Six Ways To Kickstart Your Devotional Life
by STEPHEN ALTROGGE on JULY 9, 2013
There are times when, for whatever reason, our devotional
life goes stale. Bible reading seems like a colossal chore, our prayers feel
tepid and weak, and our love for God ebbs. We feel like we are stuck in a
spiritual rut, like we don’t have any soul traction, like we’re just spinning
our spiritual wheels. These times of staleness can be incredible frustrating
and discouraging.
Are you in a spiritual rut? Here are a few practical tips to
breath new life and vigor back into your devotional life.
PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!
All the practical tips in the world won’t make a lick of
difference unless God moves mightily on your heart. God cannot be controlled.
He is not a personal genie who can be summoned on command. He cannot be summarized
or contained in a neat formula. But, he promises to respond to our humble
requests. He is a good father who loves to give good gifts to his children. In
Luke 11:13 Jesus said:
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask him!
God loves to give the Holy Spirit to us, but we have to ask!
If your devotional life is in a rut, humbly confess your cold heart to God and
ask him to breathe white hot affection back into you.
READ A BOOK
Seeing the splendors of God through the undimmed eyes of
another person can be tremendously helpful. One of the ways to see God through
the eyes of someone else is to read a book. Often times our view of God is
cluttered and clogged by the circumstances of life. Reading a book allows us to
stand on the shoulders of someone else and see over all the clutter. If your
devotional life is dim and blurry, take a short break from your regular Bible
reading and spend some time savoring a good book. I recommend any of the books
on my list of thirty books every Christian should read.
READ THE PSALMS
The Psalms are an intensely devotional section of scripture.
The authors of the Psalms experienced the highs and lows of life, and they met
God in the midst of those highs and lows. They experienced the faithfulness of
God in the dry times and in the seasons of fruitfulness. If your devotional
life is lacking oomph try spending some time in the Psalms.
START A BIBLE READING PLAN
Many times our devotions lack substance because we don’t
appropriately plan them out. We meander from verse to verse, reading a bit
here, a snatch there, yet never making any real progress through God’s word. If
this describes your devotions, maybe you need a Bible reading plan to get you
on track. The ESV Bible website has a bunch of different Bible reading plans to
get you started. If your devotional life is lacking direction trying starting a
Bible reading plan.
ABANDON YOUR PLAN
Some of us like plans a little bit too much. We like to make
lists and then cross things off those lists. We like the feeling of progress,
of moving forward, of gettin’ her done. We apply our love for plans to our
Bible reading and thus read through the Bible every year like clockwork. This
is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. But there are times when we need to
abandon our plan and simply slow down our Bible reading. To delight in and
savor a chapter, or a section, or just one verse. If your devotional life is
feeling too rigid and stiff try abandoning your plan for a while.
CHANGE UP YOUR METHODS
Most of us read the Bible. After all, the Bible is a book
and books are meant to be read. No argument from me. But remember, significant
portions of the scriptures were originally intended to be heard. The apostolic
letters were read aloud in the churches. The Psalms were read aloud in the
synagogues. Scripture was meant to be both and read and heard. The ESV Bible
site allows you to listen to the Bible instead of reading it. If your
devotional life is feeling repetitive try listening to God’s word. Take notes
as you listen.
Out of all these tips, the first is the most important. You
can do all the right things and yet if God doesn’t work powerfully in your life
nothing will happen. However, I know that God wants your devotions to be
meaningful. He wants you to have a vibrant, joyful devotional life. In light of
that truth I would encourage you to prayerfully try these different
suggestions.
Don’t be content with a mediocre spiritual life. Press into
God. He wants to meet you.
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