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Throughout my life and work in ministry, mornings were sacred for me—quiet, still, and full of potential. Decades later, that rhythm still defines me. Whether you’re an early bird like me or come alive at night, understanding and honoring your rhythms is crucial for personal time with God.

Now, I know the mornings may not be best for you, and that’s just fine. If you come into your own at midday, or if you come alive at night that’s cool, too. As we talk about habits and laying foundations, I’ll be speaking from my strengths and experiences. Feel free to swap the timing around so it fits your natural rhythms. Where 4-5am is sacred space for me, yours may be 11-12pm. Work with what comes naturally to you, and don’t feel bad if my rhythms and yours don’t run at the same time…it’s not worth worrying about. So, let’s go.

Sacred Spaces: Why Your Time with God Starts at Home

I am a to-do list person. It’s not because I’m super organized and efficient. It’s because I’ll forget if it’s not right in front of me. My list keeps me accountable, it keeps me on track. Like many pastoral people, I have a little issue with a deficit in my attention-keeping abilities.

That being said, once I get into the office, I have to be in “mission mode” for office things. Being a morning person, then, my best alone time is at home. I need to focus on God first thing in morning when I am truly on my own, and don’t have any other distractions present. Keeping my personal time in listening to God, partaking in His Word, praying over whatever it is I need to lift up to Him, confessing my sin, and praising my LORD is all best accomplished in the silence of that morning stillness.

As a pastor, it can be very difficult to keep a time in the Word that isn’t prep time for a sermon, a teaching time or a devotional for others. Years ago, I used to be a prolific journal-keeper. If you look back in the archives on this site, you’ll find a boatload of collected thoughts from those morning times with the Lord. In recording them, I was able to work through and evaluate my thoughts, a kind of external processing exercise for one.

Protecting Sacred Spaces for Prayer & Scripture

In having a separate place for personal study , I have found it easier to keep that distinction between -my- time with God and time with god for the sake of teaching others.

In -my- time with God. I am listening, I am being still. I am here to learn and be poured into by Him. When I am alone with God, I get to and I need to ask questions about my own heart, to lift up my heart before the Lord, and to pray over those who are my first point of stewardship and watch-care, my family.

By protecting that space, I am assuring that I am not just reading and praying in order to teach, but to be taught. In keeping an separate space, I am being pastored by the Good Shepherd, not just seeking to shepherd others. My heart is the one under the lens, my mind is the one being held accountable. Yes, and with great emphasis, this needs to happen /every/ /single/ /time/ I am in the Word whether for myself or in preparation to teach. But in this morning sacred space it is simply me and my Lord. My heart laid out before Him. There is no one else but the two of us, and this time is ours. I am devoted to Him. I can rest in Him. And if I miss this this time, my soul begins to starve.

Psalm 42:1 beautifully captures this longing: ‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.’ This is the essence of personal time with God—unfiltered dependence and desire for Him.

Living Faith at Home: Leading by Example

Scripture is very plain about the role of the husband and father. Our hearts belong first to God so we can act as servant leaders in our own homes. We prepare our hearts so we can lift up our families. If we are unwell spiritually, emotionally or mentally, then we will struggle to love them well.

This personal time with God fills our “tank,” it is meant to guide our heart and instruct us so we can “wash our wife in the water of the Word” and so we can guide and in struct our children even as our Father guides and instructs us. We are, in our flesh and on our own, weak and sinful men.

We require this filling-up so that we can pour out. Humble hearts, mirroring the heart of our Lord and Master, Jesus, we can then pour into our family. We can -then- serve and honor them, seeking God’s best for them and with them. We lead from the knowledge of our brokenness, and do our best to humbly facilitate the same in their lives, too. It is a God-given stewardship that we love them enough to be devoted first to God, so we might overflow from His goodness toward them.

There’s no gate-keeping or household savior complex that can come into this. Jesus is rescuing us as husbands, fathers and pastors. He does the same for them. In a world and culture where it’s not encouraged to be a man who is strong in the Lord, we must first be responsible to what God calls us to be, so that -again- we can be humble servant leaders in our own homes. We do not -lord it over- our families, but in kindness and grace we keep pointing toward Jesus who alone is LORD.

Resisting the Drift: Keeping Family First

One of the main benefits of making sure we have personal time with the Lord is the active maintenance of our spiritual leadership in our home. As a Pastor it is super easy to let ministry tasks for the church we serve take higher priority than our own family. We’re busy, but it’s a good busy, right? We’re doing it for God, and our family sees that so it’s not that awful when our time predominately belongs to that work…right?…right?

No, we know better. Our family is our first point of stewardship. They are our first point to pour out into after God pours into us. By keeping our personal study time at home, it makes awareness of the needs of our family prominent in our hear and mind. As we pray over them we are mindful of the spaces they occupy in the home, he activities they take part in, and there’s nothing from our desk or office at work trying to vie for our attention in the process.

When we try to do it all at our desk in our office, we’re removing ourselves our example and our presence from the ones we value most. When we set up at home, and our family experiences our devotion to God, they are encouraged in theirs. It’s not something we “just do at the church building” but it’s the reality of who we are at home.

This could mean setting aside a specific chair, room, or time of day where distractions are minimized, ensuring your focus is solely on the Lord. Having that evidence and priority on display before our family isn’t a “look at me” action, but like Paul we get to say “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1) Love your family by living out your faith where it can be seen, learned from and talked about.

For me, this has looked like reading a simple Bible passage during family time or praying over my kids before I dropped them off at school. Small, consistent actions speak volumes.

4 Steps to Consider

Evaluate Your Rhythms: Reflect on whether your current daily schedule supports intentional time with God. What adjustments can you make to prioritize this?

Plan Your Family Devotions: Take time this week to pray or read Scripture together as a family—start simple if this isn’t a habit yet.

Journal Your Time with God: Start a journal to process what God is teaching you personally, not just for sermon preparation.

Discuss Priorities with a Mentor: Share your thoughts on balancing ministry and family with a trusted peer or mentor to gain fresh perspective.

Books / Resources

1. Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster
2. The Emotionally Healthy Leader – Pete Scazzero
3. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God – Dallas Willard
4. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives – Dallas Willard
5. The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters – Albert Mohler
6. My Daily Disciplines – Ben Hedgspeth