In the last post, I suggested that those who are serious about their spiritual growth
should stop using “devotionals” and instead focused on devotional reading of
the Bible. Using the Bible for devotions does not take much more (if any) time
than using other books but the results are worth the effort. In this post, I
would like to offer some practical suggestions on how to get started.
What is it?
The purpose
of devotional reading is slightly different from critical reading (the kind of
reading we do for study). Devotional reading is not so much an examination of
the text as it is an apprehension of the text. Of course, devotional reading should
be built upon a correct understanding of the text but the emphasis is on
applying what we do understand rather than studying. This is why devotional
reading cannot replace Bible study. The two are complimentary. As we grow in
our understanding through study, our devotional life will be deeper because we
will be seeking to connect and apply even more of God’s Word. Likewise, as we
grow in our devotional life, we will begin to have a better understanding of
the relevance and importance of the doctrines we learn from studying.
Devotional reading is about our submission to the text and our desire for the
Holy Spirit to change our lives through its truth.
Where to begin?
A common
question is where to start. Often, people want to begin at Genesis 1 and read
straight through. If you have that type of discipline great, but most people do
not. For those new to devotional reading I suggest beginning with Proverbs or
James. Both of these books are rich with practical application of Biblical
wisdom for daily life that can be examined in short sections. This is not where
I would recommend a person begin to study, but I have found that people who are
new to reading devotionally find it easier to identify points of application in
these books than in most others.
How Does it Work?
The Bible
is like a field planted by God that yields spiritual food to those who labor
there. If we keep that in mind, we can easily remember the four steps to this
method with the acronym R.E.A.P.
- Read
- Examine
- Apply
- Pray
Step 1. Read
The first
step in the reading process is praying for God to bless your devotion. Then, if
you are unfamiliar with the book you want to use you should quickly read the
whole book just to get a feel for how it flows. You do not have to do this all
at once but it is better to read large chunks. Trust me, taking the time to
read the book first will pay off later, if it takes a few days or a week that
is OK. Be sure to read large sections if you cannot read the whole book and do
not try to study or figure anything out, just get a feel for what is going on
in the book and how it flows. If you are already familiar with the book, the
pre-reading is not necessary.
Once you
have a general idea about the book, you can begin a more focused reading. Each
day, read a passage that contains a single unit of thought. In most books, this
is typically not a single verse or sentence. In the New Testament letters for
example, it will usually be a paragraph. In Proverbs and James, it is usually a
cluster of verses. This tends to be where people have a hard time because our
tendency is to want to stop and focus on each verse. Do not put too much
pressure on yourself. If you find yourself constantly wanting to stop after
each verse, just read the next one and think about how they fit together. With
practice, it starts to get easier to see where these divisions are. Just do
your best to try to expand beyond single verses while staying within a
paragraph.
Step 2. Examine
The next
step is to examine what you read. In this step, you are looking to identify
what is clear from the passage. If there is something that is unclear, such as
a figure of speech, a particular vocabulary word, or reference then you might
want to make note of it and come back to it in your Bible study time. For the
purpose of the devotional exercise, however, you want to focus on what is
clear from the passage.
- Is there a promise given?
- Is there a sin exposed?
- Is there an instruction or command given?
- Is there a truth about the Father, Jesus, or The Holy
Spirit revealed?
- Is there something that is clear but seems strange?
Step 3. Apply
In this
step, you work out the significance of what you understand from the passage for
you personally. This is the bridge between merely reading the Bible and
submitting to its authority over your life. This step is what makes it truly
devotional because it is at this point that you are devoting yourself to living
by the Word.
- If promises are given, are they for all believers
generally? How do they apply to me?
- If there is sin exposed am I guilty and in need of
forgiveness and repentance?
- If there is an instruction or command given, how
does it apply to my life and circumstances, and how do I faithfully
respond?
- If truth about God is revealed how does it help me
know Him and serve Him better?
- We will address those things that seem strange in
the next step.
Step 4. Pray & Meditate
Pray
In this
step, you pray through the passage you are reading. The Christian life can only
be lived through the power of the Lord and if we are serious about being
transformed through our devotional time, we must seek Christ’s help through prayer.
Praying the actual words of God helps keep us disciplined and focused so that
we avoid developing a lazy, shallow, or selfish prayer life.
To do this,
simply work your way through the passage taking each statement and rephrase it as
a prayer. In order to avoid self-centered prayers, formulate each statement as
both a personal prayer and a prayer for others. You might know someone in
particular who could use the prayer or it could be a general prayer. Usually,
the more specific you can be the better.
You can
apply any passage in prayer many ways but let us look at an example:
“2 Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your
faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4, ESV)
“Father,
forgive me for my grumbling and my complaining. Forgive me for the weakness of
my faith and the lack of my maturity and trust in you. Father please give me
the faith to count it as joy when I meet trials of various kinds. Remind me
Lord that the testing of my faith will produce steadfastness. Let me, a sinner
who has inherited all things through the suffering of my savior, not shrink from
enduring suffering for a short time. Help me depend entirely upon you so that
my faith might produce steadfastness and I pray Lord that steadfastness would
have its full effect and that I will be made complete, lacking in nothing
because I have you. Father, I know that many brothers and sisters are facing
trials far worse than I. I pray that they would be encouraged and strengthened.
I pray that your name would be glorified through the testimony of their faithfulness.”
Notice that
it is not any kind of rote formula but you want to stick closely to the actual
words used by the Holy Spirit. The key is that you are organizing your
devotional prayer life around the specific teaching of the Word of God. I
promise you that if you do this it will expand and deepen your prayer life and
your appreciation for the Bible.
Meditate
The last
part of the “prayer” step is ongoing meditation. Throughout the day try to take
every chance you get to think about the truths, you encountered during your
devotional time. As you reflect on your reading, you may be surprised how many
connections you can make. This brings me back to #5 from the Apply step. When we read the Bible there
are often little details that just do not seem to fit in the way we expect. You
should consider it a blessing whenever you run across one of those because they
are like treasure maps! The more time you spend in the Word the more of these details
you will notice. Often, it will require study to uncover the fullness of these
gems, but if you just think about them carefully, they will draw you deeper into
the Word.
I have
written about this a few times before but let me just give you one more example
here:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what
you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna
and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to
Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice
that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and
in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe
and with a golden sash around his chest. (Revelation 1:10-13, ESV)
Notice the
way that verse 12 is worded, “then I turned to see the voice”. Does that not
sound strange to you? How do you see a voice? Is this just a quirk of ancient
language? Maybe, but until you study it you will not know. What you can do throughout
the day, however, is to think about this passage and what is happening. Why
does John record it that way? Who is the voice? Obviously, Jesus is the voice.
That is interesting and opens up a whole series of questions. What does a voice
do? What is this voice doing? How do those things relate to Christ? Is there a
connection between Jesus as The Word and Him being described here as the voice?
Are there other places in scripture where God is associated with sound? Where
else is God associated with voices?
Perhaps you
can see that something as simple as this can open up all sorts of potential
connections within the Bible. You may find in study that some of these were
dead ends but throughout the process, you will be absorbed in thinking deeply
and devotionally about what the Bible teaches and how it does so.
If you
follow this process or something similar I am confident that you will be
further ahead than spending the same amount of time reading an off the shelf “devotional”.
I promise that believers who are looking to grow spiritually who do this type
of devotional reading along with regular Bible study (preferably with other
believers in a local church) will not be disappointed.
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