Spicing Up Your Devotions

November, 2009

by: Jack Hughes

You may have discovered that being consistent in your devotions, Bible reading, and prayer is not an easy task. Some people struggle for years trying to get to the place in their life where they read their Bible and pray every day. Maybe you know someone like this? Once you become consistent in spending time with the Lord you are so thankful to have doused your conscience from yelling at you every day, “Why haven’t you read your Bible?!” You are also glad that when the topic comes up with friends at church you can humbly boast, “I have my devotions every day.”

But is regularity all that matters? Surely consistency is important, but is it all important? What about the blessing, the joy, the fellowship, and excitement of spending time with the Creator of the universe?! Once we become faithful in having devotions we then encounter a second hurdle to leap over. The hurdle I am talking about is cold ritualism, boredom, faithfully going through our quiet time motions, but not having our heart in it nor getting a blessing. Maybe that is where you are at right now. Maybe you are one of the faithful, consistent, Swiss time pieces of devotional regularity, but your quiet times are as exciting as unsalted Matzah. If that is you, then let me offer some suggestions for having a good quiet time.

First, devotions come in all shapes and sizes and depending on your mood, tiredness, and situation in life, the “experience” will vary. Having a “good quiet time” is a somewhat subjective idea. However, your devotions should cause you to feel blessed, leave rejoicing, thankful, and/or praising God. Having devotions should be like drinking a spiritual energy drink. You should finish your quiet time feeling charged up and ready to go forth in the strength of the Lord!

Second, all quiet times must include the Word of God. Usually this means reading a portion of the Bible. You may not read directly from the Bible, but from a resource that quotes the Scriptures. Some devotional books, for instance, quote a portion of Scripture and then discuss it. Though the portion of Scripture itself may be far less than the discussion of it, the Word of God is the focus of the whole. Why is having the Bible be central in your quiet times important? Because God speaks to you through His Word. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. You want to hear from God.

Third, devotions must include prayer. Prayer is speaking to God. Since God knows our thoughts, we can speak to God in our heads, or we can speak out loud. Either way He hears us. Prayer comes in many forms such as confession, praise, supplication, etc., and though the subject is fascinating, we can’t go into it now. However you pray, prayer is talking with your Creator and it is a necessary part of every good quiet time. You talk to God when you pray, He talks to you when you read the Bible.

Finally, we must not be rushed when spending time with the Lord. If you are late for work or for school, or are anxious to get on with the day, and in the back of your mind you keep thinking to yourself, “I need to hurry this quiet time up so I can…,” you probably won’t have a quality time with the Lord. You must, “be still and know that He is God.” You must put Him before all other things so that you are totally focused on the Lord. You must tell yourself that whatever it is that is barking in your mind for attention, it can wait until you have spent time with your God.

When the groom is standing next to the pastor and the wedding march begins to play, the doors open, the people stand, and out comes the bride, dressed in white, escorted by her father. The groom, if he truly loves his bride, will not be thinking about washing his car, doing the laundry, projects at work, what to eat for dinner, or scanning the architectural details of the building. No, he is always and only looking at and concentrating on one thing – his bride. It doesn’t mean those other things are not important, but when you are getting married and your bride is coming down the aisle she is the main attraction and focus of all your thoughts, emotions, and passions.

It should be this same way when you spend time with the Lord. There should be an eager anticipation. You seek out that favorite spot with your Bible in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Maybe you have other devotional resources nearby. Uninterrupted you meet the Lord. You confess your sins, cast your cares upon Him, and let Him speak to you through His Word, you praise Him, ask Him for things, and finish feeling filled up, protected, encouraged, comforted by the Lord. After you have meditated and prayed through the Scriptures you feel like the Disciples on the road to Emmaus who said in Lk. 24:32, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us…, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

Yes, this should be your “normal experience” with the Lord. If not, you need to find out what is wrong and make some changes. You don’t want to get to the place in your life where spending time with the Lord is boring, when you feel like it is useless, a waste of time, or of no spiritual profit.

Come Expecting a Blessing

When you sit down to read, meditate, and study the Bible, to muse on the things of Scripture and to pray to the Lord, expect a blessing. When you go to the grocery store to buy groceries, you expect them to have groceries, right? When you go to your favorite fast food place and order your favorite burger, taco, or whatever, you expect them to produce what you want, right? Well expect a blessing from the Lord when you spend time in private devotions. I have often been reading through a text expecting nothing in particular, but knowing that I will surely be blessed. There, I see it in the text, a story, a verse, a phrase or even a word that strikes me to the heart, amazes me, thrills me, encourages me! I consider its simplicity and profoundness. I talk to God about it. I pray to Him, asking that He help me experience that truth in my life or praising Him because I am or have experienced that truth in my life. All day long and sometimes for weeks and months that one truth keeps returning to give me a blessing.

