Most of us can have just as much fun at a campground with our loved ones as the super-rich can with their lavish trips. A Christian who appreciates God’s creation has a greater experience in a canoe than an unsaved man on a yacht.

At any rate, a little planning can enhance the vacation experience, whatever the budget. And as summer enfolds us, lots of people are anticipating even the simplest vacations. Every family needs an occasional break, whether we travel on a shoestring, tour in our SUV, camp by a stream, or splurge at a theme park.

But the real key to a finding peace in the busyness is resting in Christ from day to day, abiding in Him year-round, planning time with Him, and devising a method for enjoying His presence.

Busyness interferes with our spirituality, but it’s always a great time to rekindle our love for Him, to slow down, and to find a rhythm in life.

Plan a Time to Spend With Jesus

Some of us already have our vacation blocked off on our calendars. Why not reach for that same calendar, look at today’s box, and schedule time to spend with Jesus? Sit down today and plan your quiet time for tomorrow. Learn to work it into your calendar generously, just as deliberately as you block off time for getaways. It’s the only way to find daily rest for the soul.

Plan a Method to Study About Jesus

As you cultivate your daily time with Him, it’s helpful to develop a method for studying about Him in His Word. There are dozens of user-friendly Bible study methods, but find one that works for you. Recently a young man approached his pastor saying, “I just can’t seem to get anything out of my Bible study. I try reading a passage every day, but I can’t focus my mind on anything it says.”

After probing a little, the pastor offered this suggestion: “Don’t worry about studying the Bible; just spend time every day for the next month memorizing Romans 12. Learn verse 1 and commit it to memory during your quiet time, even if it requires several days. Write it out repeatedly. Read it aloud. Practice it. Quote it into the recorder on your phone and listen to see if you made any mistakes. Turn it into a prayer before going on to the next verse. Let Scripture memory be your ‘Bible study method’ for a while and see what happens.” The young man tried the idea and found himself internalizing God’s Word as never before.

Give thought to how you can approach the Scripture each day. Do you need a Bible study guide? A journal? A daily reading plan? A memory program? As you decide what methods to try, you’ll be developing a plan for deepening your relationship with Jesus.

Plan a Manner to Speak to Jesus

Our daily time with the Lord also includes prayer; and it helps to have some “talking points” when we meet with Jesus. In fact, our Lord Himself provided these for us in the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:5-13. Jesus suggested beginning with praise—“Our Father in heaven, how holy is Your name!” Then pray about your priorities, asking for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done. Then move to provision as you ask God for daily bread. Then pray for personal relationships, confessing sin and forgiving the sins of others. That will lead you back to praise: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.”

When we begin and end prayer by worshiping, everything changes. In their book, The Great Commission to Worship, David Wheeler and Vernon Whaley wrote, “It is during worship that the Holy Spirit begins to break down the bitterness, anger, self-promoting attitudes, and the spirit of greed in our hearts. And, it is this kind of transformation that changes a life, family, church, and nation.”^[1]

To put it simply, in praising Him we fall in love with Him all over again, and this is the beginning and ending point of prayer as Jesus gave it to us in His classic model, “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Plan a Mission to Serve Jesus

Our plan to spend time with Jesus, to study about Him, and to talk with Him will inevitably lead to service. He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). I’m convinced God has a personal ministry for all His children. A Texas newspaper once told of a ministry that provides handmade blankets for children battling cancer. These “security blankets” comfort the children during their rounds of chemotherapy. The paper quoted a volunteer from a local church who said, “This is the third year I’ve done [Project Linus]. I read about it and called to get information and at the time they needed someone who could bring the blankets to the Jacksonville hospitals…. I was looking for something to do on my personal time.”^[2]

When the Holy Spirit controls our schedules, He always leaves time for us to serve Him in a personal way, and as we find the work He has for us, we’ll also find we love doing it because it’s an expression of our rekindled love for Him. Often we render this service in or through the channels of our local church. I believe Jesus established local churches as the focal point for His work in this world. As a pastor myself, I know that the health and progress of a church’s ministries depend on an army of workers fueled by their zeal for the Lord. But divine service isn’t limited to what we do at church. It shows up in how we raise our children, the way we care for our neighbors, and the work we do at home and abroad as God lays His missions on our hearts.

Use a “back to basics” approach to rekindle your love for Jesus and make this a month of resting in Him and rekindling the Holy Spirit’s fire in your life.