A DEVOTIONAL TOOLKIT: Practical Resources For Daily Devotions

I wrote an article recently in which I discussed that growing up in church I heard a lot about “quiet time” or daily personal devotion time, but was never told why they were important.  Along the same lines, I was also never taught how to read the Bible Devotionally.  It may seem to some a silly thing to teach, but when I was in high school and college, I was often frustrated because daily devotional reading did not come to me naturally.  Over the years, God has placed several people and resources in my life which have helped me learn how to read the Bible devotionally. 

God continues to place these people and resources in my life, and continues to put me in situations where I grow in this area.  I am by no means a devotional master, in fact, I am a novice.  It has only been over the past few years that I have had any real consistency in reading Scripture daily.  If you are struggling to establish daily time in God’s word, or you desire to begin a daily devotional time, or you are just looking for encouragement, then I hope the following ideas and resources are helpful to you.  Below are a few lists.  The first is a “how to.”  The second list contains answers to a few questions that I have struggled through (and continue to struggle with) about daily devotion times.  The third list contains some random pointers and the final list contains some resources and links which you may find helpful.

 

A Basic “How To”

There is no definitive method for doing a devotion. The method below is the one that I started using and, more or less, is what I still use. At various times, I have incorporated journals, devotional books, and worship music, but the basic outline has stayed the same.

1.      Pray.  Begin and end your devotion time with prayer.  This “Toolkit” along with the other two articles posted in connection with it focus on devotional reading, but prayer and meditation must accompany the actual reading of Scripture for it to truly effect our lives.

2.      Read Methodically.  You can try the old “Magic Finger” method if you would like. This is where you close your eyes, open to a page, and point to a verse—this is God’s word for you today.  The problem with this is that the Bible was not written to be read one verse at a time.  It only makes sense when you read it in context.  I highly recommend a reading plan.  These can be found at the link included in the resource section, or in many devotionals.  If you don’t have access to a reading plan, try reading the Bible a book at a time.  If you are just starting, I recommend one of the Gospels.

3.      Meditate on God’s Word.  This is deep introspection meditation, not close your eyes and hum. One of the main purposes of daily time in God’s word is being transformed according to God’s will.  Meditation on Scripture goes like this: We read, “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) We meditate by letting that sink in, and asking ourselves how our lives match up with Scripture: “Do we live in such a way that we show dying is a good thing because it brings us closer to Christ?”  “How can we do so today?”

4.      Pray. End with Prayer. Pray that the truth you have read in Scripture will influence your life.  Pray that you would have opportunities to experience God throughout the day.  Pray that God’s will would be done in your life.  Pray that the Spirit would lead you as you live out God’s Word.

When, Where, How Often, and How Long?

-          WHEN? Almost every devotion guide will tell you that it is best to set aside one part of the day to have your devotion time.  I think this is true. I find that mornings are the best time for me to spend time in the Word.  It sets the tempo for my day and gives me an opportunity to cover myself, my family, and my church family in prayer before the day begins.  That being said, today is Sunday, and I am about to do my devotion after writing this (It is around 7pm) yesterday I spent time with God in the evening, and on Friday I spent time with him early in the morning.  Doing it at the same time every day is not crucial, but it is helpful.  To be honest, I am praying for more discipline and hoping to make morning devotion times more consistent.

-          Where? If you have a favorite spot to read or think, I would start there.  Most people live pretty mobile lifestyles, so I would advise you not to get too attached to one place.  Just try to be in places that help you focus on what God is saying.

-          How Often? Every day.  Our desire should be that God’s word is as crucial to us as food or as sleep.  This does not mean that if you miss a day you are in blatant sin, but everyday is the goal. 

-          How Long? This, I believe, depends on your personality and situation. Christian retailers often sell “One-Minute Devotions.”  I wouldn’t recommend that you just set aside one minute of your time.  My devotions have ranged from 10-45 minutes depending on what reading plan and extra activities (journaling, etc.) I was participating in at that time.  I have a good friend who is over eighty who spends hours in the Word every day and is finding great joy in that, but she is able to do this because of situation God had placed her in.  In short, do what works for you, make sure you don’t rush it by not carving out enough time, but don’t be rushed by trying to do more than your daily schedule allows.

