It’s much easier to claim that quiet times are unnecessary since God never explicitly commanded the practice in the first place.

Second, the American Christian subculture³ has gotten a bit carried away with what a quiet time ought to look like. If you were to build your understanding of what a quiet time is, based on what has been preached by the Christian subculture, you might conclude that all (or at least most) of the following components are essential to having a quiet time that “counts”:

• You must create a quiet, calm, and cozy atmosphere (total solitude preferred)
• You must have a hot cup of coffee
• You must use a Bible reading plan or devotional that takes you through the entire Bible in one year
• You must spend an adequate amount of time in prayer, which must include adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication
• You must spend some time journaling reflectively
• You must work toward a Bible memorization goal
• You must spend at least 20 minutes in prayer and Bible reading (longer is holier)
• You must feel emotionally inspired and joyful afterward
• You must have your quiet time first thing in the morning

According to the unofficial quiet time rules, if your time spent with God falls short of these requirements, you’ve failed to be a good Christian, and your day will probably be cursed.

This is legalistic.

These types of quiet times aren’t about knowing and enjoying God. These quiet times are about meeting the unrealistic demands of the American Christian subculture in order to feel better about ourselves.

It’s time to rethink our quiet times.

A Quiet Time Habit that Lasts a Lifetime

How do we cultivate a quiet-time habit that is steadfast and disciplined yet free from the unrealistic demands of the Christian subculture?

How can we approach our quiet times in a way that is sustained by delight in the Lord instead of driven by legalism?

How do we create a quiet-time habit that lasts a lifetime so we can partake in the feast awaiting us in the pages of God’s Word and prayer?

That is what we will set out to discover in this series of posts. Over the next several weeks, we will examine the ideals, emotions, and beliefs we hold about our daily quiet times and learn how to submit these to the Lord that he might build something beautiful and lasting from them.

Your desire to grow in this discipline is admirable, and I am confident that God will bless every attempt you make to know and love him better through his Word and in prayer.

May God increase your appetite for daily quiet times in the days to come!

Today’s post comes from the introduction of my new book, The Quiet Time Workbook. If you’d like the full set of personal reflection exercises and guided journal pages that accompany each chapter, make sure to check out the workbook!

Footnotes:

1. I am summarizing the author’s argument here. The blog on which this post was written is no longer available.
2. Legalism is defined as: “strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, accessed August 31, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legalism
3. When I speak of the “American Christian Subculture,” I’m referring to American “Christians” who strictly adhere to certain popular patterns of behavior derived from what are largely believed to be Biblical principles. Often, however, these patterns of behavior have more to do with maintaining a “Christian” image rather than obeying Biblical commands with godly wisdom and joy.