How often do you have a 'quiet time': a time spent alone to think about God's words from the Bible, to speak to him in prayer, to sing his praises, to come close to him? At least once a day, I hope. Preferably more. One psalmist declared that 'Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules' (Psalm 119:164). Clearly, he was not satisfied with a single time of worship each day!
I've written quite a few times over the years about the importance of our quiet times (another term that Christians used in the past was 'personal devotions'). I've discussed how we should organise them, what we should do with the time, why many of us find it difficult to keep up the habit of personal devotions, what resources are available to help us in our quiet times.
But in this article, I just want to remind you – and myself – of one important fact. It's this. Thanksgiving is one vital aspect of our daily devotions. We should make sure that every day, as part of our quiet time, we remember ways in which God has shown his mercy and kindness to us, and we should thank him.