A Few Random Pointers

-          Distinguish Between Bible Study and Devotional Reading.  Using commentaries, lexicons, etc. will tremendously help you understand Scripture, but that is in-depth study, not devotional reading.  There is certainly a place for this, but if you try to do it in your devotional time, your devotions will often become cold and stale.  Focus on how to apply the text to your life. 

-            Don’t Rely Too Heavily On Devotional Material- Reading your devotional book every day is not the same as encountering Scripture.  God wrote the Bible, a fallible person wrote your devotional.

-          Don’t Be Scared To Use Devotional Material- While reading a daily devotional does not take the place of Scripture, they are often helpful.  I have enjoyed using a variety of them myself.

-          Keep Things Fresh- I recommend changing reading plans and trying new things (journaling, listening to praise music, writing poetry, Scripture memory) at least every year.  Remember, prayer, Scripture, and meditation upon Scripture should always be present, but as the Spirit guides you, participate in activities which help you communicate with God.

-          Don’t Judge Yourself Based On Other’s Methods- Like I said I have a fried who is spending hours in Scripture a day.  I do not need to compare myself to her.  I should rejoice that she is being faithful to spend time with God as he is calling her and that I am being faithful in the way that he is calling me.

Some Resources You May Find Helpful

Let me tell you a secret about Christian material: it can get expensive. . . unnecessarily expensive.  If you have $200.00 you can buy a genuine goat-skin leather Bible. Or, you can buy a $40 Bible which will last just as long, read Matthew 25 in said Bible and be moved that Jesus desires that we feed hungry people and donate $160.00 to Compassion International.  That’s up to you.  With this in mind, don’t feel like you have to go buy everything on this list.  Much of it is free online.

-          A Reliable Translation of the Bible (This is the only essential thing on the list)

o   The English Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, and New Revised Standard Version, among others, are very good modern, English translations.

o   The Message is a very good paraphrase of the Bible by Eugene Peterson.  If you use this, check other versions if you find something that seems a little odd.  Eugene Peterson isn’t a heretic or anything, but the message is just a paraphrase, not a true translation.

o   There are some really easy (and free!) ways to access the bible via computer, tablet, or smartphone.  biblegateway.com is a great resource to access via the internet and youversion is a free app available in the android and apple markets.

-          A Reading Plan

o   There is a whole list of these at http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/.  If you have never read through the Bible, I recommend that you start there with a plan that has you in the Old Testament and New Testament every day.  These plans are also available on the youversion app.  If you are not a computer person, ask your pastor or check out a daily reading Bible at a Christian Bookstore.

-          A Devotional Book

o   http://www.biblegateway.com and youversion also have devotional books on the software.

o   You can buy a devotional book in your local Christian bookstore.  You can get one that is very specific (i.e. devotions for businessmen) or something by an author you like. Listed below are a couple I recommend

§  Taste and See by John Piper. Kind of weighty, but rich. Devotions take about 2-4 minutes to read. ISBN: 1590524497

§  One Year Women’s Devotional (Recommended by my Wife).  Various Authors.  Kayla says this has been a great devotional, multiple authors give multiple writing styles which may help keep things “fresh.” ISBN: 9781615217311

§  My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.  Old, but good.  I would recommend an updated English version.

-          A Journal

-          Highlighters

-          Coffee devotions are always more meaningful when you are awake.

I hope this “Toolkit” helps. More than anything get in the Word! 

 

In Christ,

Cory

SATISFYING A CRAVING FOR GOD’S PRESENCE

I want to start this article by whining for a moment: No one in church ever really taught me why I should read my Bible devotionally.  I learned a lot about not running in the Sanctuary and that it was wrong to draw on the table in the Sunday School room and that playing poker in the old ladies Bible Study classroom was a bad idea (Yes, I did and yes, it was a bad idea.  Especially when you leave chips on the floor and the pastor has to explain why there was a poker game going down at a youth lock-in.)  I also learned some tremendously useful things like the books of the Bible, the Roman’s Road, and that Jesus commanded all of his followers to build the kingdom. 

