What is a Daily Worship Time (DWT)?
A daily worship time is a special time set aside for an individual to grow closer to God. The DWT most often includes practical and consistent excercise of spiritual disciplines (bible study, prayer, silence, fasting,etc.). This practice has various other names, such as a daily ‘”quiet time” or “personal devotions”, the name doesn’t matter as much as the concept of intentionally putting ourselves in a place where we are more likely to hear from God.
When Should I have a my Daily Worship Time?
Daily worship times really work best for me when scheduled in the morning before breakfast. I personally like this time because it helps me start my day out right. On days that I have missed my DWT, or done it later in the day, I can really tell a difference. This may be hard for some people because it requires self-discipline. This early morning time is somewhat important for me, but you haven’t blown it if you need to set up another time. It is better to be consistent with your DWT than it is to be early and not consistent. If you have never had a consistent DWT before, you may want to schedule a time with Jesus (ex. before breakfast, when you get home from school, or 8PM every evening). You may want to set an alarm clock to remind you or leave yourself notes. Make it as important as if you were meeting one of your best friends (after all you are meeting with Jesus).
What do I do for a Daily Worship Time?
Many people do different things for their daily worship time. The main thing is that the focus is on learning about and worshiping God. Even though people do their DWT differently there are some elements that should always be involved.
The first important element of a DWT is reading God’s Word. It is by reading what God has said about Himself that we learn about who God is. When we read His word we are reminded of his unchanging character. You can learn more about how to read God’s word here.
Another element essential to a DWT is Prayer. Prayer is how we communicate with God and verbally submit our lives to him. Through prayer we recognize His ability and our inability over people and circumstances. There are many parts to prayer, but the main parts are: recognizing who God is, recognizing our need for God, submitting our lives (and specifically each day) to God, asking God for direction, and asking God to move and work in the lives of other people. I will post more on prayer later.
Some people like to include a Journal as part of their DWT. This is a notebook where you can record your thoughts about who God is or how you need to respond to Him. A journal can consist of just a few short notes or well thought out paragraphs. When I was younger and had a hard time praying, I would write out my prayers to Jesus in a journal. Since then it has been a blessing to look back at my journals and see who and what I was praying for and how God answered those prayers.
Many people like to sing as part of their DWT. They use music to proclaim their delight in God or to remind them of certain things about God like His love or His faithfulness. We have a few awesome worship teams at our church both on Sundays and Wednesday nights with our students who have introduced me to several great songs. If I hear a song that really speaks to me, or reminds me of a particular truth about God, I will do a word search and get a copy of the music and memorize the song so I can sing it during this time. Some of you are very musically gifted and will write songs of praise based off of what you have learned about God in your DWT.
I strongly recommend that near the end of your DWT that you write out what your response to God should be. This allows you to apply God’s word to your life and how you live. In my own DWT I call these action steps. Action steps are practical ways that you will apply the truth you learn each day to your life. You can read more about action steps in the second half of this post.
The Hill House 