Don’t go to the Bible doubting that God will bless you. His “righteous one must live by faith.” Be praying as the Psalmist did in Psa. 119:18 where he says, “Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.” This prayer implies that the Psalmist is 1) spending time in the Word, 2) that he needs God’s help to give him spiritual enlightenment, 3) that the Word of God contains wonderful things for the believer, and 4) that he expects God to reveal those wonderful things to him. Do the same! Open the cookie jar of the Word expecting to find treats within. Keep reading, keep praying, keep pondering the truths of the Word. Be like Jacob who, when wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, said, “I will not let you go until you have given me a blessing!” The Lord is rich, the Lord is gracious, benevolent, kind, merciful, and loves His children. He will not turn you away empty handed when you come to Him begging for bread. He will instead lavish good things upon you. He has promised “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” and to “grant you everything pertaining to life and godliness” through His “precious and magnificent promises.”

Use a Variety of Resources

The Bible should be central in your devotions but there are many devotional resources that are designed to help you have meaningful times with the Lord. Here is a list of some of the resources I have enjoyed:

• Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. A twice daily devotional with a Scripture to read and a short discussion of a principle in the text. Spurgeon is a master communicator. He is simple, direct, engaging, and always Christ centered.
• On This Day, by Robert Morgan, a daily historical devotion that gives you one page of Christian history to ponder each day. As you read about the history of the church and faithful men and women of God, it will encourage you and inspire you in your walk with the Lord.
• Valley of Vision, by Arthur Bennett, a collection of Puritan prayers that resonate with the heart of every true believer and are rich in theology and doctrine. I often read two or three prayers before praying through the church prayer sheet. It keeps me from growing petty and selfish in my prayers and reminds me of the greatness of the God we serve and worship.
• Letters of Samuel Rutherford, letters written by a godly Scottish Puritan pastor who was imprisoned for the Gospel and in prison wrote many letters to people of all manners of life from nobility to the common man. As you read the advice, encouragement, and exhortation of Rutherford to many different people in many different situations, you yourself are counseled and encouraged by this godly man.
• Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, considered the father of English hymnody, Watt’s put all the Psalms to meter, and also wrote many other hymns still sung in churches around the world today. As you read through these hymns, you will be reminded of the greatness of God and the glories of Christ. I have often read through Watt’s hymns that correspond to different Psalms as I read through the book of Psalms.
• Worthy Is the Lamb, a collection of soul searching and uplifting Puritan poetry published by Soli Deo Gloria publishers. If you like poetry, you will love this work as it is full of rich, theologically sound poetry that will uplift your soul.
• Any works by Thomas Watson or Thomas Brooks. These two Puritan men, very similar in their writing style, are practical, clear, and pointed in their prose. They will challenge and convict you with the Word. Their writings are so rich that often a paragraph or two is enough to get you meditating on the Lord and how to grow in Christ. I have read a few pages a day through many of their works.
• The Celebration Hymnal is the hymnal we use at Calvary Bible Church, but any good hymnal will suffice. Purchase a copy and go through it one or two songs a day. Look at the words, ponder their meaning. You will see things you never saw before and you will enhance your worship and cause you to better appreciate the hymns we sing on Sunday morning.
• Calvary Bible Church Prayer Sheet is another great devotional resource. Every week people submit prayer requests. Those prayer requests are compiled, printed, and set out for people to pray through. I like to pray through a page or two a day during the week. It helps me to stay in touch with the body of Calvary Bible Church and to serve the saints as I bring them and their requests before the throne of grace.

These are just a few of the various devotional materials that I have found helpful. There are many others out there as well which I have not used. Make use of them, they will help you receive a blessing as they encourage you to focus on our God and His Word.

Use a Variety of Methods

If your devotions are cold or growing cold, try new things. Try different methods of reading the Bible, studying the Bible, and meditating on the Scriptures. Use different devotional and prayer resources. Switch the order you do things. Maybe you read a few pages of a good book first, then confess your sins, then read and pray through the Scriptures, then pray through a page of the Calvary Bible Church prayer sheet. Write your own poetry or hymns. Use a prayer journal. Talk to others and find out what they have enjoyed. Don’t feel like you have to read one chapter of the Bible and pray the same prayer every day. Make your devotions interesting, educational, fun, keep working on your devotions until you get a blessing from God!