I also remember learning that having a devotion time—usually called “quiet time” by church people—every day was very important, but no one ever told me why.  Now don’t get me wrong, when I came to Christ I was blessed to have a great pastor, and attend a Bible believing church, but somehow I still missed the why and how of this whole devotion thing.  So I wanted to write something for Christians who know that spending time in God’s Word is something that people say is important, but might not know why.  What follows is a brief walk through Scripture in hopes that you will see why spending daily time in God’s word is so important.

A Duty of Utmost Delight

Very briefly let’s talk about what the Bible doesn’t say.  There is no passage in Scripture that says, “Thou shalt read thy Bible every day.”  Not even close.  There is a lot that the Bible says about why Scripture is vital, but no clear cut command that says to read it daily.

What the Bible does say is that Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16).  This is the most basic thing we must understand: the Bible is a revelation of God to people.  It is a way in which we can experience Him, it is the means by which he reveals his will and his nature to humanity.  Keep that in mind as you think about reading the Bible daily, it is about God revealing himself, and his will to you.

If we are truly members of the kingdom, if we have truly pledged our very lives to God, then his revelation of himself should be something we crave.  Check out Mark 1:35-38.  In this passage, Jesus leaves the disciples in the dark hours of the morning and goes into a secluded place to devote time to God.  Now I don’t want to play fast and loose with Scripture here.  Jesus went out to pray, not to read his Bible.  He didn’t sit down and pull out his pocket edition of the Torah and start reading, but he did go out to experience God’s presence and to be in tune with God’s will.  That is also the goal of devotionally reading the Bible.  And he craved it.  He wanted it worse than sleep, than breakfast, than an early morning conversation with his twelve closest friends.  He went out not out of duty, but delight. 

This is the same delight felt by the poet who writes of the blessed man in Psalm 1, “His delight is in the instruction (Torah) of the Lord and on his instruction he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

This is the motivation for devotional Bible reading—a deep craving for God’s revelation of himself.  It springs from a sense of delight, a sense of need, a craving, an addiction.  Now, I do want to throw a cautionary sentence or two in here.  This does not mean that on days when I do not joyfully look to the reading of my Bible I should not do it.  There will be times when our desire for God’s word is hindered, perhaps by sin, perhaps by tragedy, or perhaps by the general depression that often invades our lives in this fallen world.  In these times, when the feeling of happiness is gone, the true joy of delight is still there.  The feelings will come and go, but this God given delight will remain.

Like a Ford, Not a Ferrari

I am not much of a car guy, but even I can recognize a Ferrari if one passes me on the interstate.  This is the purpose of a Ferrari, to get other people’s attention, to say, look at me, I have a Ferrari.  That and to go 200mph.  My Wife and I drive a Ford.  It also has a purpose, to get you—and up to three passengers—where you are going. If you read my story about daily devotions(also posted on this blog), you will find that I once thought it should be a very flashy, show-off kind of thing, but that is not what Scripture teaches.  Daily Devotions are about being transformed in personal living and worshipping God, not about showing off.

Consider Psalm 119: 9-12.  Here the poet asks a vital question for every believer, “How can a young man keep his way pure?”  Purity in Scripture is all about living God’s way.  It is not so people can look at you and say, “What a pure person.”  It is about living in a way that brings glory to God.  Every follower of Christ should ask, “How can we keep our way pure?”  The poet goes on to answer the question, “By guarding [his way] according to [God’s] Word.”  Ultimately the young man who composed Psalm 119 concludes that it is storing up God’s word in his heart that will keep him from sinning and thus cause him to please God (pleasing God, of course, is what not sinning is all about). 

Consider one last passage of Scripture with me: Psalm 46:10.  It is a simple command, “Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  This awestruck worship of God should also be incorporated into our daily devotion time.  This may happen through prayer, through reflection on the providence of God in your life, or through soaking in a breathtaking scene in nature.  But it also happens through the Word of God. Read Psalm 148, Genesis 1 & 2, John 20, Psalms 150, Isaiah 6 or countless other passages in Scripture which attests to God’s glory and be blown away by it. 

This is the purpose of daily devotional reading.  It is not flashy, but it has a powerful purpose, to transform your life and cause you to worship God.

A Few Thoughts in Closing

Please understand this is not a complete theology of devotional reading, it is not meant to be. I do, however pray that these reasons would motivate you to experience God’s word, daily.  I pray that this would merely whet your appetite; that the meager morsels of truth above would begin a daily craving for God’s Word.  I pray that you would approach Scripture daily from delight for the purpose of living out a transformed, God honoring life.

