 If your devotional life has grown stale, sometimes just making a simple change can help to revive it. Here are 15 suggestions. Pick one in and give it a try.
1. Consider changing the time of day or night in which you have your devotions. 2. Use a prayer book to get things started. “The Book of Common Prayer” is a good one. “The Valley of Vision” is another. 3. Carry your Bible with you and dip into it during breaks at work, or any time you have a spare minute or two. Your devotional life doesn’t have to be a one-time per day event. 4. Try listening to a devotion while you’re walking, running or commuting today. Charles Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” is available for free on the Crosswalk website. It is also available in audio as an app in both the Google Play and iTunes stores. 5. Look forward to the time you get to spend with your Savior, rather than viewing your devotional time as something you have to do. 6. Pick up or download a Bible study about a topic you want to know more about. Use that during your devotional time. 7. Pick up a new devotional book about an area in your life in which you’re struggling right now (grief, prayerlessness, health), or that speaks directly to your lot in life (husband, wife, never-married, military personnel, businesspeople). Or e-subscribe to devotional material. BibleGateway.com has a long list available that they will deliver to your email inbox for free. 8. Try a new Bible reading plan. Work your way through the Chronological Bible, or through the Bible in a year, or through the New Testament in the year. Back to the Bible offers free reading plans. So does BibleGateway.com. 9. Read the Bible in small chunks. Each day, read from one sub-heading to the next sub-heading several times. Then use a commentary to get even more out of the passage. Ask yourself, “What is God saying to me in this passage? How does this apply to my life?” 10. Form a private Facebook group and invite several of your closest friends. Agree to read a certain book of the Bible, or to a Bible reading plan and then share your thoughts with each other throughout the day about what you’ve read. 11. Find a new believer at church and offer to disciple him or her. Walk that person through a book of the Bible. Keep in touch throughout the day (text messaging works great for this) to discuss what you are reading together. Teachers often say they get more out of their studies than their pupils do. 12. Change your location. If you live near a lake, consider going outside and doing your devotions next to the water. If you live near a park, try going there. 13. Choose a location in your home to use as your sacred place. Use it as your altar – the place where you offer yourself to God. 14. Read the Bible without feeling like you have to journal or make notes just because other people do. The three meals you ate a week ago today provided nourishment for your body, even though you can’t remember what you ate. 15. If you have never journaled your thoughts or prayers while working your way through the Bible, give it a try. Maybe it will help you engage better. If you've revived your devotional life in some other way, feel free to leave it in the comments. Click here to subscribe to Lee's free email list and receive a FREE copy of his "Finishing Well: Living with the End in Mind" devotional e-book, as well as tips about slowing down and living deeper, and notifications about his latest book releases. Comments are closed.
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