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For some ideas on how to read the Bible devotionally, and some useful tools to help you along the way, read the article on this blog titled, “A Daily Devotional Toolbox”

HOW I WAS LIKE THE MAN WITH THE WOODEN EYE: MY STORY ABOUT READING THE BIBLE DEVOTIONALY

I don’t know where I first heard the phrase “quiet time.”  I knew what it was before my family became involved in a church.  I know this because the first time I tried to have a “quiet time” was to impress a pastor at summer camp.  I waited until he left the cabin to go to the shower-house, then I went out on the cabin porch with a Bible my parents had given me.  When I saw him walking back, I opened up my Bible and began staring at the page trying to look as holy as possible.  The whole thing sort of backfired when the pastor asked me what I was reading.  I read the heading over that paragraph and repeated it to him.

Have you ever seen the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie?  At the beginning of the movie the guy with the wooden eyeball is on a rowboat “reading” a bible.  His friend begins to tease him about doing this.  The ensuing conversation about Divine providence comes to a humorous end when the guy with the Bible’s friend points out that he can’t even read.  The man with the wooden eyeball is ready, however, as he says, “It’s the Bible, you get points for trying!” 

The man and the wooden eyeball and my 11 year old self had the exact understanding of devotional reading of the Bible.  It was the thought that counted, just holding the bible in your hands, reading the words—regardless of whether or not you understood them—this added some strange and commendable holiness to your life.  This continued to be my view of reading the Bible devotionally for years to come.  It was not until I was a freshman in college that my view on how Scripture should impact my life on a daily basis changed. 

Understand, by the time I was a freshman in college, I had preached several sermons, had been a leader in my youth group, and was considered by my peers to be knowledgeable about the Bible.  Despite all these things, however, I had never kept a consistent devotional time.  I had tried.  I had purchased devotionals, Bibles, journals, and I had tried to use these things, but the result was always the same, after a few days of making myself spend time reading Scripture, I stopped. It would make for a great story if I said I stopped reading the Bible each time I tried to read it devotionally because twelve demons ganged up on me, wrenched my Bible from my hand, and threatened me to never touch it again.  But that’s not what happened.  I didn’t read my Bible daily because . . . I didn’t want to. 

In college God blessed me with some friends who were making God’s word a part of their daily lives. I was blessed to live with a guy named Pete my sophomore year, and I saw Pete reading his Bible a lot. I am not saying this guy was reading the Bible ten hours a day or anything, but I could tell when Pete encountered Scripture, it was because he wanted to.  Being around people like Pete showed me that spending time in the Word of God was not about showing other people you are so holy that you get up every morning and wade through all the genealogies in Chronicles, instead, reading the Bible daily is about satisfying a hunger, a thirst, a deep desire for God’s presence in your life.

This realization sparked a journey for me, one that I am still on.  I would love to say that my sophmore year of college I have felt such an insatiable hunger for God’s Word that I have not missed spending time in it a single day since, but this is not the case.  The truth is that God used that time in my life to begin leading down a path where God’s Word became more and more a part of my daily life.  It has been like learning to appreciate good food or fine art, the more I have experienced God’s Word, the more I have wanted it, craved it, needed it. 

It is my prayer that God has already kindled in you a hunger for his Word.  I pray that it is a part of your daily life.  But if it is not, or if it is and you are looking for encouragement, I want to provide some assistance in getting you started.  To do this, I am posting two articles on this blog.  One focuses on why to spend daily time in God’s Word.  In this article I have tried to share with you some of the things God planted in my heart to cause me to crave his Word.  The second article is on how to spend daily time in God’s Word and discusses some basic methods and tools which have helped me in my journey.

I was once like the man with the wooden eye.  I thought that the reading the Bible earned me some kind of “holy points.”  But no such points exist.  Spending time in God’s Word is not about what we earn, it is about what sustains us.  It is not about what we should do, it is about what we desire to do.  It is not about cold piety, but consuming passion.  It should not be admirable, it should be addicting.  I pray you become addicted as well my friends, for what kind of transformation would come from those addicted to the Word of God?